Online crowdsourcing is very real and one of the most important aspects of Online Reputation Management and Digital Marketing. When it comes to making a decision about hiring a contractor or finding the best ”sushi” restaurant in the city, there are many message boards and listservs online that are trustworthy and that you can turn to in order to help ease your decision making. However, in order to make a quicker decision without reading through hundreds of threads of message boards, consumers turn to review sites like Yelp, Angie’s List and Google Reviews.
Collecting feedback from review sites, such as Yelp and Angie’s List, can be very useful, but it’s very important to take note of some of their flaws. For example, just recently, Yelp and Angie’s List were accused of gaming their reviews systems to favour advertisers. As well, Amazon came under harsh criticism for featuring a suspiciously high number (80%) of reviews at 4* or higher. In order to fight back against the criticism, they filed a lawsuit against fake reviewers last month.
Despite the criticisms, online reviews are still alive and kicking. Here are 5 reliable review site alternatives to Yelp, Angie’s List and Amazon:
1. Chefs Feed
Chefs Feed is an app that can be downloaded onto your mobile device. The app relies on the reviews of professional chefs like Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud to recommend favourite dishes they order when they dine out. The app covers restaurants in 24 cities.
2. Chekplate
Ask a Friend is the most trusted form of advertising. The app Chekplate permits its users to review and rate food establishments and to share them only with people they known. Users can also access the reviews of friends, family members and colleagues they follow on the app.
3. Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice only permits reviews from confirmed customers only. They are a top review site for online ratings for big brands like Samsung and Caravana. Over 3,500 other businesses, including internet retailers and Fortune 100s, use Bazaarvoice to send out requests for reviews after a customer has purchased one of their products or services.
4. TruReview
TruReview is used by small businesses for online reputation management. They are an online review platform and appointment setting system designed to help businesses obtain authentic reviews from real customers. A review can only be placed once a transaction is complete.
5. Trustpilot
Trustpilot is another online review website that collects customer feedback about e-commerce retailers. It also offers a widget for businesses to display their reviews on their website. The site is free to use for consumers.
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