Customer Reviews on Company Listings [closed]
- by GSTAR
I'm not sure if this is the right place but I am after some general advice on a feature I am looking to implement on my website.
The website I have is a Wedding Directory. Here, companies can advertise in the form of a directory listing. This listing contains the company details - such as what they do and how you can contact them. There are three packages available - Basic package is free and Silver and Gold packages are charged for.
Now in order to further enhance the directory, I want to enable customer reviews for each listing. This is basically whereby customers who have used a particular company's service can write a review (and rate out of 5) of their experience.
The dilemma I face is that if customers are to be paying for their listings then surely they will expect to not have content on their listing that would tarnish their reputation (i.e. negative reviews). But at the same time I want to be impartial and help my site visitors to make informed choices on which companies to book when arranging their weddings.
Of course I will exercise my ability to remove offensive or fake reviews but I do not want to be removing reviews just to satisfy my clients.
Suppose a client pays me a premium fee to have their listing on my front page and at the top of the listings. Now suppose that client gets lost of negative reviews - the fact that they have increased visibility means that they will also get increased bad publicity. This in turn means they won't renew their package and will most likely request the listing to be taken down.
So, how can I get the right balance here and keep everyone happy?