Want to use reviews to drive conversions but you're concerned about negative posts? Here’s how to encourage balance.

Have you ever watched a focus group where there is one squeaky wheel that dominates the conversation about a product? The person has an opinion on everything and is compelled to voice it at every turn. The moderator coaxes others in the group to share, but they are constantly overshadowed by the alpha. The truth is that this scene happens a lot. I believe that these squeaky wheel types eagerly seek out opportunities to share their unique voices in panels, focus groups, surveys and other forums. Malcom Gladwell called these people "Mavens" in his book, "The Tipping Point." Online, they are bloggers, reviewers and the vocal perpetuators of the Web 2.0 movement.

Web 2.0 wouldn't be what it is without these mavens. Product reviews are littered with the advice of mavens who speak with the authority and vast product experience of your typical focus group alpha. Then, there are the people who ask the questions, "Has anyone tried this product?," effectively inviting mavens' commentary.

The general consumer loves that the mavens are out there to guide him. This plays out in how ecommerce sites use consumer feedback. In a report produced by e-consultancy Bazaarvoice and reported by eMarketer, 28 percent of the online sellers surveyed were using customer ratings and reviews, and approximately 80 percent thought a major benefit of such reviews was to increase conversions. Seventy-three percent felt that it helped them retain customers and that it encouraged loyalty.

In a continually deepening feature-rich internet landscape, website managers are doing everything they can to encourage store loyalty, even at the risk of inciting criticism of their wares. But, this criticism brings with it a unique challenge simply because the online mavens are truly everyday consumers rather than professional reviewers or journalists. On the one hand, we need people to comment on products or services because the average consumer wants to hear others' opinions, but on the other hand, we fear those opinions because they can be related to one unique experience or perspective. 

The best way to overcome this challenge is to have reviews occur en masse where single perspectives or experiences can be smoothed into a more democratic and statistically significant view. However, for most sites, this challenge seems nearly insurmountable because they don't have a large enough audience of mavens to review enough products. 

So, how do we answer consumer demand for reviews if we have insufficient or inaccurate review content? There are a few ways of tackling the issue. One way is to use Web 2.0 tactics: aggregate reviews of your products from other sites and upload them to your own site. Another way is to reach out to the mavens in your space directly, but you have to know who they are. Lastly, you can cultivate those mavens that currently exist on your site by finding ways to reach out and then communicating to them that your site offers a willing and receptive audience.

Realizing the benefit of Web 2.0 aggregation
The quantity of review-oriented sites is growing everyday, and many of them are eager to grow their own user-base. Consider reaching out to them to push their content to your site; reciprocate with link-backs or references. Back-scratching is a sure form of building goodwill and trust in your content (provided you're selecting the right content partners).

Reach out to the mavens
In any category, they're out there and you can find them. Perhaps not all of them are blogging or have developed high-ranking websites, but many are active participants in the online world through one mechanism or another. There are software tools available that can help you discover the influential communicators, many of which rely on Google rankings and relationships, but you can also seek out the mavens who are talking on message boards or fan sites by commenting on posts or connecting with them directly.  Respect their commentary and request their feedback on your site if you think they're doing a good job in your industry. Sometimes you can even request to re-post comments they've made on other sites to your own sites, but you have to ask permission. 

Cultivate your own mavens
If you are lucky enough to get people talking on your site and offering product or service feedback, you need to reward them by conveying that you're aware and happy that they're supporting you. Make comments on their posts, connect with them directly and make them realize that they're important to you and your site. Unless a post is illicit, don't take down a post, even if you think that it might be "unfair to a product." Be aware that if you've cultivated a healthy community of reviewers, a reviewer with an opposing opinion will likely say so and support the democracy of the system to balance out the aggregation.

Ultimately, research has proven that people like to know what others think about the products they intend to buy. They like when some people are vocal about their opinions so that they can heed warnings or purchase based on kudos, even if the reviewers are not necessarily professional. Hopefully, however, if you've done a good job in cultivating posts from the masses, you'll have a balanced judgment of your offering, and the consumers will reward you for it.

Reid Carr is president of Red Door Interactive. Read full bio.