Transparent reviews
By Shaun Adams
Subscribe to newsletterThe true world of online reviews
We know that being able to see a recommendation or review of a company online is a great way to see what you can expect before you buy or book. However, are they always as trustworthy as you expect?
The answer is no. Of course there are those out there that you can trust and that you know are true, but there are just as equally likely to be those that you might not be quite as transparent as you may hope they are.
Want to know more about which online review portals you can trust and which you might want to steer clear of? Here are our summaries of the main ones.
Feefo and Trustpilot
One of the most commonplace review portals that customers and businesses will use are those just like Feefo and Trustpilot. These review sites are paid for by the business themselves and this means that they have complete control over who posts a review and even what they say to an extent. This might not sound so bad, but think about it from this point of view; as the business will invite customers to leave reviews, chances are that they are not going to invite those that they know have had a bad service, therefore not giving a true reflection of how they have performed.
Not only this, but if a reviewer does leave a negative review, then the reviewer will be asked to prove the basis of their negative review, something that they might not have the time/inclination to do, which means that their review will be deleted.
Another way of leaving reviews on a business is to visit their Facebook page and use this review platform. Facebook reviews are usually much more transparent than those that are available on review sites, as the company has no control over who posts. However, what you might not realise is that whilst the negative reviews cannot be deleted and they shall always stay on the page, they can be hidden away.
The most trustworthy of all the review options out there has to be Google. As these reviews are controlled by Google, there is nothing that a company can do if they receive a bad review (apart from trying to respond to it to rectify the situation and show their customers that they will deal with negative reviews). Anyone can post Google reviews, without an invitation and they cannot be deleted. Good news for customers looking to find the best company for them.
As you can see there are plenty of different places that you can check out reviews, however, it is always a good idea to take some of them with a pinch of salt. You never know who is being truthful, who has deleted reviews and who has made sure that their only their happiest customers have interacted.
For a true picture always look at Google.