Getting rantings on Base - Is it worth looking spammy?

[drenkel]

Hey guys.. been struggling with a dilemma for a while now and wanted some fresh opinions.

I would like to get ratings to start showing up on Google Base, and the other feed sites we use for our store. I've gathered from my research that Google pulls those ratings from several sources... epinions.. shopzilla.. ect.

The problem I have with this is, I don't want to share my customers information, or my sales data. I also don't want to place several spammy "Take a survey to win a new TV" banners on my order confirmation page.

Can anyone here speak from experience... is it worth it to install the spammy survey banner to get ratings on the shopping comparison sites? Will you gain enough extra business to make up for the lack of professionalism the survey convey?

[ssgumby]

I tried it, and felt like a dirty old man for it. It just felt sleezy. The take a survey crap takes OUR customer thru a process and tried to sell them magazine subcriptions or other things. Just not worth my reputation.

[jecasc]

Why do you have to install spammy survey banners? We send an email to our customers and ask for a review on a review website we signed on and is used by Google for Google Shopping and Google Adwords.

We ship with DHL and use the DHL API to automatically check when a parcel has arrived at the customer and then send a carefully phrased email to the customer the same day. Ask him if everything was ok - and if no - to contact our customer service and to review our website if everything was ok.

This way we make sure the customer complains to us if he has a complaint instead of posting a bad review on a random website.

By sending the email at the right moment more than 30% of our customers review our service and so far we only have received positive reviews. Even if someone has a complaint, they usually contact customer service first and then leave a postitive review when their problem was solved.

[ssgumby]

jecasc, we do a similar thing with regards to a review email followup but ours is asking them to review specific products on our site. This helps tremendously with content for SEO. I wouldnt want to send two emails (1 to review the content and 1 to review our site)so thats why I was interested in the confirmation page surveys.

[drenkel]

I also have our own product review system setup, where it sends out emails. We do get a good amount of product reviews on our own site. I'm just looking for the site review on the confirmation page as well just so we can get the stars on the shopping comparison sites.

[jecasc]

I wouldnt want to send two emails (1 to review the content and 1 to review our site)

Then do it all in one email. Plenty of shopping sites send follow up emails with links to several review opportunities. (Review the product here: URL; Review our website here, here or here: URL1, URL2, URL3)

The problem is: All the "free" review services need to make money from the data you submit. So they ask you to submit as much customer information as possible or customers have to create an account to write a review.

If you do not want to submit information or display spammy banners you will probably have to sign up with a paid service like ekomi or trustedshops (europe only).

[jwolthuis]

use the DHL API to automatically check when a parcel has arrived at the customer and then send a carefully phrased email to the customer the same day.

This is a great idea, thanks!