Good Medicine Tastes Bitter, Like Negative Online Reviews

"Come on, good medicine tastes bitter," whenever my mom made me take the Chinese medicine when I was a kid falling sick, she would say this Chinese saying to me. Until today, I still firmly believe that the good medicine, a.k.a the brown-ish liquid slowly cooked from all kinds of herbs with bizarre names, is, and is going to be the bitterest thing I've ever had!

Actually, there is another part of the saying: "Good medicine tastes bitter; sincere advice jar on ear." Well, I am not sure if all sincere advice has to sound jarring, but I guess it certainly applies to those negative online customer reviews that may sound really unpleasant to business owners and product/service providers.

Of course, nobody enjoys hearing criticism. It hurts feelings. In terms of online reviews, while good reviews are considered to be reputation boosters, bad ones are usually not- they are discouraging, disappointing and uninviting. But let's face it, although everyone wants to have, and only have customers that put the sweetest words about their most satisfactory five-star experience ever, many would use the online review service to let others know they are not happy or not sure about whatever they have received from organizations reviewed. Oops, jarring words. How would they ever help?

First of all, they do help. Instead of thinking about how to fire back, how to erase bad words, or how to bribe happy patrons to write good reviews, businesses need to have the right attitudes toward negative online customer reviews- they can hep, and they do help! Here's how-

1. Helping Customer Communication
According to a 2009 Nielson report, 90% consumers surveyed trust recommendations from people they know, and 70% trust consumer opinions posted online while 70% trust brand websites. Your customers want to listen to what fellow customers have to say about you, exactly as much as they want to hear what you say about yourself. Your customers would appreciate you facilitating authentic and transparent communication among them. That customer review system is just too important not to be provided. Besides, 87% of consumers tend to write reviews when they have positive things to say, which means opening the door to reviews helps you to have probably more good reviews.

2. Increasing Sales & Decreasing Cost
Many cases have taught us that things with customer reviews (positive or negative) sell better than those without. A good way to look at the benefit of bad reviews is through this formula I learned in my marketing class back in collge-

Satisfaction = Experience / Expectation

This means, bad reviews help decrease psychological expectations, and thus increase the chance of satisfaction. When weaknesses of products are exposed through bad reviews, customers are likely to have a more realistic expectation, which can reduce the number of complaints or returns.

3. Free Customer Insight Research
You get to know what customers don't like. Is it the product, or the pricing, or the promotion, or the competition... Those good or bad words about you are your first-hand customer insights, and the best part- this valuable information is completely free!!! With it, you can stop guestimating, and get to improving things. Please don't ignore the jarring words. Listen and learn! Good medicine is bitter, but it heals.