By Paul Pannone

Coverage of the Wedding Wire story and other associated problems with review websites has investors interested enough to contact this newZ source asking if there is an opportunity for a better system to connect wedding couples with bridal services. eWedNewz coverage highlights some of the flaws in review systems leading probable competitors to build a better way of executing without the current pitfalls.

Sources reading the coverage of the flaws in review websites set their sight on the weak spots of current successful businesses, making plans for late 2012 or 2013 launches.

Wedding experts who are reluctant to trash Wedding Wire justify their stance by saying it’s the best we have so far. The last words, so far, suggest there’s more to come.

In an ongoing eWedNewz story we’ve moved to asking the average person what they think about review websites. Mid 20-30 consumers conclude review sites offer a topical reference point and are not as important as business owners make them out to be. One average consumer says;

“You pretty much nailed it. Write a review for any business. For most stores, I find that reviews tend to be unreasonably low. On average, the only (normal, not associated with the company) people who write reviews are those whose experiences have been extraordinarily bad. Also, standards can be very different from person to person about what a good product or service. I might have a company do X, Y, and Z for me, but even though X, and Y, were perfect, I’m exacting about what I was expecting and because Z was lackluster, I give the company a negative review. Meanwhile, person B might say, “X and Y were great! So what if Z wasn’t fantastic? I really only cared about Y anyway.”

The apartment company for my complex (as an example) gets nailed on google reviews for being next to the projects — the only thing is that it’s a multi-building apartment company, and the projects, while near one building owned by the company, aren’t anywhere near where I live.

Review sites are one of those things that you have to take with a grain of salt, but I can see that negative reviews would be troubling for small retailers.  I have thought for a while that if people are so worried about yelp/google reviews, they should do promotions to get people to rate their products. “Free___ if you write a review in the store — no matter what you write.” It’s likely going to cost some money, but if you look at Yelp as an advertising tool, you get what you pay for.

The trick is A) for businesses not to flip out when a customer in the store writes a negative review, and B) for businesses to actually implement the advice they get from consumers who write honest reviews.”

Currently an ongoing poll shows 49% of replies so far say wedding websites can ruin their business, while 43% feel they can’t. But in ongoing discussions no business owner wants anything but a perfect score or accolades written about them– anywhere.

The pressure against Wedding Wire and all review websites continues to mount as sources contacting this newZ source say they’re mad an won’t put up with the extortion much longer.

To date, knee-jerk reactions and some full-blown overreaction in the wedding industry created discussion among wedding vendors and affiliated sources that promise Wedding Wire a run for their money.

eWedNewz is all ears and will be there to cover the story– if and when it happens.

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2012