There are Hellopeter myths that have been around for quite some time that keep popping up. As a business, trying to dispel these myths can be a challenging task! However, as your one-stop shop for retail and consumer advice, we want to ensure you get the true full picture of who we are and what we offer.
We’re all about making sure your voice gets heard by the companies who are lucky enough to enjoy your business. Millions of South Africans rely on Hellopeter every year, and we sincerely appreciate your trust. However, with so many consumer conversations happening all at the same time, there are occasionally some myths and misconceptions about what Hellopeter is floating around.
Here are the top 5 myths and misconceptions about Hellopeter we’ve come across — and the real truth you can trust.
Myth 1: Only angry customers write Hellopeter reviews 😡
This may come as a surprise, but many Hellopeter reviews are positive!
Hellopeter reviews used to be seen as a way for customers to vent after a bad experience. You might remember (depending on your age! 😉) the days when, if you had something important to say, you picked up the phone or wrote a sternly worded letter.
As online conversations formalised and it became customary for people to engage meaningfully online, people and businesses realised the value of curated conversations. Today, people leave online reviews for several reasons, including;
😃 Fulfilling an emotional response
When an event, purchase, or experience invokes an emotional response from us, good or bad, we tend to find spaces and people from whom we can share or seek empathy and understanding.
💪 Claiming your power
The Hellopeter online review space allows consumers to take control of their retail journey. Before Hellopeter, consumers were often at the mercy of businesses’ customer service, or lack thereof. Once you handed over your money, you had very little recourse if an issue occurred. Today, Hellopeter consumers’ voices are amplified, as they can speak directly to the business and the issue at hand. With millions of potential consumers reading our registered businesses reviews, a single voice can move the needle like never before.
💗 Paying it forward
When a friend or acquaintance does you a favour, the normal response is often to pay that favour back. Hellopeter’s community has been so helpful to so many South Africans. When Mzansi’s amazing shoppers come to our platform for advice and purchase research, they often feel the need to ‘pay it forward’ by sharing their own advice and experiences to help the next researcher in line. Hellopeter has proven that it really does take a village!
Myth 2: Online reviews aren’t real ❌
Many people often just assume that companies registered with Hellopeter simply write their own reviews to attract customers.
The reality, however, is that review platforms like Hellopeter take this issue very seriously and clamp down hard on reviews suspected to be fake.
These days, both businesses and consumers can instantly flag reviews they suspect as insincere to counter this increasingly rare phenomenon. With Hellopeter, for example, we have strict review rules, an automated spam filter, and an entire team is dedicated to platform curation and addressing any disputes that may occur over the validity of reviews posted. This allows the Hellopeter community to browse for opinions and advice with confidence.
Myth 3: People just don’t trust online reviews 😒
Well actually, the numbers are in, and ‘trust’ is one of the biggest reasons people check online reviews before spending their hard-earned cash.
The truth is, most people are busy getting on with it and don’t really have the time or energy to fake a review. When someone takes the time out of their day to craft and post a Hellopeter review, most people would (correctly) assume that person has something genuine to share. So, the next time you’re second-guessing that online review, check out the below stats about online reviews and ‘trust’.
- Up to 90% of consumers use online reviews to inform their buying decisions.
- Consumer products reviews are trusted almost 12 times more than the manufacturers’ descriptions.
- 68% of people form opinions about companies after reading between one to six online reviews.
- Reviews on Hellopeter have helped over one million consumers make better choices.
Myth 4: Negative reviews are bad for business 📉
We’ve all been there before—we visit a shop or business, and the service or products are just not up to scratch. We want to write an online review complaining, but we’re good people, and we don’t want to hurt a business, especially during these difficult times.
Well, guess what? For switched-on business leaders, your negative review could be the best thing to happen to them. Why?
✔️ Negative reviews build credibility
Let’s be honest, while Hellopeter goes above and beyond to curate reviews and ensure all published reviews are credible, if you hop onto a business page and see only five-star reviews and nothing but positive feedback, you might be suspicious. Even companies with the best customer service and products still make mistakes. An honest negative review shows that the company is legitimate with real people who make the occasional mistake. However, they are also willing and able to address these mistakes.
📊 Negative reviews give businesses insight
Businesses often spend a fortune on market research, trying to understand what you, the customer, wants, thinks and feels. When a company invests the time and customer service effort into engaging with its customers’ complaints, requests and opinions, the company gains invaluable insight into their own operations, service and product line directly from the horse’s mouth.
⭐ Negative reviews allow businesses to show off
We don’t know about you, but few things impress us more than seeing a business publicly owning up to a mistake and taking the necessary (albeit daunting) steps to address the issue. After all, up to 70% of customers will revisit a business if their problem is resolved. Leave a negative review and allow businesses the chance to show off their amazing customer services.
Myth 5: Hellopeter is your digital agony aunt😩
At the core of Hellopeter is the desire to give consumers back their power. That means we aren’t just a space for people to share their complaints.
Of course it’s important to us that your service and product complaints are aired on our platform and get the attention they deserve. And we would rather our community avoid bad experiences by empowering themselves through research.
Businesses registered on Hellopeter are organised by Trust Index, Industry Ranking and Net Promoter Score, allowing our community to research, select and check out service providers before they purchase, with a degree of accuracy and certainty.
Join the Hellopeter Community and Help Mzansi
So there you have it, the top myths and misconceptions about Hellopeter busted! Now that you’re clued up, why not hop onto Hellopeter.com right now to research your next purchase or leave your favourite business a needle-moving, online review! You know that warm fuzzy feeling when someone compliments you? That’s how you’ll make that business owner or staff member feel!
