UnSelling: The New Customer Experience

Chapter 40Customer ReviewsThe Good, the Bad, and the Future

The Good

Trusted referrals have always been the gold of marketing. The online world didn't create the value of opinions of friends and family. For as long as we can remember, “I know a guy for that” economies have run successfully off referrals. Referrals from people we know, like, and trust are so valuable that larger companies and the online market have been trying to copy the kind of community and connection once reserved for local businesses.

Online reviews are making that real for companies all over the world. When I'm looking for a product or service, I want to know if anyone I already know, like, and trust has used it and what they thought. So having great online reviews is tremendously powerful, especially when they come through trusted communities like Facebook.

As we saw in the sales cloud chapter, 60 percent of sales decisions are made before a company has any direct contact with you. This is where reviews live—where the opinions of customers past can come back to haunt a brand's future. We trust people more than brands, especially when it comes to brand experiences.

The hierarchy of reviews looks like this:

• Review from a friend or family member that you trust.
• Review from the masses. Online sites such as Yelp rely on a large number of reviews painting a picture of what a place is like. The more reviews, the less valuable a one-off experience is, and the more reliable the opinion should be.
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