Odds are you came to this post from some social network, like LinkedIn or Bluesky. While you’re on that network, you can probably recall the dopamine-hit you get whenever your post or comment gets a “like”.
This New Year, make the resolution to give that same rush to the businesses and content creators that you encounter. Making a conscious effort to proactively leave honest reviews, even if you’re saying the crepes are spongey, makes all the difference. As Warren Buffet said, “Honesty is a very expensive gift; just don’t expect it from cheap people.”
That honesty matters, as shown in Capital One’s research where they call out 93% of purchases are influenced by reviews. Mozilla’s Fakespot does great work to help catch the bots that harm consumer confidence in online reviews, and authentic reviews build trust and help people improve their products!
Areas Where Your Feedback Matters
It isn’t always obvious what content providers and stores benefit from reviews (beyond the YouTube and podcast creators that mention nine times per episode…), so here are some good ones to keep in mind:
- 🎙️ Podcasts – Yes, I know I just made fun of it. But how often do you actually take the time to post a review on your player of choice?
- 🗺️ Google Maps – This is the lifeblood of organic traffic for restaurants. Don’t feel guilty about leaving an honest 4-star review, because insincere 5-star reviews tend to trigger an avalance of over-compensating 2-star reviews by subsequent disgruntled customers who had trusted your words.
- 👨💻 For coders, GitHub – Star those repos that you love!
- 🖨️ For 3D printers, Thingiverse and Printables – Especially remember to post pictures of your successful prints!
- 📚 GoodReads – Whatever kind of reading you do, spend a bit of time helping others learn from what you love and hate.
- 👨🍳 Recipe Sites – For whatever you’re cooking at home, tell other people what you thought of the instructions and the results!
- 🛒 Wherever you bought your online purchases – From Amazon to Etsy to those small businesses you’re frequent, give them a review!
How To Remember This Resolution
It doesn’t matter if you’re a marketer that focuses on user generated content (UGC), or a store operator who sticks a “Leave a review” sign on the exit door, we all forget to leave a review when we’re in the moment – and we over-index leaving reviews when we get a solicitation in an email or flyer with our purchase. There are lots of businesses that focus more on quality products and experiences rather than review solicitation [thankfully]. Let’s make a resolution to acknowledge, and hopefully appreciate, all the providers that make our lives wonderful.
My trick for remembering this (it’s the third non-consecutive time I’ve made this resolution): set a weekly calendar reminder to catch-up on your reviews. I’ve even saved you the time and made an iCal event reminder for you. Happy New Year🎇