Is Blue Shield of California about to step on a land mine?

Advertising Age today covered Blue Shield of California's announcement that they would provide a forum on its website for customers to share ratings and reviews of its various plans. The program is just emerging from a pilot phase so there are not yet a ton of reviews.






















So why are they doing this? As heath care and heath insurance in particular tend to be frustrating (occasionally maddening) for many of us, isn't Blue Shield of California just setting itself up to get hammered with negative comments from unhappy customers? Won't those comments turn-off prospective consumers? These risks are real. I'll attempt to illustrate why this might actually be a good idea in the context of marketing:

1. People will be able to find this information elsewhere anyway (Consumer Reports for one offers in-depth reviews of individual insurance plans with extensive reader reviews). Why not get points for making it easy to find and acknowledging that's how the world works now? It also makes it easier to stay on top of the conversation.
   
2. Positive customer feedback in the context of an open forum (alongside negative comments) is the most credible endorsement you can get. Take away the negative comments and you have a very expensive brochure.
   
3. Customer feedback might help prospects do a better job of choosing the right plan for their needs. Lower selling costs. Higher customer satisfaction. Win-win.
   
4. Blue Shield of California might actually learn about what satisfies and dissatisfies customers. Isolate the hot buttons that drive purchases. Identify the things that cause you to lose customers. Beats mall intercepts.
   
5. If Blue Shield of California substantially addresses the issues they learn about in this forum they have the potential to create brand evangelists. The most persuasive endorsers are often those who've been wronged who go on to have their problem resolved. It happens so rarely in the context of large corporate service providers that the occurrence is generally noteworthy. These turnaround experiences are genuinely tweet-worthy (as is ignoring a negative situation).
   

Clearly this bold step is not without risk. If Blue Shield of California is to do more than ride the popular trend of being transparent they need to act on what they learn in this forum or it does have the potential to backfire.