Is it okay to ask customers to review your services on forums or social media?
- Thread starter Wambo
- Start date
Licensecart
Active Member
No you can link it in a signature but never ask them personally...
Meh. Depends on the context of the request really. If a provider doesn't specify a specific forum and isn't expecting a raving / positive review then I don't care. If they ask you to specifically write one for a specific forum, but offer no compensation/reward then.. I'm on the fence. If they ask you specifically to write to a specific forum in return for something like credit, then I am against it.
souen
Active Member
If I've a spare moment, I don't mind leaving a positive note for a good provider if they email customers asking nicely (once or twice at most for the duration of service).
For forums a full review would require a bit more effort (provide POP, do benchmarks, etc.) so it's understandable businesses try to offer incentives for people to do it. However, it's a slippery slope to a paid review, in a different trade currency. A shout out on social media is easier to do and a lot of people would be happy to do that for their favourite providers if they already have active accounts.
For forums a full review would require a bit more effort (provide POP, do benchmarks, etc.) so it's understandable businesses try to offer incentives for people to do it. However, it's a slippery slope to a paid review, in a different trade currency. A shout out on social media is easier to do and a lot of people would be happy to do that for their favourite providers if they already have active accounts.
drmike
100% Tier-1 Gogent
Reviews are good to have.
Big warning here: Reviews are kind of hazardous on hosting forums. Bound to put your customers through hell and get a lot more scrutiny. Happens because so many folks shill and fake reviews.
You should never directly ask your customers to review you on third party sites.
Asking for endorsements for your own site is fine though.
Big warning here: Reviews are kind of hazardous on hosting forums. Bound to put your customers through hell and get a lot more scrutiny. Happens because so many folks shill and fake reviews.
You should never directly ask your customers to review you on third party sites.
Asking for endorsements for your own site is fine though.
Look odd and it will make a bad impression.
Many of customer don't want to receive any type of newsletter or request. If you will simply put a link in footer of your client area or signature then maybe some of customer will happy to write a review and never ask them to post a good review.
("If you like our service then you can post review on abcd website.)
Many of customer don't want to receive any type of newsletter or request. If you will simply put a link in footer of your client area or signature then maybe some of customer will happy to write a review and never ask them to post a good review.
("If you like our service then you can post review on abcd website.)
souen
Active Member
There's a difference between asking for testimonials/endorsements and reviews. A feedback survey or testimonial (typically 1-5 sentences) can be more quickly done than detailed review with benchmarks and stats, so it depends on what kind of "reviews" we're talking about.
It's fine for providers to ask for testimonials for their own website, but I'm not really an endorsement type in the "I vouch for x provider" meaning of the word. It's more along the lines of putting in a good word for a provider in the their offer threads, suggest to a friend looking for service, etc. For other sites/social media, I'm okay with providers asking for comments in general (whether positive/negative, not just endorsement), or request a detailed review (again with the understanding of any pros/cons will be mentioned. Unfortunately I don't have time to do detailed reviews and update them over a year like the nice ones in the Review section.)
Signature vs. email: maybe both. Preferably with a good provider I seldom need to ticket support and won't see the signature. If the provider sends the occasional promo email with a concluding request, I'm more likely to see it, keep the email for a while as reminder to do it.
It's fine for providers to ask for testimonials for their own website, but I'm not really an endorsement type in the "I vouch for x provider" meaning of the word. It's more along the lines of putting in a good word for a provider in the their offer threads, suggest to a friend looking for service, etc. For other sites/social media, I'm okay with providers asking for comments in general (whether positive/negative, not just endorsement), or request a detailed review (again with the understanding of any pros/cons will be mentioned. Unfortunately I don't have time to do detailed reviews and update them over a year like the nice ones in the Review section.)
Signature vs. email: maybe both. Preferably with a good provider I seldom need to ticket support and won't see the signature. If the provider sends the occasional promo email with a concluding request, I'm more likely to see it, keep the email for a while as reminder to do it.
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I've had people leave a review in a support ticket or with me on live chat. I simply request they go to our 3rd party review site to leave the review to be more "formal" about it to help our future customers find us. A couple of them did it but a few didn't. I've seen a few providers leave a "review us" as a signature in their support system and they say a few reviews were generated from that.
farhanideas
Member
Reviews on Forum or social media are good but for hosting but if all will be good one and not against hosting provider
6sync once offered something like $10 in credit if you posted a review and sent them a link. Although I believe they would have paid for bad reviews, word of this got out on WHT and it was a pretty negative hit to their credibility. And that was for a company where people had already posted very good reviews.
The problem with hosting reviews is
(1) it's very hard to prove that the writer is not a shill or a sock puppet. I've written many and I've been accused of it, even though I've never received a dime from any hosting company (other than normal affiliate payouts, which are pittance and hardly enough to motivate me).
(2) you can ask your clients, but the temptation is to say "and we'll give you..." which makes it seem like the opinion was purchased.
The problem with hosting reviews is
(1) it's very hard to prove that the writer is not a shill or a sock puppet. I've written many and I've been accused of it, even though I've never received a dime from any hosting company (other than normal affiliate payouts, which are pittance and hardly enough to motivate me).
(2) you can ask your clients, but the temptation is to say "and we'll give you..." which makes it seem like the opinion was purchased.
We actively reject this as well as blackmail. If someone wishes to post a review, of any kind, their business, we are not offering anything in return, nor are we shutting down services for this.
I think it is not OK at any level to offer incentives for reviews or cave in to blackmail, this is supposed to be about the service, not about perks and kickbacks. Same as the so called SEO this is very toxic for the industry It confuses customers and makes them unbelievers, even for the correct ones. Personally, if I read reviews too good to be true, I stay away. I am aware at some point Prometeus reviews bordered on the impossible and I know they were exaggerated, however, that was some time ago and now we have more normal reviews, even negative ones from spammers and other people which did not pass the very strict fraud checks.
I think it is not OK at any level to offer incentives for reviews or cave in to blackmail, this is supposed to be about the service, not about perks and kickbacks. Same as the so called SEO this is very toxic for the industry It confuses customers and makes them unbelievers, even for the correct ones. Personally, if I read reviews too good to be true, I stay away. I am aware at some point Prometeus reviews bordered on the impossible and I know they were exaggerated, however, that was some time ago and now we have more normal reviews, even negative ones from spammers and other people which did not pass the very strict fraud checks.
Sometimes it's good. But if your customer wants to take you down, it's not good. And I think should'nt
Krystal
New Member
Well, a lot here in the Philippines does this kind of strategy using their business through social media. Anyways, it's a good idea too. The only thing is you should be prepared reading good and bad reviews. And of course, know to answer their concerns.