Open vs invite-only reviews – which is the best choice for your business?

Whether it’s your first or your next, choosing the right review platform is an extremely important decision, that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Not only is customer feedback vital for building trust in everything you do, it’s also the best way to listen to your customers, understand how they feel about your business, and use that insight to continually improve your customer experience.

There are two main types of feedback platforms: invite-only (sometimes referred to as ‘closed’) and open. There are a lot of myths surrounding the differences, so let’s take a look at the facts.

What is an invite-only reviews platform, and what are the benefits?

As you can imagine, the clue is in the name – only people asked to leave feedback can write a review on an invite-only platform. There are a number of benefits to using an invite-only reviews platform, including:

• You can put an end to fake reviews, as you, and your customers, know every piece of feedback comes from someone who has actually used your business
• You can better protect your brand reputation from spammy or abusive feedback
• Invite-only feedback means you can make better decisions about your business, as you know the insight you’ve collected from your customers is real and can be trusted
• This approach makes it easy to collect feedback about specific aspects of your customer experience, as you can ask for reviews at different touchpoints
• You can collect private feedback for internal use e.g., to understand how well your customer service team deals with enquiries

What is an open reviews platform, and what are the benefits?

Open reviews platforms allow anyone to leave feedback – no verification is needed. People can just search for your review page or listing and write a review. There are benefits to open review platforms too, including:

• You can collect reviews organically – people don’t have to wait for an invite as they can just search for your business and leave feedback
• You can collect feedback from those who haven’t bought from you e.g. someone who tried to buy something on your website but couldn’t complete their order
• You don’t have to ask for feedback via a third-party, as you can just send a link to your review page instead

Why we believe invite-only is the best policy

For over ten years, we’ve stood out as a review platform thanks to our invite-only approach. We strongly believe that fake feedback is incredibly damaging to businesses, and the problem only seems to be getting worse – 83% of shoppers believe unscrupulous sites often put up fake positive reviews to trick consumers. Platforms are constantly upping their technology game to detect and put an end to fake feedback, but, as we know from our own experiences of receiving unverified feedback on other platforms, fraudsters are still finding ways around this technology. Some platforms don’t even give you the option to opt out of receiving feedback at all, which can severely damage a business’s reputation.

We can’t promise to solve your reputation woes on other platforms that refuse to help unless you pay, but we can help you build a reputation with a platform that ensures every single review is verified and from a real customer.

Trust and reputation are only one small part of what makes customer feedback important. That’s why we promise to enable you to truly listen to your customers, improve your customer experience and build a better business. From private and public reviews to anonymous surveys, we provide the tools you need to better communicate with your customers and understand their ever-changing needs and expectations.

We love to fight our corner, but ultimately, the review platform you choose should be what’s right for you and your business. If you’d like to find out if Feefo is right for you, have a chat with our friendly team today.