Ecommerce site - Is it illegal to invite customer to give review....

Discussion in 'eCommerce' started by zekin, Jan 9, 2012.

  1. #1
    Is it illegal to invite customer to give review.... and then you reward them with store credit?

    What would you do to seduce your customer to write product review on your ecommerce site.
     
    zekin, Jan 9, 2012 IP
  2. goupilandcie

    goupilandcie Peon

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    #2
    If you have good or great products at a decent price, the reviews will come on their own, in time.

    Most sites though, including major ones write reviews themselves or pay someone to do so.
     
    goupilandcie, Jan 10, 2012 IP
  3. jestep

    jestep Prominent Member

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    #3
    I've seen many online retailers give incentives for a review. I think it's more an ethics argument vs a legality argument, unless your country has some very stringent regulations regarding objectivity in posting customer reviews. The argument, is how can a review possibly be objective if there is an award for posting it. As for the legality it would really depend on how the incentives is presented. Something like "review your recent order and receive a 5% discount on your next order" or $10 off your next purchase is probably fine. Where you most likely need to be careful legally is if you are doing something that could be construed as a game of chance or lottery, where there's typically a lot of regulation. Second area you need to be careful, is that you need to allow any type of review and not filter based on the rating. The incentive must be objective regardless of what reviewer posts. You may need to search around to see if there are regulations in your country with regard to reviews with incentives, but I don't think it will be a major problem.
     
    jestep, Jan 10, 2012 IP
  4. Sharon Martin

    Sharon Martin Peon

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    #4
    There is nothing bad in inviting buyers for reviewing products...
    In fact many websites ask their customers to leave a testimonial or write review about the product. Reviews are important for other buyers as well, so you can ask for reviews.
    Asking for reviews is better than publishing fake reviews.
     
    Sharon Martin, Jan 11, 2012 IP
  5. goupilandcie

    goupilandcie Peon

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    #5
    I would actually disagree with that. If you run a real ecom site for a while and get natural reviews you will see that 50% are fairly stupid. I think letting customers give reviews is great, you will get good feedback on your products/service. However as for being authentic or better for other customers understanding that only happens half the time.

    The problem with paying people or giving them a discount for reviews is you are going to get a bunch of no effort, poorly thought out reviews of people doing it just so they can get a discount or reward. Alot of which you will probably have to end up erasing. Something along the lines of "I like it." being the whole review I kid you not. The best way to get good well thought out reviews is to offer great stuff and people will generally feel compelled to thank you for it. That is why I feel it is generally better to put money into a better price or product or even marketing than to give that revenue to reviewers.

    However that does take time and your site may be empty of reviews for a while till they do come. So honestly just write them yourself. Look at Amazon or IMDB. Some of their reviews are almost a page in length. Do you honestly think that some customer is going to spend that kind of time writting something about a $20 pair of shoes they bought or movie? The answer is not most often not. They pay people to write reviews and they do quite well doing that.
     
    goupilandcie, Jan 11, 2012 IP
  6. BoBo_184

    BoBo_184 Peon

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    #6
    can't see why it would be ILLEGAL. Illegal is a strong concept.

    You have the right to do whatever you want and simply asking customers for their feedback is almost like standard business practice. So many companies are doing it. It not only benefit the business but also the customers since their reviews could result in improvement in the business. If you are offering them rewards then I think it is even less of a problem.

    You should always invite customers to do this. From my experience, disgruntled customers are more likely to write reviews so you need to actively seek out positive reviews.
     
    BoBo_184, Jan 18, 2012 IP
  7. billwright

    billwright Greenhorn

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    #7
    Make your invite to review on all your communications like Signatures on your emails, invoices, packing slips, etc.
     
    billwright, Jan 23, 2012 IP
  8. deepak.pal

    deepak.pal Active Member

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    #8
    I don't think that inviting customers for review is bad or illegal. But it should be in decent fashion. When a customer purchase your product or service then you can show him/her review form and ask politely to give feedback/reviews.
     
    deepak.pal, Jan 24, 2012 IP
  9. andersonsjohn

    andersonsjohn Banned

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    #9
    I dont thnk its illegal... if you rewarding them then cool....
     
    andersonsjohn, Jan 25, 2012 IP
  10. aheadWorks

    aheadWorks Member

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    #10
    aheadWorks, Jan 25, 2012 IP
  11. ValPPG

    ValPPG Greenhorn

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    #11
    A geat way to get customer testimonials and to make it legal for publishing is to create a competition with a giveaway or discounts (whatever suits your store best). Set the target of how many reviews you want to publish on your website and define the number of winners, create an add in your online store, that invites people to take part in the competition, the incentive represents the product giveaway/discount, also don't forget to mention that the selected reviews will be published (for legal purposes you need the author's consent). This way you will have two kills with one shot: advertising campaign and testimonials. They will love you and believe me, it works.
     
    ValPPG, Jan 25, 2012 IP
  12. JerrickYeoh

    JerrickYeoh Active Member

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    #12
    as i'm from web hosting provider.
    I will at web hosting or domain for one year to and request them to write a review back .
    Sometime i just add 3 months extra for their webhosting order periods for free.

    they won't give you a good review if you do not provide something value to them .
     
    JerrickYeoh, Feb 9, 2012 IP
  13. Dootch

    Dootch Active Member

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    #13
    Asking your customers to review the product they purchased is not illegal or unethical. Giving them a store credit for it isnt either. It's good business
     
    Dootch, Feb 13, 2012 IP
  14. mywindowsol

    mywindowsol Peon

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    #14
    I don't think that alluring clients for evaluation is bad or unlawful. But it should be in reasonable style. When a client buy your products then you can present him/her evaluation type and ask pleasantly to provide feedback/reviews.
     
    mywindowsol, Feb 18, 2012 IP