The international information highway has opened doors of opportunities that could never have been fathomed just a couple of years back. Hard to believe that a website like Facebook.com whose prime agenda was connecting people would become one of the most popular websites in the world. The website currently interconnects the world at large and creates a virtual travel destination without the necessity and hassles of passports and visas. A destination where thoughts and ideas can be shared transferred and even deleted. Facebook and other similar sites now share more than just photographs and personal stories; it provides the world with the inputs, reviews, and feedbacks that have changed the very dynamics of consumer behavior around the globe.
A similar story belongs to citysearch.com. Citysearch.com is a web site dedicated to the storage of reviews and feedbacks regarding all spheres of activity and commodities in particular regions. Citysearch provides internet users with the reviews, inputs, feedbacks to garner a cemented and unbiased opinion about a variety of restaurants, social activities, books, cars and even plants. Online reviews and blogs have become the filtering catalyst for the new generation of buyers. The filtering process applies to all commodities in the world and has proven extremely beneficial for people who have not made up their minds to services and products.
Apparently, the end user has become extremely vigilant and apprehensive regarding his impact and value-add to the economical conditions of the markets. Millions of users now use the information highway to gauge better decisions and understand the pro’s and con’s of all sellable items across the board.
Corporations have now bought into this idea of reviews as a new marketing perspective. The manufacturing world has now started to read into the reviews online and create a filtration process though which business impacting ideas and suggestion can be incorporated into the new product lines. The service industry are now keenly reviewing top rated review sites for bloggers, reviews, and exerts regarding their overall performances. Birds barbershop, a national hair stylist saloon brand, has built their customer centric module based upon reviews from the online market. Customers were complaining of the service and the quality of the hair cuts on Yelp. The owners of the company found out the details of the customer and requested him for a second trip to the shop with complete complimentary services. The customer and his reviews drastically changed on Yelp. Bird barbershop is one of the thousands of companies that try to understand their customer base and their inputs based upon reviews and inputs.
The business market is highly competitive with differentiators that become the true catalysts in driving revenue and increasing the stock price. A few years back, the differentiator was exceptional quality associated with tier 1 customer support. Travel industry is now being directly impacted by reviews on certain travel blogs and websites. According to a recent recommendation by the University of Tulsa; it is now imperative for organizations to start putting their marketing budget into web site blog departments that work closely with web sites to ensure that proper responses are given to customer inputs. Email correspondence between customers and vendors has been increasing at an alarming speed of 22% per annum for the last five years.
Corporations that have not become privy to the importance of online reviews and inputs need to think again. Certain organizations have now dedicated staff in their customer operations that are now reviewing hundreds of reviews and blogs as their job descriptions. The overall marketing and assessment now revolves around personal opinion that now has a window glass to the outside world. Corporations now realize that millions of dollars spent on online advertisements and hoardings get completely shot down once the masses have spoken their final verdict. For the future progress of organizations and their presence in the market, it is critical that the product development teams now take inputs from blogs ad reviews to further improve and hone processes, services and even products.
Currently, working as a philanthropist and creating a think tank for the betterment of Pakistan. By profession, I am a senior management executive with over 12 years experience developing different product and service offerings to international markets. I have been writing for the last 10 years in the prestigious magazines and newspapers around the world regarding various topics. Specialty and focus on management, social and political topics. I have lived abroad for the majority of my life and have come