The Wall Street Journal Online has published an interesting article today on the customer review posting practices of several big-name online retailers like NewEgg.  The article points toward the growing trend of websites that solicit or otherwise encourage users to submit reviews of their site, products, and business practices for posting.  While some tout a very open policy of posting almost any review, the majority have filtering processes to decide which reviews will be made public.  The filtering process can be as simple as software that weeds out reviews which include foul language or as complicated as a multi-member staff that read all the reviews. Read on for our thoughts on how these places should handle customer reviews.

The most major concern associated with the filtering of customer reviews is that there is the possibility that someone’s submission, possibly yours, could be deemed unfit for posting.  The websites in the WSJ article point to several reasons why this might be the case.  They mention such factors as profanity, vagueness, complaints about products from other retailers, and time-sensitive reviews.  Having received comments on several of my own side-project websites, I would point to even more basic issues that go into skipping some customer reviews, such as a lack of web or personal etiquette – meaning an overuse of font formatting, name-calling, spelling errors that make reviews nearly unreadable, and so on.

Despite all of these reasons, however, it’s important that we try to understand both sides of the issue.  First of all, online retailers have to have integrity in the way they handle the feedback from their customers.  If a review is not posted for public viewing, the complaint of the customer still should not be ignored.  Additionally, it is probably a wise idea for websites to air on the side of openness – posting more negative reviews rather than less and being forthcoming about their filtering processes.  Sites that do this well, or have the guts to post everything, should be commended.  For a great example of this, check out www.customink.com, which specializes in customized t-shirts and other items.  They openly post every review that comes in.  Personally, this is reassuring for me as a customer – especially since their honesty has led to thousands of excellent reviews.

Finally, we as customers need to stick to good-old-fashioned decency when we submit reviews of websites.  Sure, the customer should always be right, but almost all good consumer websites have real people on the other end of the internet pipelines that have to read and respond to your ranting.  Believe me, most letters are not as scathing and shocking as we might think – they’re just annoying and childish.  Take time to make a clear argument or offer something constructive, including how the site owners could make it up to you.  Also, make sure you send real complaints about service or products to the right source – many sites have separate customer service and website review areas. 

It’s funny, but it’s almost like we all need a lesson in the basics of human communication and conduct.  Websites need to be honest and clear, and customers need to be sane and decent. 

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