Corporates can now speak their minds on Mouthshut.com

The popular consumer blogsite will soon introduce a system through which corporates can defend their products

The empowered consumer has been having a whale of a time with the advent of blogs. He has been writing reviews and comments on products, services, movies, music and just about anything. But it seems the time has come now for corporates to speak up collectively and defend their products.

Bearing the needs of corporates in mind, the popular consumer review website, Mouthshut.com, has come up with a section in which corporations can defend their products, post rejoinders to consumer opinions and communicate to consumers regarding new product launches.

“The aim is to move out of the one-sided communication model and give corporates a fair chance to respond to consumer queries/ complaints, thereby creating a bridge between consumers and corporations,” says Faisal Farooqui, CEO, Mouthshut.com.

Earlier, Mouthshut.com had a system called Member to Member, or M to M, through which corporations who wished to communicate with a blogger could send their opinion on Mouthshut.com, and the site would then deliver it to the blogger’s e-mail ID, thus protecting the blogger’s privacy. But the disadvantage in the system was that while those who logged on to the site could read the blogger’s opinion, only the blogger had access to the corporate’s viewpoint.

“Companies used to call us often and tell us that a certain consumer posting had hurt their reputation and they wished to resolve it. That is when this idea took birth,” Farooqui explains.

Mouthshut.com is claiming this collective corporate blogging platform to be a first of its kind in the world. But, surely, someone must have thought of this idea elsewhere in the world?

Farooqui insists, “While corporations such as Microsoft, General Motors and Daimler Chrysler have corporate blogs for their own products, no one has come up with a platform through which all corporates can voice their opinion.”

“There has been the occasional PR agency which has formed blogs for its clients. But nothing concrete has been done in an organised manner up till now,” Farooqui adds. The service will be available for free to all corporations initially, but later on, the model will charge a subscription fee.

This is how the collective corporate blog will work: On every product page, a link will be provided. This link will ask the visitor if he is from the company about which the review has been written. On clicking on that link, the visitor will provide his official details, which will be verified by Mouthshut.com. Once the visitor has registered with the site, he can post his opinion, which will appear below the original posting.

In turn, if someone wishes to send a rejoinder to this rejoinder, he can do so in a similar way, and the loop will continue.

“More than 75 per cent of corporations are becoming customer savvy today,” remarks Farooqui. “Today, companies are willing to exchange products, refund orders and adhere to consumer complaints with no questions asked. Companies want to know how they can service customers better. This seems to be a good way to do it.”

But will consumers be interested in reading corporate mumbo jumbo, where the postings are bound to sing praises of products?

“Customers are smart and independent,” Farooqui explains. “A corporation can lie once, it can lie twice. But it can’t get away with a lie a third time. If a corporation claims to be something it is not, consumers will catch it and they won’t stand for it.”

The collective corporate blog will be launched towards the end of March 2006. Farooqui claims to have roped in around 24 corporations already, but is unwilling to disclose their names. He hopes to achieve a target of 200-250 companies within the next six to eight months.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!