There’s the inevitable catch, though. Check that iPod page you link to. Let’s say you’re director of marketing at TigerDirect; you click your company’s listing and find headlines like these: “Ripped off on return of defective product.” “Rebate amount may never come.” “Rebate RipOff.” Those were the subject lines of three of the top four reviews just now.

In an ideal world, product and marketing managers would steel their jaws, jump up, and say “Let’s improve our product and customer service to meet these concerns right now!” We all know how common that particular reaction is. Think airlines and cell phone carriers.

The question, to me, is not whether reviews and open customer communication will improve conversion rates for a good product, one that provides good perceived value to its customers. Nor is the question whether exposing your company this way will force its every level to take the customer seriously and improve your product, ultimately benefiting both customers and sales. Surely it will.

The question is, How you convert the folks tasked with marketing an average product or competing on price to open up its own public communications channels, e.g. Web site, to unfiltered customer reviews and comments. Methinks the answer is that you can’t until the client delivers a product or service that will stand up to that kind of public scrutiny.