By Bob Gregory
Almost all consumers researching a business or product begin
their search online and according to BIA/Kelsey, a leading Local Media and
Advertising Expert company, that number is approximately 97% of consumers! There are many sites that will help you find
a senior facility that meets your needs and some offer reviews and
ratings—other let you decide for yourself.
So with all this information available, should you trust online reviews
and ratings? That’s a good question and
one that is asked quite often from the 97% that search online. Anyone who purchases a product or service
wants to feel confident in their purchase and often look to the experience of
those who have purchased the product or service to help guide them. Thus, the birth of the online review or
rating systems! I know a lot of
consumers who immediately look for a product with the most positive reviews or
a site with the highest ratings from users before they will ever commit to
purchase a product or service. Are they
savvy online shoppers or are they being swayed by good advertising?
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| Posting reviews at the review party! (Photo credit: JJ's List (www.jjslist.com)) |
Some sites that allow consumer reviews and ratings are
attempting to offer some type of validation in an effort to give the user a
sense of confidence in the reviews or ratings.
Some try to validate the “reviewer” by asking them to create an account
via email and password or some other method to demonstrate the reviewer has
purchased the product or service.
However, it is very easy to create an anonymous account and write a fake
review. It is not uncommon for companies
to have employees, friends, family or even “paid reviewers” write glowing
reviews for their company or product and at the same time post negative reviews
or ratings for their competition. This
makes it very difficult to trust online reviews. Even validation processes can only go so far
and cannot actually verify the type of experience a consumer had with the
product or service and in most cases, they cannot really validate that the
reviewer was a consumer of the product or service. There are some companies that apply
algorithms to attempt to detect “fake” reviews in an effort to assist sites in removing them. They look for key words
or phrases to identify potential fake reviews.
Recently, TripAdvisor changed their slogan from “Reviews you can trust”
to “Reviews from our community” over allegations that millions of their reviews
might be fake!
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| Customer Service reviews and ratings are now everywhere. (Photo credit: michaeljung) |
But how do average consumers view reviews and ratings? Amidst all the potential fake reviews, Local
Consumer Review Survey 2012 reported that 72% of the consumers surveyed trusted
online reviews as much as a personal recommendation! Further, 52% said positive reviews would most
likely cause them to use a local business.
In light of what I just wrote above, that’s pretty outstanding and
somewhat unexplainable. However, I think
you need to take a step back and realize how the consumer psyche works. Most
consumers want affirmation that they are making a good buying decision and it
is usually for products that tend to be luxuries not necessities. If you want to buy a new 3D High Definition
flat screen, there’s nothing better than hundreds of great reviews to confirm
this is definitely what you should do…also called justification. However, if you need surgery, I don’t think
you want to make your decision based on online reviews of the surgeon!
You are probably wondering how to take this information and
use it to make the best decision in finding a Senior Facility for your elderly
parent or yourself. In my opinion, you
should be very wary of both positive and negative reviews and ratings of Senior
Facilities. This is a very important
decision and you should use every tool and every bit of information available
to decide. This includes visiting the
facility, speaking with existing residents, asking for referrals from medical
professionals and friends and finally, checking with the State Regulatory
Agency to see if there have been formal complaints and charges. It is also a good idea to ask the facility
how they handled the complaint and what procedures are in place to prevent
similar issues. If you are seeking an
Assisted Living Facility or a Nursing Home, your decision is extremely
important to your elderly parent or yourself as you are “purchasing” very
personal service and in the some cases, medical services. Finally, in the field of elderly care,
consumers are more likely to remember the one incident that really upset them
over years of great care and service so be cautious when reading reviews or
even receiving opinions from friends.
Make sure you get the whole story!
If would like a list Independent Living Facilities, Assisted
Living Facilities, Nursing Homes or any other type of Senior Facility, I hope
you will consider www.seniorfacilityfinder.com.
If you would like to contribute your thoughts and ideas,
please leave them in our comment section. We want to hear them. Helping people
care for themselves or their loved ones is what we care about.
We look forward to reading yours.
Bob Gregory is an advocate
for Seniors and is one of the founders of www.seniorfacilityfinder.com. At SeniorFacilityFinder.com, we are dedicated
to helping families get the Elder Care help they need without having to provide
their personal information! If find you need an assisted living facility or
other type of senior facility, please consider www.seniorfacilityfinder.com
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