Get A Freakin’ Clue!
It’s a good thing my hair is shaved down to a fraction of an inch, because frankly, if it were not, I’d be mightily tempted to tear it all out. Let me explain…
As you know, part of my duties at UltimateFatBurner.com include moderating visitor feedback comments over at its sister site, Real-Customer-Comments.com.
If you haven’t yet visited, let me fill you in on on this site…
A few years back, we started offering visitors the option to send us their own comments and feedback on any of the products we reviewed. This turned out to be an unprecedented success. People loved to share their own experiences – the good, the bad, and occassionally… the ugly. And they enjoyed sharing, not only with us, but with other visitors as well.
Unfortunately, this also meant more work for me, since none of the feedback process was automated, and I had to update all visitor comments manually. Around the same time that we started offering this visitor feedback option to visitors, a whole slew of “fat burner review” sites began to spring up.
I used the word “review” in quotes here because these aren’t true review sites; almost every single one of them earns huge commissions on referred sales. That’s the mandate. It’s what they do. Not surprisingly then, the only product feedback presented on these sites are almost 95% positive. Since I’m well aware of what these products can actually deliver, I can assure you this feedback is either totally fabricated, or the reviewer “cherry picks” the reviews, posting the good and deleting the bad.
Visitors to UltimateFatBurner.com were surprised to see that the feedback presented on our site didn’t quite match up with the feedback they were seeing elsewhere.
That’s when I realized there was a real need for a web site that allowed people to share genuine comments with other visitors. Not only would this empower those who wanted share their experiences, but it would allow consumers to see what “real” comments look like.
And so Real-Customer-Comments.com was born.
Still relatively new, this site is growing vey quickly in popularity because the comments, well… they’re real. And often, pretty darn negative. But when you consider that for the vast majority of products, the retailer’s claims are not even remotely reflective of reality, it’s not particularly surprising to find that the majority of people posting feedback are not happy. These products simply don’t live up to their expectations.
Of course there are those who just “don’t get it.” Despite the fact that I have absolutely zero financial motivation to present either strongly “pro” or “con” side to any supplement, there are some who see “real” testimonials as a “negatve bias”. One individual put it this way…
“I am pretty skeptical if this site is legitimate in their reviews at this point only because I have been to tons of other sites, all who review many products legitimately and have not seen anything near the bad reviews on this one.”
Uh huh. Legitimately reviewing other products, eh? And since you just ordered it (this reviewer indicated she had just purchased the product) did it not occur to you that perhaps, just perhaps, the people reviewing the product may have some connection with the retailers? That a financial conflict of interest might motivate them to “tip the scales” a bit?
I recognize that no one likes to admit that they’ve been had. It’s embarassing. But I didn’t get the feeling that this visitor felt that way; she genuinely felt that we were presenting an unfairly negative bias towards this product. To reiterate, what’s the motive to do so? Did you see a crass recommendation for a different, competing product? No, you did not.
Sheesh.
Get a freakin’ clue. If you really want to find out who’s “on the level”, here’s a hint…
Follow the money!
January 27, 2009
Paul,
Just keep on doing what you are doing. You did not get where you are without focusing on all of the good things.
My company does loyalty marketing for our clients. We advocate focusing resources on the customers/users they already have and letting them pass on the word about our clients and their products or services. It is these people who will grow your business and your reputation. If you apply the 80/20 rule to the concept:
There will be 10% of your readers who will love all that you do, even if they disagree.
There will be 10% of your readers who will despise what you, do no matter what.
The other 80% are those that will help you grow your business and spread the word about your company. If you take care of this group, you will continue on the path you’ve been on and will continue to grow and be relied on as an excellent source of non-biased reviews and honest opinions.
Make it great!
January 27, 2009
As a matter of fact, she did not. Perhaps because they continued to perpetuate the popular myth that there exist miraculous supplements that make weight loss “fast and easy.” 😉
January 27, 2009
Oh yeah… Johnny – thanks for the words of encouragement! 🙂
January 27, 2009
And did she state how she was able to determine how “legitmate” these other reviews were? From your description, it sounds like she thinks “legitimate” = “tells me what I want to hear.”
I’m having an “Inigo Montoya” moment: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” 😀