Silicon Valley Musings

I have been following Jeff’s coverage of Les Blogs.

One of themes that seemed to be overlooked is the Weblog as tool for consumer advocacy.

A while back I had difficulty with my refrigerator and was charged what I felt was an unreasonable amount for the repairs. I documented the service call and my frustration on my Weblog and enclosed the entry’s URL in my email to the company.

Within twenty-four hours, a vice president in the service division phoned me. She apologized for my frustration and credited half of the service charge to my credit card. I suspect my Weblog entry had some impact on the timeliness of their response.

Weblogs can also be used for providing positive feedback to companies. Personal product reviews have a significant impact on consumer’s purchasing decisions. Amazon’s customer reviews are an example of this power.

I feel personal, Weblog-based product reviews are be even more persuasive than those found on sites like Amazon or Epinions. Here is an example of a Weblog-based service review.

I think companies could stimulate Weblog-based product reviews. Today, companies employ eShots to take pictures at events so the attendees will visit their Websites to download the photos. Chrysler used eShot to promote the Crossfire at this year’s auto shows.

Companies should contact their customers after a purchase or using their service to interview them regarding the experience. The result would be a professionally written product review the company would email the consumer for posting on their personal Weblog.

Combine it with personalized photos of the consumer with the product (provided by an eShot like service), and the Weblog-based review would be very persuasive.

The use of standardized tags would make it possible for other consumers to search for Weblog-based reviews for specific products.