It is becoming accepted by small businesses in America that bad customer reviews, in isolation, can have a severe negative impact on businesses of any kind.

The Wall Street Journal published an article today about the nature of bad reviews, the massive review sites, and “reputation management” consulting firms that have emerged to address this pain point, making such outrageous claims as “100% guaranteed elimination of bad reviews from yelp” (impossible, but bold guarantees are a very effective sales tactic).

Preventative Medicine – Collect Positive Reviews

The Wall Street Journal says businesses are expected to spend $700mm on tools to monitor customer opinions over the next 12 months, up 100% y-o-y.

As a result, “reputation management” consultants are popping up that promise to clean up bad reviews.

They can add fluff content to cram down bad reviews, but the fact of the matter is, there is a very inexpensive and automated way to insure that this will NEVER be an issue for you … by actively collecting positive reviews, using a platform like Robly.

Actively collecting real reviews will not only put a bad review in context … that bad review will actually enhance the credibility of your positive reviews.

Additionally, customers appreciate a publicly viewable response to a negative review amid many positive reviews.

There is absolutely no need to hire a consultant for thousands of dollars who promises to eliminate negative reviews, even though online reviews are the most important form of marketing.

Be preventative and avoid this problem altogether – look in to acquiring a way to automate collection and formation of a base of reviews with a platform like Robly.