Just as Max Nisen said, “In a time where trust in companies is at an all time low, it’s more valuable than ever. That’s not a moral or values based statement, it’s about the impact on the bottom line.” Look at this chart, then you will realize how much investors and consumers reward an outstanding reputation.
As a customer, what do you look first when shopping online? Or, what do you care about most? Price? Quality? Shipping speed? You may say customer reviews will help me decide if I should actually buy the product or service. Okay, here comes next questions: 1. How to motivate customers to tell truth? 2. How to empower them to trust these reviews?
Motivation
First of all, marketers need to attract right kinds of people. Defining target customer is important because we need to sell right product to right people. For example, if I am trying to sell a car to an old lady, I will probably not persuade her to buy a very fast car. Instead, I will focus on safety and practical features. To be specific, marketers should access to customer online and offline. Internet offers rich opportunities to reach target customers or industries as never before. On the other hand, many people still prefer to get goods offline (e.g. housing, car, furniture).
Secondly, marketers should motivate customers to tell truth. The source for much of this information is, of course, customer review, which has changed the trend of business. In order to get trustful result, many websites verify customers’ rating or reviews online. On the other hand, marketers should empower other customers to trust. It is not an easy procedure from “signaling” to “branding”. Simultaneously, privacy and metrics are the biggest issue in digital marketing world.
Dan Shen's Weekly Insight 
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