Independent online customer feedback giant Feefo has introduced a ‘Trusted Merchant’ certificate for businesses that achieve an average Service Rating of 85% over a full year. Those who’s customers give them a rating above 95%, are picked out with the ‘Gold Trusted Merchant’ certificate.

These awards are collated from 100% verified ratings and reviews, and based on fully transparent data that consumers have access to at any time. The conditions for success are exactly the same for all merchants across all industries and regardless of the size of the organisation.

For those not already familiar with Feefo, the Service Rating is based on the direct opinion of consumers who rate the service provided by the business along a four point scale between “Excellent” and “Bad”. To leave a Feefo review, real customers are identified automatically online via sales data and they are then ALL invited via email to provide an independent appraisal of their experience. This ensures that only genuine customers can take part, so it’s a great way of gleaning 100% genuine customer opinions.

Arguably, independent online customer reviews have never been more important. In Nielsen’s recently produced update to their ongoing commentary on Trends in Advertising - one of the major findings was that worldwide spend on online advertising increased by over 32% during the first three quarters of 2013, significantly stronger growth than any other form of advertising.

Endnote: Thank you to all the Serious fans across 63 countries for rating us one of the few

Gold Trusted Merchants with a fantastic 99% Service Rating, one of the best in the World.

Sources:

1. FEEFO:
   Serious Readers.