Instead of saying with words “trust me”, it is much better to show that the client can trust you with actions.
Let’s look at an example with the following three companies:
- Holiday-Home A
- Holiday-Home B
- Holiday-Home C
The different companies treats reviews in three different ways:
Holiday-Home A: Does not want to collect or publish any reviews due to fear of losing bookings due to negative reviews.
Holiday-Home B: Collect reviews, but the company decides which ones to publish.
Holiday-Home C: Collects and publishes all reviews
Now that we know how the different companies work with regards to reviews, we will look at what might be the result of the different approaches.:
Holiday-Home A:
If the main concern is that they will get negative reviews – what does that say about their belief in their properties? The first thing you convey when you do not have any reviews (positive or negative) about your product is a lack of confidence and this generates further mistrust.
If you do receive negative comments – is it much better to talk about them in public and announce that changes have been made to rectify the problem.
Holiday-Home B:
Clients prefer to write reviews that are not be moderated by the company.
As technology is becoming a utility for our daily lives, clients have also become more cynical and do not want to feel deceived by a company.
Holiday-Home C:
To publish all reviews, positive and negative, shows potential clients that the company does not hide anything. Maybe you are worried about having all reviews available to the public. The company does risk getting insincere reviews, slander etc. but the important thing is that the company replies and deals with these reviews. This shows the public that the company is responding and solving the issues, which again generates confidence.
Which option proves to be the best?
The answer is simple: little or no information means uncertainty.
When a company does not publicly show all client feedback, clients cannot be 100% certain of the risks at the time of purchasing the product. While if everything is public, you convey confidence and transparency which brings value to your business.
It opens an opportunity for convincing new clients, when good reviews reinforce the positive things about the product, and negative reviews are being well-managed by the company.
When booking your holiday home, the client is deciding to have a relationship with you. They need to know and trust who they are dealing with.