Consumer Reviews Make the World A Better Place and a More Profitable Place

Consumer reviews are awesome. Back in the day, when a company wanted surveys and reviews, they paid for them and many paid the reviewer. Problem became scams and companies stopped paying. That was a good thing for companies. Now every time someone makes a review, companies improve their goods and services, raise their prices, increase their profits, and you pay more. All because of reviews. And that is quite alright. Great services and great products cost more to produce.

Reviews are what make people and businesses valuable and even famous, therefore reviews matter, a lot. Reviews matter so much that people compete for high ranking status by way of reviews. Reviews come in many formats including spoken word, written word, TV commercials, songs, poems, recitals, advertisements, hieroglyphics on stone walls, whatever. The avenues for review are practically immeasurable and, for the most part, of a guerilla nature. It is through reviews that small businesses and independent companies and service providers survive in the sea of big corporate controls over markets. Even so, big corporate cannot automate and control everything. That is where the niche markets of small, targeted business owners and operators come into play. Most importantly it is through reviews where consumer and customer trust and desire for what those little guys have to offer. Reviews matter.

I have been a successful home improvements business owner, operator and professional for 20 years now. At times I have also been unsuccessful, though that never stopped me. The ride has been interesting, to say the least. From the start, trial and error, misery and madness have been a part of the growth through the years. Most importantly, triumphs and successes and great rewards, tangible, financial and intangible have been abundant. That all started with a decision and a choice to banish the lies of fear that attempts to accompany any new endeavor.

Reviews are the same as Word of Mouth. Word of mouth is generally a naturally occurring means of communication with other people and not necessarily related to business or consumer means alone. Word of mouth has been a figure of communication since the dawn and birth of communication history. According to Wikipedia, Word of Mouth as a form of marketing and advertising did not occur until around the 1970s when “George Silverman, a psychologist, pioneered word-of-mouth marketing when he created what he called “teleconferenced peer influence groups” in order to engage physicians in dialogue about new pharmaceutical products.”

Visual psychology plays a great role in the generation of reviews. Pictures and symbols are used to convey messages that deliver an underlying hint and request to people, consumers, product and service users in hopes of nudging someone to provide a review. Why? Because reviews matter.

For example, look at how I use fours stars image at the top of my Reviews page for my company on my website for my Custom Built-In Cabinets business. Why only four stars, you may ask? Well, everything I do has some correlation to my own personal life experiences. Similar to play on words, I like to play on experience, you know, make life more interesting by using my own personal life experiences to, perhaps, boost interest. And why not share that boosted interest in hopes of boosting someone else’s interests, even if I hope to generate an outside result for myself. That is part of the reviews game because, of course, reviews matter.

Going a little deeper, I served in the United States Marine Corps. I named my first business, Little Things Home Improvements, from one of the highly focused Marine Corps characteristics, Attention to Detail. Four stars has a meaning to all Marines and, therefore, is kind of like a target for high regard and appreciation among the ranks with a focus on the Four Star General. Four Star General rank insignia, as shown of my review page, either gold or silver, is the rank insignia worn by the highest ranking, most senior commanders in the armed services. As most people and consumers come to know, five stars are used for reviews. In my company four stars are reserved for the highest achievements of excellence according to my play on life experiences in the Marine Corps. In my business it has nothing really to do with military or armed services, but to those brothers and sisters who have served, there is meaning to the symbol.

If and when a review is awarded, it is given by someone outside the company, usually by a customer or someone who has used the goods or services being reviewed. Reviews coming unsolicited with no hint, advertisement or request for such review are rare. Why? Because people don’t naturally give public reviews without some form of request from a source. There has to be a place and purpose to for review. Same goes for online reviews. It is rare for someone to provide a purposeful review unless some form of advertisement and request is made leading a reviewer to a place to provide a review.

Here are some questions to consider when preparing your own purpose for requesting reviews.

Where do you send your customers for a review? Do you send an individual request to each of your customers? Do you have a template setup to send to your customers upon completion of the transaction? When do you request a review? Do you want to request a review immediately while the enthusiasm and awe are imminent? Do you want to request a review later after the customer has time to use and experience your product? Do you send a review request to protect yourself from potentially unscrupulous consumers who have a habit of finding fault (it happens)?

How to Get Reviews

Consider this, unless I advertise and request an online review, would you go out on your own to find a review source and publicize your experience and review me and my services? Of course you wouldn’t, you have better things to do with yourself. On the other hand, the likeliness of you clicking a link or sending a paper document is greater if you have a direct place to go and if you make it easy to get to, such as a direct link to your review area. Getting a review from your customers require deliberate action on your part.

Where to Get Reviews

You can get reviews from your customers at a number places online, especially since your online presence is generally the first place where your customers will find you. When you send a review request consider the ease of access, credibility and longevity of the resource.

• Google reviews are pretty common, FREE TO USE, and seems to be the most reliable source for reviews, both from a provider and consumer standpoint. Google reviews are direct, localized and reliable because everybody uses the Google platform to some extent. Check out How to Get Reviews on Google for more info.
• Houzz is a great place to build a profile and get reviews if you have a home improvements, home goods or home services business. With Houzz you can easily showcase a portfolio of your products and projects. With Houzz you can earn awards and badges that can be placed on your website, blog and social media content. And, with Houzz, you can request reviews. Although Houzz is a paid source, I have to say I have made more than the cost for paid promotion on Houzz in the years for which I have purchased the business promotion services. It is not the most user friendly DIY platform, however. Houzz representatives protect the quality of their service and rightly so. Although I do not get rewarded or compensated for promoting Houzz like anyone promoting a service should, here is a link to my profile on Houzz.
• Angie’s List, now called Angi, used to be a decent place to get reviews when owned by Angie Hicks, but now Angie’s List has been bought out and ruined by the tragedy of IAC Media Company and its all about bait and switch and surviving off the backs, sweat and successes of hard-working, unsuspecting service providers and professionals who don’t know any better.

Leave a review for me, will ya? Leave me a review for whatever you will, however you want, right here. Even if we never met, take a look at some of my work and leave me a review. Pleeeeeease? I would appreciate hearing what you think about what I do. I appreciate the inspiration beyond the confines of my unlimited, limited, creative mind.

Click the Stars to leave me a review, any review.