Handy Q&A for businesses

Ben Matthews has blogged about us a couple of times, thanks Ben! His lasted post includes a Q&A from James. It is helpful not just for PR's (which is the field Ben works in), but also for businesses looking to engage with Plebble and get the most out of the site.


As a side note, the blog is hosted on Marcom Professional. It is a professional network for those working in marketing communications. For those in the area, it looks like a great resource.

Consumer Satisfaction Index

You may have noticed a new addition to the site and that is our Consumer Satisfaction Index (CSI) in Plebble Analysis. Our CSI is a monthly round up of UK customer satisfaction based on your ratings. Your ratings help us track your overall happiness towards businesses. We call it 'Net Happiness' and as you can see it shows a declining picture :-(. Your ratings also help us track the most and least popular sectors and the best/worst performing businesses. We always meant to add to the Plebble Analysis section and we hope to add more features as the site grows.

Another little addition to the site is you can now receive an RSS feed for all our Plebble News so you never need be out of touch with consumer news again.

Plebble in the news!

Just a quick note to say we had a great piece in the Times Money section on Saturday. We thought Rebecca O'Connor summed up Plebble beautifully by saying "The idea is that the site will force companies into improving service by making customers' experiences visible to everyone."

Thanks of course has to go Jonathan Posner for his case study. Jonathan is a Plebble user who rated Plebble and consented to press contact. Thanks Jonathan!

A recession is bad, but it's not all bad

Recession - are we, aren't we? Who knows? There is enormous confusion at the moment as to whether we are in a recession, we are heading for one or we survived by the skin of teeth. Whether we are in a recession or not, there is no doubt that the economy is showing signs of slowing. Recessions are rarely thought of as good news, however there are some goods that come out in times of financial hardship.

One of those is customer service. The theory goes that in times of hardship businesses have to fight harder for your custom. If you have less to spend you will think harder about where to spend your money. If everyone else has less to spend businesses are competing for a shrinking pot of money making them work harder perhaps offering discounts but also focusing on customer satisfaction. The businesses that survive recessions are the ones that have a loyal customer base. A base of customers that not only use but recommend a business. Providing excellent customer service and communicating that message is key to survival and even prosperity for businesses.

So if the theory holds you should be noticing an upturn in customer service. In tough times businesses need your support and you can do that simply by rating them on Plebble. This will benefit other consumers too by helping them find businesses based on your recommendations.

Plebble Starter package goes Live!

Well this is the place where we keep you up-to-date with all our developments and our latest one 'PlebbleStarter™' package for businesses has arrived! Now any business can take ownership of their business on Plebble for FREE! PlebbleStarter™ includes numerous free tools for businesses. Please have a look at the features to see what is on offer. You will note that we have premium services for businesses too. These are in the form of 'pay-as-you-go' and are to further help businesses improve their appearance, raise awareness and gather feedback.

On PlebbleStarter™ we give businesses the ability to respond. This is a great way of helping businesses and consumers communicate and engage with each other. Each response is posted live on the site and the rater concerned is notified when a reply has been made. This is very powerful for businesses as it gives them an opportunity to turn a negative comment into a positive outcome. Not only can a business win back the disaffected consumer it can also show everyone else how they are responding to problems and lets face it even the best businesses make mistakes so we all need to tell people how we are rectifying and improving. We have already seen consumer problems rectified through the site but the response feature only helps this further.

Of course businesses can also respond to positive comments, to thank their customers for their loyal support and tell them how they are making things even better.

With all the hype surrounding social networks, perhaps a good way of looking at a PlebbleStarter™ membership is as a business's own online profile. The big difference of course is that businesses don't have a choice whether they have a profile or not. Consumers have opinions on the businesses they use and want to share those opinions with others. There is very little businesses can do about these conversations and with the internet and sites like ours conversations are increasing and spreading further all the time. So why not be part of the conversation? This not only involves the response feature as mentioned above, but it also includes the ability for businesses to customise their page and branch pages with logos, descriptions and website links. Businesses can also add their own news stories and special offers to keep customers up to date with all their developments.

I hope you agree that the PlebbleStarter™ package really enhances the concept. If you have and feedback then you can of course rate us! Alternatively please get in touch by emailing us at info@plebble.com we always love hearing from you.

James's broadband nightmare

I have been amused to listen to my brother James (who sits next door to me), spend the last few weeks speaking to an unnamed broadband provider's call centre trying to reconnect to his broadband package. You would have thought it is the simplest of tasks and one that they would dedicate resources to, but it seems to be impossible to connect. I have listened to him slowly melt with frustration. It would be harsh to say that I am amused by his misfortune, more because it underlines why we need Plebble!

James has since gone elsewhere and taken the hit of paying nearly twice the price. However his new broadband provider is treating him so well that he his quickly becoming an advocate for the company. His case is a simple example of how important it is for businesses to serve their customers well. Not only has James's old broadband provider lost £150 a year customer, but it has also lost an unquantifiable amount through his negative word of mouth. That the fact that word of mouth is unquantifiable is a large reason why businesses provide poor service. As they can't measure it they can't assess the downside of treating someone badly and the upside for treating someone well. This is no excuse however, it is the businesses like James's new provider that understand the importance of treating customers well that ultimately win.

Plebble team up with Savebuckets

SaveBuckets - Save a whole load of money

If you are a fan of Savebuckets.co.uk you will notice a slight addition to the site - we have teamed up with them! Savebuckets are a free online shopping comparison site which helps you find the best priced product. It is a very simple and quick process, you type in the product you are after into their search box and from over a million products Savebuckets will then generate relevant results sorted by price. You then select the product and are directed the cheapest retailer. Savebuckets have now integrated our Plebble-rating so that it not only shows the best price but also the best service (Plebble-rating). Savebuckets users can now assess according to a retailers value and value for money, i.e. value plus service. For example you may be more inclined to spend a little bit more from a retailer because you are confident in their quality service.

Here is an example of the service in action.

'Local Heros ' on Plebble

There has been plenty in the news over the last few days about the effect supermarkets are having on competition in local areas. This coincides with the release of the Competition Commission's findings into the UK grocery market. We reported this in In the News on Friday. We are interested to know what effect supermarkets have on local businesses and local communities. According to research that we released, 39% of people think that supermarkets are damaging their community making them the second worst culprit. Property developers were number one at 42% and government was third at 38%. The Commission's report is being criticised for not addressing the effect supermarkets have on local businesses.

What is interesting to note is the widespread support for local businesses. An example of this is the Evening Standard's campaign to 'Save Our Small Shops' in response to the closure of 7,000 small shops in London in the last six years. Our research shows that there is eagerness to respond, with 93% of people intending to support their local organisations in 2008. Small shops find it hard to compete with supermarkets on price, range, convenience and marketing clout. Obviously the best way to support our local shops is to physically buy from them. However recommending that business to others is an extra way to support it. On Plebble we call it 'Local Heros'. These are the businesses that deserve our thanks and support. So to help support your local businesses and local community please rate your Local Heros on Plebble.

Press coverage

We had some great coverage from Rosie Millard in her column in the Save & Spend section of the Independent last week. Have a read! James has also been interviewed on BBC Radio. The response to the coverage has been superb so thanks for all your support.

A few more developments for you...

As ever we have been developing away to bring some more features to the site. Firstly something we have been meaning to add for a while is Google Maps on each businesses page. Take Sainsbury's for example, now you can easily find the businesses you are looking for.











We have also added a free alert for all users. On each business page you can sign up to an alert everytime someone rates and everytime we or the business concerned posts a response or a news story. Whether you are a consumer, work for the business or a business owner you can keep fully up-to-date. Which makes you better informed and helps you participate in the conversation.

We are constantly developing the site and aim to bring more features online soon. Please keep sending in your suggestions for tweaks and improvements, it all helps to make a better user experience.

'What is going on at Plebble.com'

Hi, this is just a quick update of what is going on at Plebble.

Firstly MyCustomer.com has published one of James's articles, entitled 'What does web 2.0 mean for your business?' I recommend reading it, particularly if you are a business owner.

We have also made a few minor developments to the site. Firstly we have added a news scroller for our 10 latest In the News stories. It also allows business Members to upload stories, which are clearly marked as sponsored.

We have also added a latest 10 ratings fader on the Plebble.com splash page. We felt the page was too static otherwise.

As always we love hearing from you, so if you have any questions or comments on these or anything else on the site then please contact us.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It is great to be back at Plebble after a little break over the festive period. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves.

I picked something up on Google News this morning, which I thought I would share. Silicon.com posted an article on Forsee results which has complied the top 30 UK online retailers for customer service over the Christmas period. Forsee found that pure online retailers such as Play.com and Amazon.co.uk came first and second scoring 76 and 75 out of 100 respectively. It was a mixed bag for traditional retailers websites with many featuring at the bottom of the list including the likes of B&Q, Comet, Currys, PC World and WH Smith. However bucking the trend was HMV coming fourth in the list.

These Forsee results are consistent with Plebble for example Amazon.co.uk and HMV have Plebble-ratings of 3.13 and 3.66.

The findings give a useful insight into who were the online customer service winners and losers over the Christmas period. In the News today was Play.com for 24% jump in sales over the Christmas period. Play.com is top of Forsee's list, which shows that it really does pay companies to deliver good customer service.

There has been plenty In the News about the growing prefence amongst shoppers to buy online. For example it is thought £14 billion was spent online by UK consumers this Christmas.

If you were one of them please log onto to Plebble and rate you Christmas experiences (positive or negative). That way we can use your experiences to help fellow consumers and businesses, which should mean next Christmas you will get an even better shopping experience!

Happy Christmas!

This is just a quick post to thank you all for your support for Plebble over the last months and to wish you a very Happy Christmas. We hope it’s restful...

It’s been a great period for us since we went live in August. We now have about 10,000 different people per month visiting the site and we’re having some really interesting ratings/comments. That number’s set to grow when we launch our publicity campaign in early 2008.

Plebble’s leader board has already highlighted some businesses that are obviously providing great service. Essex-based classical music mail order business, Colchester Classics, has been top of the charts for a number of weeks. It’s obvious from their ratings that nothing’s too much trouble – and that, as a result, they’ve got an extremely loyal fan base. Independent wine merchant, Caviste, is a recent entry – in at number 2. They’ve also recently been named in The Guardian’s Shopping Directory (‘the ultimate guide to Britain’s finest independent shops and suppliers’) which seems well deserved based on their ratings. Third is BBC.co.uk (the most popular website in the UK) and 3 John Lewis brands (Waitrose, Ocado and John Lewis) appear in the top 25. To view more best and worst performers on Plebble, please click here: www.plebble.com/analysis.php.

Finally, if you haven’t rated your own Christmas shopping experiences yet, please get online and do it! (Here’s the link: www.plebble.com/rate-it.php) Remember, the more ratings you give, the better Plebble gets, so please do find time in your day to rate. If you bought online, did the stuff arrive on time? Did you go to local, independent stores or big chains? Which was better? Any horror stories? Anyone you want to thank for going the extra mile? Please let us know...

Anyway, have a great Christmas and see you in 2008.

James and Will

Plebble Beta?

A few people have asked us why Plebble didn't launch a Beta version first. We did in a way - Plebble is always Beta in the sense that we always want our users to test the site and tell us how we can improve it. Plebble is for everyone - ie 'a true e-mocracy' - so everyone can input into it. Besides, lately we've been seeing Beta branding being used by some people as a marketing gimic rather than a genuine attempt to get feedback from a site's 'early adopters'.

So, if you've got any feedback or thoughts on the site, please let us know. Also, if you notice any bugs (hopefully you shouldn't but you never know), please tell us so we can get them fixed...

Customer service is the key to reputation

According to research conducted by YouGov and published by the CBI this week, 48% of consumers think excellent customer service is the characteristic that most helps a firm build its reputation. This compares to 36% who said that products and services always living up to expectations mattered the most.

Of the 1,960 adults surveyed, 82% think that companies must work harder at restoring their reputations and 45% said the best way to do this is to come clean and publicly apologise when an issue arises.

The research analysed the relationship between price and reputation. It found that 58% of consumers are willing to pay more to their most highly regarded company, with 43% saying they would pay up to 5% over and above a cheaper price. This demonstrates how important it is for companies to get customer service right. As it is customer service that most affects reputation, which in turn affects the premium companies can charge.

The research also revealed the top ten companies that consumers think have the best reputation in the UK. In order this includes:

1. Marks & Spencer
2. John Lewis Partnership
3. Virgin Group
4. Tesco
5. Sony
6. Asda
7. Amazon
8. Apple
9. Boots
10. BBC

It is still early days, but we can already draw some interesting comparisons of this research to Plebble. With a plebble-rating of 3.04, Marks & Spencer is our 18th highest performer and John Lewis also scores highly, with position of 14th and a plebble-rating of 3.25. With their website bbc.co.uk, the BBC are our 3rd highest performer with a plebble-rating of 3.90 and Boots have a rating of 2.83.

However it is difficult to compare like for like as groups include a collection of brands. Take Virgin Group for example. They have many brands such as Virgin Active, Atlantic, Holidays, Media, Mobile, Money, Trains and so on, but consumers opinions vary between them. For example with a plebble-rating of 2.28, Virgin Atlantic is a highly rated airline, but Virgin Media is our third worst performing organisation with a rating of -3.33.

There are other brands on Plebble which conflict with the survey rankings. This includes Tesco Stores sitting behind Waitrose and Sainsbury's with a plebble-rating of 0.82. Surprisingly Apple also does not rate highly on Plebble with a plebble-rating of -0.57.

The research also highlights the banking sector with 36% of consumers citing it as the the sector most in need of restoring its reputation. Plebble shows that we are indifferent about our banks. Some consumers seem to be positive about their bank and as such we have banks like ICICI, Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland rating highly. However on the other end of the spectrum, some banks are poor performers. These include Barclays, Natwest and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Of course you may feel that many of the businesses listed do or don't deserve to be in their respective positions. To compound or contrast a rating please keep rating. It will help us provide you with reliable and live data on the best and worst businesses whether they be local stores or mobile phone companies.