I DON’T!
LOL Do you even know me? Honest reviews matter most.
I recently purchased a good/service; I didn’t have a 5 star experience. I was perplexed! There were all these positive reviews all over the internet and on their FB page… And then I thought, “OH you silly silly girl, JEN WAKE UP! These reviews are curated and cherry picked. They’re solicited, managed and funneled before posting.”
I just wasn’t PAYING close enough attention that day.
So I looked into the company WHYILIKE . com and there right in front of me all was revealed. On their sales page is everything I needed to see as a consumer to further educate myself about THEIR review service. Yes, businesses thrive on getting those perfect reviews. They need those 5 star ratings from their very best and most satisfied clientele. I mean, no one wants to have a less than 5 star review on their page. We all wanna be #1!
Take for instance the photo on WHYILIKE sales page. It clearly shows the “online review score” for a medical company as something over a 4 but less than a 5. That to me seems pretty authentic. Then there’s the WHYILIKE score that’s a solid 5. Absolute perfection. WHYILIKE also boasts in their very canned robotically read sales video, that with your subscription to their service (as low as $119 to 189 a month), you can then promote those stellar reviews across all your social media platforms and your website. They’ll also use their “WHYILIKE microsite” to deliver your perfect reviews to the top of search engine results. The grand world of SEO… Makes your company more visible online and all those glowing 5 stars are there for all to see! YAY!
Curious as to what a “microsite” is, or how they work? I’m not really a tech savvy person, but my generic explanation and understanding is this: A microsite is supposed to function kinda like a short term landing page, separate from a company’s actual website. They’re great for those companies that are new and need to build a web presence… So basically a microsite is a tool, a platform, used to gain potential new customers searching the market for a particular good or product. It get’s MORE of you out there on the internet. It’s about online visibility!
Now from the company’s standpoint, microsites are useful marketing tools. Many are well established with SEO and have the ability to place the “good curated content” at the top of internet search engines. Meaning you see them first. A potential client or consumer might find additional less than perfect reviews, but only after sifting through a few pages of content searching for truth and real information. Having good SEO, gives companies a better online presence and thus makes companies money, so of course they’ll pay for it.
Picture this: More than one thatgirljen out there in the world. What a beautiful thought! Maybe there’s something to this microsite thing after all. Does thatgirljen need a microsite too?
It’s not exactly shady… but is it really authentic?
That depends on the company itself. Sure some products or companies need that extra boost to stand out in the market. It’s really difficult to be seen if people don’t know you exist. So yes, SEO is really important and using a microsite can help grow your SEO. However, there’s nothing better than gaining organic and honest web growth, and establishing your web presence naturally. But that takes time. We all aren’t here to pay to play.
More importantly, today it’s hard to tell quality SEO from shady SEO.
I actually do understand why businesses and services want and need good reviews. Especially if the business is fairly new to the market and attempting to gain a foothold and most importantly acquiring and obtaining paying customers. Online reviews can play a huge part when consumers are looking to decide on purchasing an item, goods or service. I think researching companies- that’s just being a well informed shopper. You work hard for your money, so of course you want it to go to the right item, service or source… bonus points if that company or person is reputable and honest and not just showing all the positive points.
Sweeping all the negative press or reviews under the carpet because it’s easier to pretend it never happened or doesn’t exist, just isn’t authentic.
HECK, I’ve even heard of a few companies offering to refund money to customers and clients to remove their less than stellar reviews from the BBB and on AMAZON. It’s the truth, it really does happen!
Case in point:
I bought a small table from Amazon. The table arrived damaged. I reached out to Amazon and was informed that the third party seller would be who to contact about facilitating a replacement or refund. So I did. I took photos of the damaged table, asked for a refund or replacement and was told, “Sorry that’s not our policy.” I THEN decided to leave my less than 5 star review on Amazon for the table. I posted a photo, and wrote that the table arrived damaged and that the seller refused to replace or refund the item at my initial request. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? I was offered a refund for my broken table, but ONLY if I took down my review.
What do you think I did? Anyone… Anyone have a guess?
Who do you think has a little reminder every time she walks in or out of her house, that honest reviews matter? THIS GIRL aka thatgirljen, that’s who!
Sure I could have taken the refund. But it’s really the principle of the matter. If something’s not right and you attempt to amend a situation, and that result is unsatisfactory to you as the consumer…and then after you decide to make others aware of the situation and your experience, only then do the original offenders attempt to rectify the situation POORLY… well that ain’t right. THAT. AIN’T. RIGHT.
Bad customer service, is a disservice to the customer.
And yes, that table still stands on my front doorstep as a reminder: Opinions matter, truth matters, and that being honest and having integrity is an important virtue. Vanity is not!
TRUTH, JUSTICE and the AMERICAN WAY.
OR, is it KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE!
Brilliant review… and SOOO appreciated. Yes, I recently ran into a bit of a snafu with another company (Dr. RJ LIFE COACH) who uses “Why I Like” to generate positive reviews. I, too, understand why a small business who is first starting out might need to turn to this type of positive lead generator. The problem for the customer is learning to decipher whether the bill of goods being sold is truly what the reviews claim it to be. That being said, if one’s customer service doesn’t stand up to those reviews in the long haul, they will only be able to hide behind their WHY I LIKE reviews for so long. Thanks for your thought out post… I’m sure many had never heard of it in the first place!
Hello Melissa,
There are many types of companies that provide this type of service. It’s supposed to be a short term way to gain a web presence- in the beginning. But not as a long term solution for establishing a positive and strong web presence. Their SEO is fairly strong. SEO costs money, and not all SEO is bad or shifty. But you’re right, as a consumer, its’ really to difficult to tell if the reviews are organic, or funneled. I would feel much more comfortable with a 4.5 company than a 5 star… if there aren’t ANY negative reviews at all… that to me means something’s been hidden.
HECK even Walt Disney World, the most magical company on planet earth has had a few bad reviews. It happens. And Disney Corp is “Practically perfect in every way!” or at least that’s what Miss Mary Poppins would say.
Thanks for reading,
~thatgirljen