Many Game The Truspilot System And It Is Easy
We all love to purchase products online for the great convenience. You find the product you want after searching online to be sure you have the right source. You see that the site has excellent reviews both internally and externally through sites like Trustpilot. You make the decision to buy the product and hope for the best.
Unfortunately, those reviews, though not fabricated, are certainly missing something. As a graphic designer that is constantly concerned about quality I know that reviews can be subjective. Certainly in the creative world a design isn’t always what everyone will agree upon. But, as a person who knows the inner workings of web sites as well, I can tell you that the system is fixed when it comes to reviews.
First, internal web site reviews are easy to edit and skip. It’s just that simple. In a database built ecommerce web site you can simply choose the reviews you want to publish.
As for third party review sites, Trustpilot has become the darling of the industry these days. So many web sites are signing up to it because search engine experts tell them that this third party “fool proof” review system will ensure you get top billing on search results. However, there are so many ways to implement Trustpilot that it isn’t telling the truth at all. For example, if you are running a CRM system such as Salesforce in your office, you can actually program orders to NOT offer a client the chance to review you on Trustpilot if you think they may provide a negative review. An example would be an order that didn’t go exactly according to plan. You haven’t actually closed the order yet in your Salesforce database but know that the client wasn’t happy. Regardless of what you did to make them happy, you choose to check a box that says “do not send this client a review request” so that your company can maintain its high standing online. Case closed. Problem solved. The client may not be happy, but your web site reviews are certainly filled with happy customers.
This is a problem.
Nothing today in terms of reviews is for certain. I know of a few companies that hide negative reviews just to keep that false search engine result and online image. It is a shame and we need to do something about it. These companies are actually some of the worst you could do business with, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the glowing reviews.
A standardized ecommerce review system would be nice. But that would be asking all ecommerce sites to play along. If Google and Bing were to enforce standards, then perhaps we could get somewhere. However, I’m no expert in programming. I’m just a graphic guy trying to create an image you like.
Review me. Let me know what you think. I trust you.
