Manipurated

How Business Owners Can Fight Fraudulent Online Ratings and Reviews

Daniel Lemin

• Publisher: Quill Driver Books
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781610352734
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Customer Relations
• Index: Business

"Manipurated" is a manifesto for business owners struggling against an online ratings and reviews industry that is holding their businesses hostage through manipulative practices. "Manipurated" uniquely combines an exposé of the shifty inner workings of this industry with a step-by-step playbook to empower the 30 million American business owners desperately trying to fight back. In today's hyperconnected world, business owners are confronted with the challenge of managing their online reputation right out of the gate. The first weekend for a new deli, salon, café, or boutique store can be make-or-break with online reviews. Few business owners understand that amazing businesses can be permanently damaged with a few bad reviews. Managing a reputation online requires skills and tactics that are not always intuitive to business owners. "Manipurated" gives business owners an insider's view of how the multibillion-dollar ratings and reviews machine systematically stacks the cards against them — and more important, empowers business owners to fight back with a six-step playbook to defend, control, and enhance their business's online reputation. Both a warning and a call to action, "Manipurated" is a must-read for all small business owners who depend on online reviews.

Part One: Getting
the Lay of the Land

How did the online rating-and-review industry gain so much influence over businesses? Part One of Manipurated answers this critical question. In the next few chapters, you are about to get deep under the hood of this industry and gain an insider’s understanding of the nuts and bolts of what makes this powerful machine tick.

This part of the book is fast-paced and stuffed with case studies that will explain the frustration and fear you may be feeling, open your eyes to the real nature of the rating-and-review industry, and empower you with knowledge to effectively fight back.

If you have the time, I suggest you read through all of Part One to improve your background understanding. However, if you are pressed for time, I’ve provided some shortcuts below to help you get straight to the content that will set you down the right path.

Shortcuts

Trying to understand why rating-and-review sites feel unfair and stacked against you? Then start with Chapter 1 (page 2).

Where did the rating-and-review industry as we know it today come from? The answer might surprise you. Find out in Chapter 2 (page 11).

Get a better understanding for how rating-and-review sites create a conflict of interest in Chapter 3 (page 24).

Explore how the rating-and-review industry is failing businesses in Chapter 4 (page 32).

See how focusing on rating-and-review sites, despite their many flaws, can boost your business in Chapter 5 (page 48).

1

Main Street Under Siege

In this chapter, you’ll learn:

Ways online rating-and-review sites harm businesses just like yours

How being “manipurated” can sabotage all of your marketing efforts

The top three complaints business owners have about rating-and-review sites

Why apathy is not an option and how to begin developing your strategy

In 2008, at the rock bottom of the Great Recession, Bobby Boas was at a crossroads in his career and decided to take an entrepreneurial leap.

A decade earlier, he had graduated from art school and embarked on an unexpectedly turbulent career in animation. His timing wasn’t great—LA’s animation job market was fiercely competitive and shrinking rapidly. Those years were stressful, unpredictable, and far less fulfilling than he had hoped. In that short period of time, and through no fault of his own, Bobby had been laid off (downsized, to use corporate speak) and left to settle for a string of part-time gigs.

Meanwhile, Bobby had also been pursuing a budding passion on the side—hair. He discovered a zeal for styling hair and developed a true gift for the craft. He found himself wrapping up his animation day job and then working evenings cutting hair for friends and family. The positive feedback he consistently received and the pride he felt improving how people looked made Bobby realize he had found his vocational calling. Through word-of-mouth referrals, the self-taught stylist’s client base grew quickly.

As his personal interest and prospects for full-time work in animation faded, Bobby followed his heart and decided to embark on a new career. He completed his beauty licensing, quit his animation job, and became a full-time hair stylist.

At first, Bobby worked for various well-regarded salons where he quickly learned the ropes of the business. Over time, however, he grew frustrated with how poorly managed, and at times even downright dysfunctional, the salons were. Bobby was confident he could do better.

As a result, he committed to creating his own salon—one that would address the weaknesses he saw in the salon industry, foster camaraderie among stylists, and ensure customers had a salon experience worth talking about.

Opportunity Knocks

The year 2008 wasn’t exactly the most auspicious time to start a business. The global economy plummeted to a depth not seen since the Great Depression. Across the nation, businesses small and large were imploding at an astonishing pace and the job market was hemorrhaging workers.

One such casualty of the Great Recession was a small salon tucked behind a boutique in an up-and-coming neighborhood in trendy Venice, California. The salon owner had decided to sell the business and wanted out. Upon hearing news of this, Bobby decided to check it out. From the moment he stepped foot into the vacated space, Bobby knew this was the salon he had dreamed of calling his own.

It wasn’t lost on Bobby, however, that the nation’s economy was in a fragile state and consumers weren’t spending freely. Yet despite facing a daunting recession, his own fears and anxieties, and a lack of capital to launch his business, Bobby trusted his gut, took the leap, and became a fledgling entrepreneur.

It required help from those closest to him to make it happen. “I borrowed money from my friends. I traded haircuts for help with the business. In the end, my friends believed in the concept as much as I did and I was able to secure the seed money to get it open,” he recalls.

Over the next few months, he poured his heart and soul into establishing his business. Bobby created an intimate space with four salon chairs overlooking a serene garden. The team of skilled stylists he hired was fun and talented and shared his customer service philosophy. The overall vibe of his venture was welcoming and warm, and the haircuts were hip and stylish. And so Hair Venice was born.

Westside LA locals, known for their demand for quality, quickly began buzzing about the salon. Hair Venice took off faster than Bobby could imagine. After all the struggle, sacrifice, and risk, Bobby enjoyed a sense of pride and relief knowing he had finally succeeded in creating the business he had dreamed of.

That is, until he found out about a scathing online review of his business.

Panic Sets In

News of this biting review came from Sally, a longtime loyal customer. During an evening of random web surfing, Sally searched Hair Venice and was led to rating-and-review sites about her beloved salon. They appeared at the top of her search results for Bobby’s salon.

Rating-and-Review Sites: These websites permit anyone with an Internet connection to give rating scores to businesses and provide written reviews about their experience. Typical sites in this category include Yelp, TripAdvisor, Angie’s List, Citysearch, and many others.

One of the first reviews Sally encountered was particularly nasty. Its biting commentary seemed to describe an antithesis of the Hair Venice experience she had come to know.

At first she didn’t think it was necessary to bring it to Bobby’s attention. After all, every site falls prey to online trolls. But after some deliberating, Sally became concerned about its potential impact on his business, so she decided to disclose her discovery to Bobby.

As he read the review, each scathing word seemed to morph into 3-D and jump out from the screen. Bobby felt a surge of nausea and dizziness. The post was a one-sided rant filled with hyperbole, insults, and outright lies.

After reading the reviewer’s description of events, Bobby immediately recognized her identity.

It was a first-time customer he’d seen a few weeks prior. She had told him on the phone that “no one ever gets my hair right, but I’ve read great things about you and am hoping you can work a miracle.”

At her insistence, Bobby had agreed to squeeze her in toward the end of a long day, though he had other appointments scheduled after her. She was late for her appointment, but Bobby took the time to listen to her concerns and developed a plan to repair some damaged areas of her hair. She agreed to the plan and Bobby worked on her hair. When he was finished, she was not happy with the result, but Bobby had already run over into his next appointment due to her late arrival.

Her demanding demeanor and negative attitude were classic signals of the hard-to-please type—someone who had probably been described as “high maintenance” by the many stylists she’d fired before him.

He offered to see her again in two days to discuss how to address the problems with her haircut and how to set her on the right path.

“Like clockwork,” said Boas, “two days later she called and canceled the appointment at the last minute.”

Since he had committed to helping her, he agreed, against his better judgment, to reschedule her appointment. She later canceled that appointment, too, this time via text message, and changed her story about what she didn’t like about the haircut.

She then posted a lengthy, incoherent, and scathing review on Yelp that at times even contradicted itself. It was horrifying to read, especially when Bobby had worked so hard to address her concerns.

The review baffled him. In it, she made no mention of the extra time and effort he put into her haircut, including the lengthy, free follow-up session he offered. To make matters worse, her negative review appeared at the top of his Hair Venice profile on Yelp.

As the days and weeks passed, the review wouldn’t budge from the top of his Yelp profile. Bobby grew increasingly preoccupied by doom-and-gloom scenarios. He wondered:

How are unfair reviews like this even possible, and do I have a way to defend myself?

Are th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part One: Getting the Lay of the Land
• Part Two: Tools and Tactics
• Conclusion
• Quick Start Guide
• Index
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author