Why not allow user reviews on your B2B website?

Posted on February 22, 2008 by Dave J.

“Why do so few business to business Web sites load user reviews of individual products online?” asks Julie Powers (The Internet Marketing Report Online: Offer user reviews instead of discounts? Maybe).

She goes on: “Because all the results from consumer Web sites seem to imply that there isn’t much downside to posting reviews (unless all your products suck. And that would never be the case, would it?)”

Admit it, we all love the product reviews at Amazon. So, Julie asks a great question: Why not?

  1. Fear. Your team, CEO, and salespeople will ‘what if’ you till you scream and give up.
  2. No alternative products: We aren’t distributors with multiple brands to select from. At Amazon, I can jump from Canon to HP products. If shopping at Agilent, a bad review may drive me to Tektronix’s website.
  3. Its personal. These are my products and I don’t want anyone dissing them publicly on my website!
  4. Cases vary. Successful application of many B2B products depends on the skill of the user and the actual usage.
  5. Customized products. The reviewer may have a unit with a modification that they may praise in a review, but others may not know is extra.
  6. Loss of control. Related to fear–how do we control who posts reviews? What do you do when a salesperson calls saying he lost a sale due to what a review said?

Well, I could go on, but those are enough to stop any B2B marketer from allowing reviews on their website. What do you think? Are these just excuses, or reasonable reasons? Are there other issues at hand? Is it worth allowing reviews anyway?

And if you can help Julie (and me out) if you know of anyone in B2B-land allowing user reviews, let us know.

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  • Larry Hendrick

    just excuses …Quick question: If someone buys the product and likes it, why not let them become a raving fan?We like to classify buyers as B2B and B2C, but B2B are people looking for the best deal, best value, best decision just like B2Cs are.I don’t think I see the distinction between the two for reviews. Another thought, if someone leaves a bad review, that is a customer crying out for help. By the time they are frustrated enough to leave a negative comment, they have been through the process twice and have started on the third. A good story can be built from extraordinary customer service for a disgruntled customer.

  • Larry Hendrick

    just excuses …Quick question: If someone buys the product and likes it, why not let them become a raving fan?We like to classify buyers as B2B and B2C, but B2B are people looking for the best deal, best value, best decision just like B2Cs are.I don’t think I see the distinction between the two for reviews. Another thought, if someone leaves a bad review, that is a customer crying out for help. By the time they are frustrated enough to leave a negative comment, they have been through the process twice and have started on the third. A good story can be built from extraordinary customer service for a disgruntled customer.

  • Scott

    The reason B2C’s utilize reviews is to let users generate content for them. They aren’t doing it to be benevolent; Amazon users create tons of content for the company. So why not let B2B customers do the same?Are industrial product users passionate enough about, say, heat exchangers or metal shelving or packaging materials to give you any substantial amount of reviews? Would they generate the content you need?We have a competitor who uses reviews. I’m almost positive that they are fakes since there are so many, and they are uniformly positive and they all sound the same. I suppose they get some utility from that, ethical considerations aside (and it’s possible that they are perfectly legit). So if I enable reviews, do I put myself in line for moderating them (and I’d certainly do so for content that was offensive etc) for a relatively low number of reviews? Or is it possible that I’m underestimating the appetite of customers to review what they have purchased?Anyway, we’ve elected not to add them, for now. We may someday, and I’d love to be proven wrong about their utility. We do a lot of case studies and testimonials, instead.

  • Scott

    The reason B2C’s utilize reviews is to let users generate content for them. They aren’t doing it to be benevolent; Amazon users create tons of content for the company. So why not let B2B customers do the same?Are industrial product users passionate enough about, say, heat exchangers or metal shelving or packaging materials to give you any substantial amount of reviews? Would they generate the content you need?We have a competitor who uses reviews. I’m almost positive that they are fakes since there are so many, and they are uniformly positive and they all sound the same. I suppose they get some utility from that, ethical considerations aside (and it’s possible that they are perfectly legit). So if I enable reviews, do I put myself in line for moderating them (and I’d certainly do so for content that was offensive etc) for a relatively low number of reviews? Or is it possible that I’m underestimating the appetite of customers to review what they have purchased?Anyway, we’ve elected not to add them, for now. We may someday, and I’d love to be proven wrong about their utility. We do a lot of case studies and testimonials, instead.

  • Dave J.

    Larry–Of course they are excuses! LOL. We’ve got a couple disgruntled customers who became raving fans. But will the review on the website end up telling the whole story?Scott–Yes, more content would be great, especially since we only pretend to know the true utility of our products to our customers. Fake reviews by a competitor would only make visitors to your site cynical about what is posted there, I imagine, so that’s not good for you either.To both of you, despite the excuses and worry, I think customer reviews would be great on a B2B website. But pulling it off right would require a certain commitment. For those already using referrals and testimonials, this is probably a just an incremental step.

  • Dave J.

    Larry–Of course they are excuses! LOL. We’ve got a couple disgruntled customers who became raving fans. But will the review on the website end up telling the whole story?Scott–Yes, more content would be great, especially since we only pretend to know the true utility of our products to our customers. Fake reviews by a competitor would only make visitors to your site cynical about what is posted there, I imagine, so that’s not good for you either.To both of you, despite the excuses and worry, I think customer reviews would be great on a B2B website. But pulling it off right would require a certain commitment. For those already using referrals and testimonials, this is probably a just an incremental step.

  • Lisa Anderson

    I think those are all really good, valid points, but in the end: just excuses. It’s a great tool for a buyer.

  • Bob Gilbert

    We would very much like to provide an online venue for our customers to post their reviews about our products. The question I have is what online platforms are available for B2B customer reviews? Everything I see is B2C focused and very expensive. We are not an online shopping engine. We sell networking equipment, have 4500+ customers, and want a way to share the details of customer experiences with folks investigating our solutions.

  • Bob Gilbert

    We would very much like to provide an online venue for our customers to post their reviews about our products. The question I have is what online platforms are available for B2B customer reviews? Everything I see is B2C focused and very expensive. We are not an online shopping engine. We sell networking equipment, have 4500+ customers, and want a way to share the details of customer experiences with folks investigating our solutions.

  • Dave J.

    Bob–Sounds like you may need to suck it up and ask for a custom solution. I should add that to my list of fears to doing this. Good luck.

  • Dave J.

    Bob–Sounds like you may need to suck it up and ask for a custom solution. I should add that to my list of fears to doing this. Good luck.

  • Anonymous

    So am new to this whole blogging thing but has anybody ever purchased anything from the captin-b2b website?
    And also is it legit?

  • Anonymous

    So am new to this whole blogging thing but has anybody ever purchased anything from the captin-b2b website?And also is it legit?

  • Michael

    I believe in consumer markets there have been just the same issues BUT the consumers simply won! It's not like B2B buyers don't obtain reviews and recommendations from peers but they don't do it in that easy, upfront way consumers do. And why is that? My assumption is that there is just not a platform such as amazon.com or priceline that provides a compelling, easy-to-use review site. B2B purchasers want it, they might use it but they just don't have it.

  • Michael

    I believe in consumer markets there have been just the same issues BUT the consumers simply won!

    It's not like B2B buyers don't obtain reviews and recommendations from peers but they don't do it in that easy, upfront way consumers do. And why is that?

    My assumption is that there is just not a platform such as amazon.com or priceline that provides a compelling, easy-to-use review site.
    B2B purchasers want it, they might use it but they just don't have it.

  • Anonymous

    @Bob Gilbert: Unlike what Dave J. said, there ARE free platforms your customers will use to share their experiences.I do not believe in review ability on companies' homepages. It has to be a neutral third party and at the same time a common platform for both buyer and supplier. I am writing a whitepaper on the top platforms B2B suppliers can benefit from and will soon provide a link to it. I had some great experiences promoting a small IT business's training solution on a social business networking site. Within some hours we had more registrants for an event than the same event conducted a month before had in total!!

  • Anonymous

    @Bob Gilbert: Unlike what Dave J. said, there ARE free platforms your customers will use to share their experiences.

    I do not believe in review ability on companies' homepages. It has to be a neutral third party and at the same time a common platform for both buyer and supplier.

    I am writing a whitepaper on the top platforms B2B suppliers can benefit from and will soon provide a link to it.
    I had some great experiences promoting a small IT business's training solution on a social business networking site. Within some hours we had more registrants for an event than the same event conducted a month before had in total!!

  • Lisa Anderson

    I think those are all really good, valid points, but in the end: just excuses. It's a great tool for a buyer.