“Is the brand (such and such) trustworthy?” is one of the expressions in Google searches that most promotes traffic to the platform Complain Here, says co-founder and CEO Edu Neves. Reliability is the same as reputation in the minds of consumers, says the executive who heads the ecosystem for resolving conflicts between consumers and companies, which receives 32 million visits per month. Of this total, 22 million visit the website to check the company's reputation before making a purchase, and the rest, around 10 million, go to the site to find a solution, which accounts for 10% to 15% of monthly complaints.
Ever since he had to make the decision whether or not to make an angel investment in the platform, founded in 2001, the question Edu hears most is the same one that was asked at the time: “But investing in a complaints website, how is that going to make money?”
Edu says he soon discovered that the business, which now has more than 650,000 registered companies, was not about complaints, but about influence. The pandemic caused the number of inquiries to explode – in 2023, there were 1.4 billion page views – and served to bring companies closer together in the race to digital. It also ended up shocking stakeholders with the death, due to Covid, of founder and CEO Mauricio Vargas, whose legacy Edu Neves is now trying to preserve and expand.
Read the main excerpts from the interview below.
CONSUMER REPUTATION
What is the general consumer's idea of corporate reputation?
Consumers are initially driven by the desire or need for a service or product. The issue of reputation comes into play when they start to want to understand why they would choose one brand over another. When consumers start to ask themselves questions, trying to understand what they want to buy and who makes it, the reputation game has already begun.
What aspects does the consumer take into account before becoming a customer of a company?
It depends on the product, the convenience, and the consumer profile. The consumer creates an arrangement of attributes that create what he or she imagines to be reputation by translating the word trust. One of the expressions that brings the most traffic to Reclame Aqui in Google searches is when the consumer writes: “Is the brand (such and such) trustworthy?” At that moment, when he or she is trying to figure out who is who, he or she uses the term “trustworthy.” So, the direct translation of reputation for the consumer is trustworthiness.
TRUST AND BREACH OF TRUST
What does the customer tolerate or not and how does this impact the company's reputation?
What consumers tolerate the least is distance. They try to talk to the brand and are unable to reach a contact they feel is effective. Consumers expect the brand to be ready to talk to them when they need it, especially when they have a problem. If they just want to clarify a doubt, they may even give up on the product because they don't have the information. But when they have a problem, trust comes into play. Consumers think that the brand has abandoned them, that they made a bad deal. Emotionally, that's when trust is broken.
“If a consumer goes to a store, they expect the brand to welcome them, not to say: you have to call 0800, that’s only online, you’ll have to go to store number 3. For the consumer, this is disconnection, it’s distance. Or they enter a bot and spend hours trying to get out and there’s no way to find a solution. That’s also distance.”
What has changed in consumer demands regarding products and services with the widespread digitalization in recent years?
The main point is still the issue of distance. What the consumer wants to know is whether the brand really delivers what it promises. And then, if they have a problem, whether the brand will be there to solve it. First, it is the commitment to deliver value.
“We are seeing many famous brands perishing within the digital environment and some influencers and emerging brands, as well as new startups, gaining a huge projection of value in the market.”
Why do companies in some sectors ignore criticism and negative feedback and remain in the market?
There are different reasons. First, we have companies with a low level of competition. A low level of competition generates little attention to the customer because the drive is not to win people over, but to produce and deliver as much as possible. The second reason has to do with the company's level of maturity. This company does not understand that, today, every journey is digital. We no longer buy anything without taking our smartphones out of our pockets. The company does not understand that, within this digital space, there is an asset, a brand value, which is its reputational value, that is being eroded. And there are other companies with a really harmful vision.
MODERATION AND FRAUD CONTROL
Is there a risk of fraud or manipulation in platform reviews?
We have had a content moderation system for many years. When a complaint comes in, we forward it directly to the brand. When a consumer asks to register a company, most of the time, the company has anticipated it, registering itself. However, if the consumer asks to register and is unable to provide us with a contact information, and we are unable to provide a contact information that gives us certainty that the complaint will be forwarded to the company, we do not register it. This is the first point of control. There is a whole process of sanitizing the database. When some brands say that anyone can go there and complain and can make up a bunch of stuff, that is not true. Due to analogy with other sites or due to lack of knowledge, this judgment ends up happening. But, in our case, this is not possible.
What is it like for Reclame Aqui to act on both ends – alongside consumers, who seek protection, and companies, with education programs so that they can better understand their customers?
Instead of principles, we have commandments on the wall. And one of them is like this: everything we do has to be good for all three – the consumer, the company and Reclame Aqui. It has to be good for the company because we believe in turning problems into recommendations for new consumers. So, a well-handled and well-answered complaint is the next thing that will be read and will be the purchase decision for a new consumer. It has to be good for the consumer because it has to be fair play. But it has to be good for Reclame Aqui. Why? Because it has to be truthful, it cannot destroy our reputation.
“We always want to be a place where you can come and solve your problems. When these things evolve, the whole society wins. I think the economic system improves and the social issue improves as well.”
And what is the Reclame Aqui rating on Reclame Aqui?
This is very interesting. We receive complaints from companies and consumers on Reclame Aqui itself. We have a great index. We fight, but we can't get the maximum index. We are in the same game as the brands.
Clóvis Malta is a journalist
Clovis.malta@ankreputation.com.br