Independent review site for my private customers

[aduk]

Hello
I am a Builder.
There are plenty of sites that act as sort of review website for customer to post reviews and they also sort of piggy back on job leads.
we all know of checkatrade, FMB, guild of master craftsmen, freeindex etc.

the last one is free, however does anybody else see a problem in promoting your customers reviews on a website that will give potential new customers a way of finding similar businesses to yours and promote the competition?

if i use checkatrade, fmb or freeindex, and i have a link to my reviews on my website it all looks well and good, but ive given my new potential customer a direct link to a website where they can very easily search for other builders in my area who are also members of the same website.

am i looking at this all wrong?

my question is, is there any other independant review websites that you can sign up for, paid or unpaid, that are literally just for reviews of actual customers?
i know there is paid for services for online retailers who sell physical products and they also seem quite pricey, but are there any for traders, and does it really matter? are reviews on your own website just as good?

i could be over thinking this whole thing....

 

[Faevilangel]

Fefo, reviewcentre & Trustpilot are the most commonly used

 

[rjb7]

I have experience of review sites as an ecommerce business owner and also as a consumer. Positive customer reviews are a very powerful marketing tool and I am becoming increasingly sceptical about some review sites and the way some businesses use them. Two personal examples from recent experience... I received very poor customer service form an online retailer despite a huge number of 5 star reviews on Trustpilot. When I posted my own negative review the company in question claimed it was false and tried to get it removed. Also, it was quickly pushed down the list by a lot of new ‘questionable’ 5 star reviews. Another example was a quote received from a Checkatrade trades person which was almost four times higher than two quotes received from non Checkatrade companies for the same work. I have had similarly high quotes form Checkatrade listed companies before so I now try to avoid companies listed on there.

As a builder I expect Checkatrade would generate a lot of new leads for you and in turn this may allow you to increase your prices. Good for you, but not necessarily good for your customers.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Why not create a feedback form and ask customers to fill it in. The bottom of the form can have a tick box allowing you to use some/all of their review on your site etc.

Then, you can upload the actual review and have a testimonials page on your own site, and not send them anywhere else.

Also, if the customer would be happy for their details to be put online this would help show that they are real people (not company typed reviews). For Example,

"I think UKBF is a great place, apart from all the massive sage line 50 adverts that hog the header & footer of the page

4 out of 5 stars, would use again"

Homer Simpsons, Springfield.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

HJS - a rather old fashioned way to do this, surely? I am certainly skeptical of 'feedback' like this on business sites - even if it is genuine, it could hardly be described as unbiased.

To be honest, I don't think it is worth the time.

 

[Curious]

Why not create a feedback form and ask customers to fill it in. The bottom of the form can have a tick box allowing you to use some/all of their review on your site etc.

Then, you can upload the actual review and have a testimonials page on your own site, and not send them anywhere else.

Also, if the customer would be happy for their details to be put online this would help show that they are real people (not company typed reviews). For Example,

"I think UKBF is a great place, apart from all the massive sage line 50 adverts that hog the header & footer of the page

4 out of 5 stars, would use again"

Homer Simpsons, Springfield.

I'd do this to see how it works and have very recently started doing the same thing for a biz. Can't see anything wrong with this. Get yourself some nice unique, free copy for your site as well.