With a bad economy comes a bad online reputation for some businesses. No doubt you have heard something about the bad Economy recently and are aware that we are in an economic slow down. Thousands of businesses and Millions of consumers have been negatively impacted in one shape or form by the worsening economy.
One niche industry is seeing an influx of new business, the Online Reputation Management industry. Top players in the industry have reported an increase in consumer complaints over the past 12 month, mostly ignited as a result of the weakening economy.
One Reputation Management company, ReputationArmor.com has seen a major increase in business because of ex-employees and disgruntles employees filing complaints online about their employers for layoffs and delayed or unpaid wages. With over 5.5 million Americans receiving jobless benefits and more layoffs coming, thousands of bitter ex-employees and their families are ready to step up and possibly let a company's not so friendly skeletons out of the closet.
Many industries have seen an increase in online complaints about their company popping up online in recent months. The financial industry is being hit with a plethora of online consumer complaints. Mortgage companies are getting a bad reputation for unfair foreclosures, Credit Card Companies for setting limits and changing policies without notice, Loan Modification Companies not being able to save homes, Pay Day Loan Shops for predatory style lending and the list goes on and on.
It appears that in a tough economy consumers are more valiant when it comes to confronting businesses that may have used unfair sales contracts and policies.
The complaint trend is here and the power to tarnish a businesses reputation is only a few mouse clicks away. With dozens of online complaint portals like RipOffReport.com, anyone can say anything about anybody and the scary part is they can do it anonymously. All it takes to file a complaint and say what one wants about a company is an email address and a little consumer rage.
When someone files a "Rip Off Report" about a company or individual, chances are that the complaint will rank very high on Google when you search the name or company name that received the complaint. Google's search engine should also be called a "Reputation Engine". When a consumer is considering signing up for a service or making a purchase they tend to rush to Google or other search engines to do research about the products, brands, and businesses they plan on spending their hard earned money on. If a consumer sees a bad review, complaint, or rip off report about a business chances are they will use a competitor even if the competitor's price is slightly higher.
"Why take the chance of becoming the next victim, I would go with a competitor even if it cost me more... That is if the competitor has a better reputation" Says Melissa of Virginia Beach VA a single mother of 2.
"It is clear that the bad economy causes more consumer complaints" said a worker for an online complaint portal. The complaint site which requested to remain anonymous has seen a 50% increase in complaints already this year when compared to last years figures.
So the economy does have an influence on business reputations. It is more important now than ever for businesses to focus on customer relations and possibly bend some policies to keep consumers happy. The fact is that not many people will go out of the way to talk good about your business, but they will walk a mile on broken glass to tell how bad you treated them.
Contributors: Reputation Armor - ReputationArmor.com
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