Word of mouth is said to be important, but how should we use word of mouth?

Q. Recently, I don’t think the “customer testimonials” on our company’s website are being viewed very often.

This is thought to be because customers began to think, “Aren’t they only selecting voices that are convenient for the company?” and they have begun to seek objective information.
In the past, “customer testimonials” and “case studies” were very popular contents, but the percentage of people viewing them has been decreasing every year. This seems to be due to the fact that viewers have come to think, “It is probably just something conveniently chosen by the company,” or “It may be a fabrication. As a result, the importance of “word of mouth,” which is transmitted by third parties in search of more objective evaluations, is thought to have increased.

Q. How should I respond to low ratings or negative reviews on your website?

Bad reviews can be seen as an opportunity to show the company’s attitude, and trust can be built by first listening and showing that the company is sincere in its response.
How to respond to bad reviews may be a point of concern for many people in charge. However, if you reply only to good comments and ignore bad ones, people who see them may feel that the company only shows what is convenient. By first showing that you take the comments seriously and conveying the message that you want to make improvements in the future, you may in fact have a chance to show your sincerity. Openly showing both the good and the bad will result in a positive outcome.

Q. I want to put photos of my staff and office on my website.

It may be best to avoid photos from material collections, as they are easily detected as “not authentic” and may undermine the company’s credibility.
Users accustomed to the Internet are sensitive to the sense of discomfort, such as “I have seen this photo somewhere before,” or “This office cannot be so conveniently clean. This may lead to a sense of distrust, saying, “This company is faking something, and there must be a reason why they can’t show it to us. One of the basic ideas behind current website production is that even if the quality is somewhat inferior, using original photos taken by the company itself conveys sincerity and is more likely to gain trust.

Q. I would like to start using word of mouth and reviews on the Web.

It is important not to try to manipulate word of mouth, but to take both the good and the bad seriously, and to treat it as valuable information for improving the company’s services.
What customers really want to know is the “true value of the company and its products. Word of mouth is one way to convey that value. Rather than forcing customers to give reviews as gifts, etc., we will create a system to receive honest opinions, both good and bad, and respond sincerely to the feedback gathered. This transparent stance will result in customer trust. We recommend that you keep in touch with word of mouth not as a short-term sales promotion tool, but as an important feedback to review your company.

Word of mouth is important. But what we want you to think about is “Why is it important?” and “What really needs to be done in the word-of-mouth section?” What really should be done in the word-of-mouth column?

If we think of word of mouth as our “PR weapon” or “side support in the form of third-party credibility,” we will go astray. What lies ahead is “serving” or “processing” and “disappointment” of the customer.

In this article, we will deal with how we should think about and respond to the word-of-mouth section.

Word-of-mouth communication has a significant impact on decision-making. This is why it is said to be so important. It was once said that “any product will sell if there are 100 customer comments.

Although this situation is no longer the case due to increased literacy on the part of buyers, it is certainly a highly important content.

However, it is also true that powerful objects need to be used with care.

Background to keep in mind

Customer feedback” on websites is no longer being seen, while “word-of-mouth” is becoming increasingly important.

One of the changes I’ve seen in Google Analytics and other analytical tools is

The percentage of people viewing “customer testimonials for B2C and case studies for B2B is decreasing every year.”

There is a point.

In the 2010s, especially in B2C, it was the most important content often seen after the top page. However, fewer and fewer people are looking at it every year. Even if they do see it, it is only for a short time, and some people even don’t see it at all.

the reason why is

• I’m sure the customer testimonials and case studies on the website were chosen by the company anyway.”
• If it wasn’t convenient, it wouldn’t have been listed.”
• Cherry-picking, maybe even fabrication.”

This is because it is now thought to be a good idea.

Word-of-mouth” has grown as a way to “get objective evaluations.”

Among them word-of-mouth” has grown because “objective evaluations can be obtained word-of-mouth” is a growing trend.

In other words, word-of-mouth is in demand because it is “objective.

Customer testimonials” and “case studies” are important on a website. The reason for this is that they can be seen with certainty. The reason for this is that there is a high demand for information on what other people are saying and what kind of evaluations they are making.

In the world of content creation, this is known as “supportive content” and is positioned as a third-party guarantee.

Be objective.

What customers wanted to know was not “word-of-mouth” or “customer testimonials” but the value of “the real your company, products, and services. It’s just that the content where they can get the most out of it has changed, but what they want to know itself has not.

So, utilizing word-of-mouth is actually equal to

1. In the first place, there is an assumption that we will continue to develop and improve our services to meet the needs of our customers.
2. How can we communicate that to people who have never been in contact with us or who are behind a screen?

It is the same as thinking about

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is, “Should I reply to a bad review?” One of the most frequently asked questions is “Should I reply to a bad word-of-mouth?

If you think about it from this perspective, the answer is. “You should reply.”

If you only reply to good comments and don’t go through the bad ones, what will people think when they see that? Don’t you think they would feel, “Oh, this company only tries to show what is convenient for them.

Instead, if you respond by saying, “First, show that you are willing to listen, and once you have erred in your displeasure, ask for more details and express your desire to improve,” even a low review can become an opportunity to show the company’s attitude and sincerity.

Of course, on a case-by-case basis, some things are more like pranks or storms and cannot be described in a single word.

However, we recommend that you consider that showing both the good and the bad will result in a positive outcome.

We should consider that “deception is easy to detect.”

Word of mouth (“reviews”) regularly come up in various places. The reasons they go up are, almost without exception, bad.

For example, reviews on major gourmet food sites are controlled by money, or people are trying to buy reviews on Google Maps with money (a violation of the guidelines, or worse, account suspension).

Of course, you should not do that.

Forcing people to write reviews or even falsifying them is no different from the dubious money advertisements in the back of magazines or the diet ads of long ago that turned before and after photos upside down to make it look as if the person had lost weight dramatically.

And please keep in mind that the Internet is a place where deception is easily detected.

This is not to say that we should be careful not to get caught, but that even a slight exaggeration can become a problem because of the ease of verification on the Internet and the discerning eyes of the viewer.

For example, we may use photos from a collection of materials for our website. It is difficult to take photos by ourselves, and if we call a photographer, the cost will be quite high.

So you may use a collection of inexpensively available materials.

Or, perhaps your employees don’t want to show their faces, and you don’t want to show yours, so you want to use images of people from a collection of materials.

But this is NG. Because discerning buyers are

• “Oh, I know this guy from somewhere (must be a collection of materials).”
• It can’t be this office, and there’s no one this out of place (I don’t know, but it can’t be real).”

Because they will see through it.

If they see through it, beyond that, they will say, “What a company, they are lying, maybe there is a reason why they can’t show it, let’s stop,” and lose all trust at once.

So one of the basics of website production today is that we have to produce “our own originality” even if it takes some amateur photos or costs some money.

Confront word of mouth head-on, rather than trying to control it.

In summary, we recommend

• Never fail to improve services and products in the first place.
• On top of that, we will create a system to gather word-of-mouth communication.
• Instead of asking for a gift, etc., ask in the form of both the good and the bad.
• We’ll publish both the good and the bad.
• In response, we’ll thank you for the good ones, and for the bad ones, we’ll post what we’re going to do about them and what we’re going to do about them in the future.

This is a transparent use of our stance on word-of-mouth and reviews.

Reviews and word of mouth are important information that can help us discipline or review ourselves.

We recommend that you do not use them only for short-term immediate sales promotions, but always keep in touch with them as an entity that provides feedback from the outside.