Consumer advocacy has always been a part of our commercial landscape. Long before the internet and long before user-generated-content, there were outlets for people to review and discuss their experiences with businesses. Nowadays, however, committing commercial blunders is potentially more dangerous.
More and more often, people are visiting sites such as Yelp in order to make decisions about their lives. Which restaurants should they try, which gyms should they join, where should they live? People are reporting their experiences online and if you are a business-owner, you’d better hope that your web-savvy customers leave your premises with a good taste in their mouths.
Because if they don’t, there’s a good chance your name and reputation will be damaged in the online social landscape. Online, people seem to put a lot of trust in the reviews of others, and
if someone has written that your restaurant is home to rude staff, bland food and overpriced drinks, a potential customer is likely to go elsewhere.
Of course, you should not just play nicely in the offline world in order to save your online reputation. Customer service should be on everyone’s mind at all times. However, you should now be wary that now, even one bad experience could negatively effect your business for a long time. So serve the correct food, give correct change and be polite to your clients and customers, because you never know which one of them is carrying his or her laptop and is about to write about you!
