Forums With Negative Reviews May Be Good For Business By Scott Lindsay At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

There are multiple benefits to providing your customers with a forum. I’d like to share one idea that may often be viewed as a negative, but perhaps that all depends on your perspective.

One problem many business owners have with a forum is there can be perceived negative press about your business, or at the very least the product you sell.

I have always been a strong advocate of providing knowledge-based content on your site. This provides customers with information about the quality and benefits of the products you sell. It allows them to gain some understanding of what they can do with your product and how it will fit in their lifestyle.

Here’s the ugly truth about business forums – you will have individuals who may bad-mouth your product. Why would you want something on your website that does not present your product in the best possible light?

Web-based customers have changed. They no longer accept everything at face value. The information you make available on your website is almost always considered slightly suspect by potential consumers. They want to verify your claims and will often conduct their own research to understand more clearly what your product does and does not do. They will look for any negative opinions on the product and they will seek out comment from those who found your product or service useful.

Through a forum they can find that information right on your website. Chances are strong that if a customer posts something negative about your product other customers will chime in talking about why they see the product as valuable.

Consumers see this as a much better picture of your business idea. They can read your content, but they want the opinions of those who have actually used the product. By stripping the proverbial varnish from the sales presentation they may feel they are better capable of judging the worth of what you are selling.

Why is this positive? They could go somewhere else for information. They could forget where they found you. They could buy from someone else. Keeping them on your site provides the best opportunity for them to ultimately make a purchase.

Most consumers will not believe every positive thing you say about a product, but they may also not believe every negative thing a customer has to say either.

Look at it this way – if you visit a site and read all the feedback ratings on a product you will find that there may be a small percentage of customers that absolutely hated the product. You may also find that the majority of customers ranked it very highly. The consumer will generally eliminate those with the lowest and highest rankings. If, after their evaluation your product still ranks well they may see it as an acceptable value.

Allow your customers to see the good, bad and ugly. They may feel they have been given the best opportunity to see your actual product. If the product has very few low negatives you may find an increase in sales by using a forum to allow customers to share their experiences.

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