Small-Business Survey Reveals Customer Reviews Six Times More Likely to Impact a...

Small-Business Survey Reveals Customer Reviews Six Times More Likely to Impact
a Business Positively than Negatively
One-third of small businesses missing out on low-cost, high-return marketing
opportunity of positive testimonials

NEEDHAM, Mass., July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- RatePoint, a leading provider of
customer feedback and online reputation management services, reports that
contrary to perception, online feedback and reviews trend positive for a
majority of small businesses. In a recent RatePoint summer season survey, the
company found reviews were six times more likely to impact a business
positively than negatively. In addition, the survey also found 24 percent of
small businesses say an online review has had a positive impact while only 4
percent of SMBs reported a negative business impact from an online review.

"Consumers love to see the unedited reviews of their peers when making
purchase decisions," said Neal Creighton, CEO of RatePoint. "Proactively
asking for feedback and promoting it to prospective customers can
significantly impact the decision-making process."

While many small businesses are seeing a positive impact from reviews, others
are missing out on the opportunity. Approximately 31 percent of small-business
owners say they are not sure if an online review has impacted their business.

"Participating in online conversations is a low-cost, high-return marketing
tool for SMBs," Creighton said. "With the summer and hospitality business is
in full swing, now is the time to capture and promote what customers are
saying about you. In the reputation economy, it's in a small business' best
interests to use these conversations that are already occurring as a way to
build trust and stand out from their competitors."

More than half of small businesses surveyed reported perceiving a decline in
business due to the current economic climate, while 20 percent report growth
and 24 percent report no change. Of those who responded that a review had
positively impacted their business, 55 percent reported business growth or no
change in business. Of those who responded they could not be sure if a review
had impacted their business, 71 percent reported a perceived decline in
business.

About RatePoint:
RatePoint, Inc., the leading provider of customer feedback and online
reputation management services, helps businesses protect and build their
online reputation, allowing businesses to harness the power of credible
customer feedback and leverage it into a sales, marketing and customer service
asset.

RatePoint's easy-to-use, Web-based communication services include customer
feedback tools to collect business and product reviews, email marketing,
survey and dispute resolution capabilities to provide small- and medium-sized
businesses with the ability to collect, manage and promote customer feedback
directly from their Web site. For more information, contact us at:
888-777-1636 or visit: www.ratepoint.com.

SOURCE RatePoint, Inc.

Yvonne Gaudette, RatePoint, Inc., +1-781-465-2052, ygaudette@ratepoint.com; or
Tim Wieland, Airfoil Public Relations, +1-248-304-1431, wieland@airfoilpr.com