Questions

So, like TripAdvisor but not funded by advertising/links to the service providers (more user-centric). To avoid the empty market place problem I need to get a reasonable number of reviews fast - or have some other strategy for making the site useful. Besides a blog, any strategies spring to mind?

Hi there

1) Define your story

I'm not sure who your audience is, but getting users to write reviews means that they need to resonate with your story. In order to do that, you need to convey what you've built, why it's important, why it's likely to work, etc. In other words, you across all your channels, you need to be telling the story about the value you are creating in such a way that it resonates with your target audience so that they take a desired action e.g. writing a review.

2) Attention and trust

The problem you have is that you don't have attention. Now it's not about being worthy or not, its about how you architect your communications so that your audience understands the worthiness and value of what you are doing - get this part right and everything will take care of itself. The other consideration is does your target audience know who you are? If not, then it's going to be a tough job and if they do know who you are, do they trust you and your story enough to engage with you? At the heart of every transaction is trust - if you don't have it, you need to get it

3) Ask

I think it goes without saying that you need to ask first - if you don't ask they just won't do it.

4) Incentivise it

Typically, users won't do anything unless there is something in it for them. Think about what incentives you can offer in exchange for reviews but remember that people are rarely motivated by money

5) Create an event around it

People love events and they're a great medium to convey your story and to build a community around your platform.

Happy to have a call with you to discuss further...

Matt


Answered 11 years ago

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