One of the reasons why Amazon survived the web bubble bursting all those years ago was that it made an unprecedented move and included customer reviews of its products. This allowed customers to buy in confidence, knowing they were not listening to a marketer’s superlatives, but first hand praise from likeminded consumers who would give an honest assessment untainted by their own agenda. But in the travel business it’s all too easy to say: “But Amazon stock other people’s products. If I allow user reviews and my products are slated then the buck stops with me.” You can relax: according to a new study, the vast majority of amateur reviewers want to rave about the experience you gave them – they’re just waiting for the chance to do so.

eMarketer reports that a recent study conducted from August to October showed that the majority of product and service reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.3 out of 5. The good news continues with 9 out of 10 of the respondents reporting that their intentions were to help other customers, and 8 out of 10 confessing that they write reviews in order to reward the company’s performance. In fact those who posted negative reviews most or all of the time accounted for just 2% of the respondents.

But what of those 2% who can’t wait to leave that nasty review? Well, in my experience, bad reviews are often so pantomime as to leave you mistrusting their intentions anyway, and if you do end up with a tiny percentage of bad reviews then they will be swallowed up by the generally good vibes emanating from your website. Ebay’s feedback system is a good example of this – even the biggest sellers get occasional bad feedback, and yet if their profile reads 95.9% positive, people can feel reasonably confident that they’re dealing with a legitimate seller. All the same, if you do feel that a couple of bad eggs are going to taint your entire basket, then you can actually turn this to your advantage by publicly replying to the comment, expressing your disappointment at their experience but thanking them for their feedback and offering them a chance to get a ‘gesture of good will’ discount. This will not only make you look like a human, caring company, but can possibly bring back a customer from the brink of leaving you forever who would have previously fumed in silence.

There is one other reason not to sit on the fence on this issue.  Other websites are implementing customer reviews in their droves.  The survey revealed that a quarter of respondents were adding the feature for the holiday season. Your site does not want to be left behind on this one, because rather than being an unusual feature, customer reviews are becoming standard and its entirely possible that those who do not offer their customers a voice will be regarded with suspicion – as if they have something to hide about the quality of their product.

As long as you don’t have an unusually high level of customer dissatisfaction, you should embrace user reviews. Your potential customers will trust your products more and those who have been impressed by your services will be keen to reward you – if you give them the opportunity. You don’t need to offer the very best price or service: just ensure you match the promises and expectations your website makes, and you’ll be rewarded with glowing reviews, and with them, more custom.