As a mobile marketer who deals with consumers, one of the problems you face is the proliferation of sites on which you have to manage your business’s reputation. Depending on where your audience is, you might have to be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Yelp, and more. By managing reputation, I mean not only monitoring for bad reviews, but encouraging customers to share their happy experiences.
Even though Yelp itself has become less trusted over the years, we all know people still read Yelp reviews. Up until now, bad Yelp reviews have been the biggest scourge for companies delivering a service, but there will soon be a “new” competitor.
Angie’s List was founded in 1995 (by a woman whose name is actually Angie) as “Columbus Neighbors.” In 2002 it became one of the first internet-based review sites, and it has long enjoyed a great reputation of its own for being the anti-Yelp, as well as for calling out sloppy service. Contractors, repairmen, followed by health professionals were anxious to get on the list, although they couldn’t nominate themselves even by subscribing to the service. A customer had to do it. Because Angie’s List was a subscription-based, crowd-funded review site, people came to depend on it for reliable reviews. The theory was that Angie’s List couldn’t be “gamed.”
The company is a consumer-driven organization that collects customer satisfaction ratings on local service companies in more than 720 categories and provides an exclusive list of these companies based on feedback from local consumers who know who to turn to when the gray clouds of disrepair loom. It’s a word-of-mouth network solidified into one handy “who can I call” list.
Now, Angie’s List wants to attract the new generation of mobile-first searchers. It currently has over three million members, and it wants to keep growing, so it changed its business model and is now a free service − allowing anyone to post and read reviews.
This is big news for businesses. Formerly, customers had to be paying members of Angie’s List to see the customer reviews. According to the company’s CEO, the members-only restriction caused 90% of the site’s 100 million monthly views to bounce. So Angie’s List removed that barrier.
So imagine: millions more views of your reviews and your business. Makes you want to be sure what’s posted is positive – and what isn’t positive is resolved quickly.
As the leader in digital engagement and social media and online reputation management, Digital Air Strike helps customers leverage positive reviews across multiple review sites – including some that are industry specific such as Cars.com.
The list of businesses included in Angie’s List remains mostly home repair, healthcare and other service providers. If this applies to your business, the first step is to claim your business profile and to actively monitor the site for reviews. You should already have a plan in place to help happy customers share their positive feedback publicly on social and review sites. Now, add Angie’s List to that plan.
