Back-End v. Front-End (reputation management)

Here we examine the (sometimes confusing) difference between back-end and front-end reputation management...

Back-end reputation management?

 

Simply put: responding to consumer feedback. This can be via in-house CRM (guest questionnaires for hotels, client surveys for estate agents, for instance) which will tell you areas and issues that need addressing. In the hospitality industry there are companies that will aggregate feedback via OTAs and social media - ReviewPro and TrustYou are good examples - so businesses can track patterns and address recurring issues.

Front-end?

 

Means addressing what's being said about your business before it's published on the web (our Dialogue™).

The difference? 

Both are tools to help you improve your reputation; 'back-end' by making improvements to the way you manage your business, 'front-end' by addressing consumer concerns before they are posted on the web.

For example...

No - we're not going to name names! But we visit hundreds of businesses every year and we get a very good feel of how well those businesses are run; for instance: it's amazing how far from its online reputation the reality of a hotel experience can be, we see at least one great hotel a week, and often they look seriously average on TripAdvisor.

The solution

In an ideal world every business should do both. If one or other is neglected your businesses' reputation will suffer. How is up to you, but we're here to help!