Customer reviews are incredibly important. Consumers are willing to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews. But if you aren’t seeing reviews coming in, you might be tempted to generate some “reviews” of your own.
Wait! Before you write a review of your own company, read this blog post first. Reviewing a company that you own or work for can do some serious damage to your brand reputation and trust, and might even get you in trouble with the law. Here’s what to know, plus what you can do instead.
Can I write a review of my own company?
The short answer is no. Writing a review of your own company is not a good idea. You can’t help but be biased — your opinion is skewed. And your customers will know it.
Reviewing your own company online hurts your credibility. It also damages your brand if consumers call you out on those fake reviews, which in turn knocks you down SERPs (search engine results pages). Reviewing your own business or products can even get you in trouble with the law, where you may have to pay fines — hurting your reputation even more.
Why you shouldn’t review your own company
Before we get into solutions, let’s talk a little more about why you should not write online reviews of a company that you own, work for, or are affiliated with.
Hurts your credibility
If you write a review of your company, this will tarnish public perception. Your customers rely on the information they find on the internet about your brand. They trust this information to be authoritative and reliable.
So if a customer finds out that you authored a review of your brand, their trust in you will immediately be damaged. They’ll wonder whether your products or services are authentic. Likely, they’ll pack up their virtual wallet and take their purchasing power somewhere else.
Damages your brand and SEO
Writing fake reviews damages not only your brand trust, but also your SEO ranking. Consumers can report fake reviews. In turn, your reviews might be removed and your account on third-party review sites could take a hit. Your brand might not be as visible in search engine results, leading to reduced web traffic and fewer new leads.
May be against the law
Finally, reviewing your own company may actually be against the law.
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently proposed a new set of guidelines that would ban fake reviews and testimonials. Among other rules, a company’s officers and managers would be prohibited from writing reviews or testimonials of that company’s products or services without clearly disclosing their relationships. Businesses who violate these regulations may have to pay a fine of up to $50,000.
Google policy
Google states that individuals are not allowed to use the Google Store to mislead others through deceptive or inaccurate reviews, or otherwise false representations. For example, if reviewers have received any Google product for free or in exchange for writing reviews, they must state this in their review.
Practices that Google does not allow include:
- Reviewing your own business or products
- Posting content about a current or former employment experience
- Posting content about a competitor to manipulate their ratings
- Copying content from other sites or other customers
Can my employees review my company?
No. Your employees cannot review your company. According to Google’s review policies, asking your employees to review your business is a conflict of interest. Google states:
“Examples of disallowed practices include, but are not limited to, reviewing your own business… While your current or former employees might offer valuable insights about your business, they don’t represent a typical customer, so their input isn’t suitable for a Google review. Moreover, a current or former employee is likely biased. The FTC calls this a ‘material relationship’ and also forbids these types of reviews.”
Trustpilot, a third-party review website, has guidelines for reviewers, too. You cannot write a review about a business or their products if you or someone in your immediate family owns or works for the business. However, if you’re a former employee, you can write a review about a genuine buying or service experience you had with the business when you weren’t employed there.
Sitejabber includes a business platform called Jabio that you can use to get reviews from customers. Similarly, however, these reviews can only be from authentic customers who have done business with your brand. Our terms state that Sitejabber users must agree they will not write fake reviews, trade reviews with other businesses, or compensate someone to write a review.
Sitejabber uses software algorithms, community reporting, and other methods to aggressively detect and remove fake reviews. User accounts must contain enough information to be credible — you may not impersonate anyone on your account.
How to encourage your customers to leave reviews
Instead of writing reviews yourself, turn to your customers — the best people to write authentic online business reviews. Worried they’ll say no? 81% of consumers are likely or highly likely to leave a positive review if they feel the business went above and beyond to ensure an exceptional experience. And 65% of consumers will leave a review at least some of the time, as long as you ask them.
After a customer has received their purchase, ask them to write a review. You can make your ask through channels like email, text messaging, or in person (if applicable). Make sure you thank the customer for their purchase and tell them that you appreciate their business. Then give them clear instructions on what you’d like them to do next.
Here are a few scripts you can tweak and personalize to ask for customer reviews:
- “Thanks for your purchase! We’d love to hear about your experience. Click here to leave us a review on Sitejabber.”
- “We hope you’re enjoying your purchase! Quick question: Could you write us a review on our website? Click here to share about your experience in just two easy steps.”
- “We value and appreciate your business. Please take a minute to write a review of our business on Google so we can help more customers.”
Responding to online reviews
As your customer reviews begin to build up, make sure you respond to each one — whether it’s positive or negative. It’s good for other consumers to see you actively responding to reviews, taking the time to genuinely thank your customers and work to solve their problems wherever necessary.
Your response to positive reviews doesn’t need to be complex or long. Simply thank the customer for their purchase (and for their review), and encourage them to come back and tell a friend.
Negative reviews should be handled with both professionalism and empathy. Acknowledge and restate the customer’s complaint (“It sounds like you’re upset because xyz…”). Then suggest a solution and offer to take the conversation somewhere else, such as email, to fully resolve the issue. (This should go without saying — but the final step is to follow through and actually solve the problem.)
Get more (and better) customer reviews with Jabio
Reviewing your own company or asking your customers to write a review could land you in hot water, fast. But thanks to Jabio (Sitejabber’s business platform), there’s no need to write reviews of your own company. With Jabio, you get access to a full suite of digital tools designed to supercharge your reviews for more trust — and sales. Get genuine reviews from real customers the easy way as you funnel reviews to high-visibility channels, increasing your brand awareness even more. Click here to get started today.
