You only lose your reputation once...

As Warren Buffet famously said "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to lose it"- and he could just as easily have been talking about review sites as well as any other businesses. Any review website that allows its clients to manipulate reviews to their advantage - intentionally or unintentionally - has to be concerned that its own reputation would suffer. 

At HelpHound we need to be reassured the sites that we recommend to our clients have the highest possible standards, not only when it comes to displaying reviews on their own sites, but also when their clients display their reviews on their own sites. We police very carefully how our clients use their reviews, and we would expect review sites to do the same.

Here is another example of the potentially misleading use of reviews in marketing/advertising:

You - or, more importantly, a potential purchaser - might be forgiven fro thinking that the 5* rating referred to the bike in this ad - it actually refers to all the products - from lawn mowers to vacuum cleaners - made by the same company. We think that should be made clear - and we would insist on clarity if they were a client of ours.

The Times and the Mail have already commented, so we will leave you with two screenshots - of the company site and of the review website so you can come to your own conclusion about the effect that using reviews in this way has on the reputations of both.

 

 If either comment we will let you know.