In today’s postal mail, we received a large, colorful mailer that had a heading of: “I love you, Constant Contact. But I’m moving on to RatePoint.” The backside of the closed piece spoke to an upgrade for Constant Contact customers – we have used their product for some time – at half the cost. When you follow the asterisk, you discover it’s a ‘show me the invoice’ strategy of new account acquisition.
Opening it up as four panels (it fills the desk), there was a giant comparison chart of features, which seemed to favor RatePoint in the area of surveys and customer feedback. But, after looking at the mailer cover to cover, I was still missing the point of why I should switch from Constant Contact to RatePoint.
What I found as a mixed message of email marketing vs. surveys didn’t come clear until I went to their Web site. I discovered that their survey advantages described in the mailer were about RatePoint’s “online reputation” features, for reputation management services.
I poked around their Web site, followed a demo online, and then listened to the Podcast titled, “When Your Reputation Precedes You". It started to come together in my mind as a form of Angie’s List for the everyday business owner or company; you can customize online reputation management for your business using their tools. And, they become an alternative to the Better Business Bureau, and others, with their RatePoint seal (membership) program.
Since our business is not consumer driven, we will be quite comfortable sticking with Constant Contact. However, for those of you who are consumer oriented, how many of you currently employ some way to manage your online (consumer/business) reputation? What form does it take? Do you feel comfortable that your current survey or customer testimonials meet your needs? Do you really need one more technology to manage, or can you continue to compete with less sophistication in the way of referrals and testimonials? What advantage would the RatePoint Badge, and RatePoint Directory, offer you in the form of higher customer satisfaction, retention, and acquisition of new business?
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