Company Terms
`Evaluate Business accounts with the free plan may not use our logo, marketing materials, or your company's reviews on Evalueate in your marketing materials..’
Our business guidelines cover many topics in depth. It may be more information than you need. Here are some key points to keep in mind:
How can I flag reviews that violate these guidelines?
We work hard behind the scenes, using both people and technology, to detect content that violates our guidelines before it appears on Evalueate. But if something slips through the cracks, anyone in our community can help by reporting it to us. Anyone can flag reviews, including businesses and consumers.
If you believe a review violates our guidelines, you can report it to us through your business account or by contacting our Content Integrity team. Disliking a star rating or disagreeing with a negative review is not a valid reason to flag it, and we will not remove reviews simply because a business believes they are unfair or critical. Learn more about the reasons why you can flag a review below.
After you flag a review, a request will be generated in our system, and our Content Integrity team will investigate it as quickly as possible. Please note that complex cases may take longer. Flagged reviews remain visible online during the investigation, with the exception of reviews marked as "harmful or illegal," which are hidden. If we require the reviewer to change their review or provide documentation, we will contact them to explain what is needed and request action within three days. Once the investigation is complete, we will notify you of the outcome.
Remember to be fair and consistent when flagging reviews. This means flagging 5-star reviews for the same reasons as 1-star reviews. Also, make sure you choose the correct reason. The flagging feature is an important function of our review community, and we do not tolerate its misuse. This includes flagging reviews too quickly, for the wrong reasons, or in a way that demonstrates a lack of thoughtfulness regarding how they violate our guidelines.
Why can I flag reviews?
Fair treatment is one of the principles underlying our efforts to build trust with consumers and businesses worldwide. This means our guidelines apply to everyone who uses our platform, and we treat all flagged reviews consistently, regardless of who wrote them. The same fair treatment applies regardless of whether the reviewed business has a claimed profile or uses our paid services.
You can flag a review for the following reasons:
When a review is flagged for harmful or illegal content, it's temporarily disabled while we investigate. We do this to protect everyone and because we're legally required to do so for certain content. If reviews are reported to us for other reasons, we keep them online while we investigate to maintain a fair balance between businesses and reviewers.
It contains personal information
To ensure the privacy and security of everyone in our community, you can flag a review if it contains someone else's personal information, such as their name, phone number, email address, or photos/videos of others.
We will not remove a review if it contains information available on your Evalueate profile or website, or if the reviewer has included their own personal information in the review.
It contains advertising or promotional content
You can flag a review if it contains advertising or promotional content, as this type of content is often unhelpful and compromises the integrity and reliability of reviews on our platform.
This includes:
You can flag a review if you believe it is not based on a genuine experience. Keep in mind that a review can be genuine even if you do not recognize the reviewer or have specific information about them in your records, such as:
As long as the review reflects an authentic experience with your business, we'll allow it on the platform. We won't remove a review simply because it mentions another business or compares your business to a competitor.
If a review is reported to us for one or more of the reasons mentioned above, we'll run it through our detection software, unless the law requires otherwise. This software looks at various data points about the review and, if it seems suspicious, we'll remove it. We use this additional analysis instead of immediately taking the review offline and automatically asking reviewers to provide evidence that their review is authentic. This is a fairer process that helps us ensure more authentic reviews remain on the platform.
If you believe we've made the wrong decision, you can respond and tell us why. We will then have our Content Integrity team manually review the decision. For example, if the review refers to a product you don't sell, or a location of your business that doesn't exist, this could indicate that it's not based on an authentic experience. By including these details in your response, you help our Content Integrity team investigate the decision. We believe this process benefits businesses by increasing trust, giving you more say in why you believe a review is inauthentic, and reducing your risk of regulatory scrutiny arising from attempts to discredit or conceal genuine customer feedback. Depending on our Content Integrity team's assessment, if a disputed review is deemed suspicious, we will request documentation from the reviewer. Until then, and if we cannot confirm a violation of the guidelines, the review will remain online.
It's about a different business
You can flag a review if it clearly states it's for a different business, or request that a review be moved to the wrong profile because it refers to one of your other locations. We won't remove a review simply because it's unspecific and doesn't mention your business name. When a review is flagged, we may contact the reviewer to ask them to update their review or provide documentation.
What if I disagree with a decision?
If you believe we've made the wrong decision about your reviews or account, you can contact us by replying to the email we sent you. Let us know why you believe the decision is incorrect, and our Content Integrity team will be happy to review it. If you still disagree with our decision, you can file a formal dispute using the link in the footer of our final decision email.
If you can't find the dispute link or are experiencing technical issues, please contact us for assistance.
Why is my business reviewed on Evalueate?
Consumers determine which businesses are reviewed on our platform. Once someone writes a review about your business, a profile page is created to host and display reviews. Your business profile page is where we collect all reviews about your business in one place and is visible even if you haven't taken any action to claim them. Because reviews help us as consumers, we don't remove a business profile page or its reviews unless necessary.
How can I claim my business's Evalueate profile?
If your business has been reviewed on Evalueate, you can easily claim your business profile page. Claiming your profile gives you a business account and allows you to manage your reviews, including responding to them. Logging in to your business account is the easiest way to respond to reviews after your account has been verified.
Once you've claimed your profile, the "Claimed" label will appear on your profile page, and you'll have access to the features of our free plan. If you're looking for more advanced features (like our "All Categories" tool and/or "Show Your Store"), you can upgrade to one of our paid plans.
You can also add helpful details to give a more complete picture of your business to anyone reading your reviews. Start by adding a business description and contact information, or confirm additional business details. Make sure all information you add to your business profile page is accurate and relevant, and doesn't mislead consumers. For example, make sure the name of your business on your profile matches the name you use for your store, website, or products. Having more than one business profile is not permitted. If you have multiple locations that you want reviewed separately, you can select the Premium Multi plan. This can make it easier for consumers to find and review your business, and for you to manage reviews.
Who can and can't write a review about my business?
People over 18 who have had a recent, genuine experience with your business can write a review. An experience doesn't necessarily mean a purchase—it's broader than that and can include any interaction, even if the reviewer hasn't brought anything, such as:
- A phone call
- An email
- An online chat
- A visit to a (online) store
We encourage a wide range of feedback on reviews, including from people who had an experience with you but didn't ultimately purchase a product or service. This can provide valuable insight into why they might not have purchased anything and what you can improve about your business.
We encourage reviewers to edit and update their original review if their opinion of an experience changes or an issue is resolved—but this isn't required, and you can request it, but never pressure them to do so. Remember, your response to a negative comment is important in how you handle it to potentially change their opinion. (Example: If a product arrives defective, you can exchange it free of charge for an equal or better item, or refund the purchase price. However, you may NOT require the review to be updated!).
Reviewers cannot write a new review if they have a new and unique experience with a company. If a reviewer has a better experience with your company during a subsequent purchase, they can update their review of your company. We do not allow people to write reviews if they have a special connection to the company they are reviewing, and there is a high likelihood of writing a biased review, whether positive or negative. This includes you, your immediate family members, someone who works for your company, or a competitor.
What if I don't recognize a reviewer?
Reviewers can choose their own username. To protect their privacy and create a safe environment for genuine feedback, we don't require them to use their full name, or even their real name, as long as it meets our reviewer guidelines. This means that when you read reviews about your business, you might not recognize every reviewer. Keep in mind that this doesn't necessarily mean the reviewer hasn't had experience with your business. They might simply feel more comfortable sharing their opinion without their full name. If you don't recognize a reviewer, you can ask them to provide more information about themselves or their experience. This can help you better understand what happened and address any issues. However, reviewers can choose to respond and share their information. This can be especially helpful if a review wasn't written in response to an invitation but is instead an "organic" review. You can ask reviewers for their name, reference number, email address, or phone number. We'll let them know they have three days to respond. If you don't receive a response and believe the reviewer hasn't had a genuine experience with your business, you can mark the review as "Not based on a genuine experience."
What are the do's and don'ts for review invitations?
We recommend inviting your customers to leave reviews so you can gather more valuable feedback about your products and services and gain more insight into how to build trust, grow, and improve your business. The easiest way to ensure you receive reviews from a wide range of people is to use our automated invitation methods. Regardless of the method you choose, your process should be fair and neutral. We don't allow incentivized reviews on Evalueate. There should be no strings attached to your invitations—for example, no free products or discounts in exchange for leaving a review. We also encourage you to respond to reviews through comments, especially if you feel Evalueate doesn't adequately represent your business's level of service.
Do this:
- Invite people who have had a genuine experience with your products or services – this should be one invitation per experience.
- Be consistent and fair in your invitations – this means inviting everyone in the same way, regardless of whether they had a positive or negative experience with your company.
- Give your customers time to experience the product or service before asking for feedback.
- Use honest, neutral, and unbiased language. This makes reviewers feel comfortable expressing their honest opinions.
Don't do this:
- Be selective with your invitations and choose which customers you invite. This means inviting only people you know have had a positive experience, or sending review invitations to customers at a specific stage of the customer journey, so that only those who have had a good experience can receive them.
- Include misleading, fraudulent, or harmful information, such as phishing links.
- Suggest that reviewers leave only positive reviews, for example, "If you like us, please leave a 5-star review."
- Offer incentives for writing or editing reviews. This includes discounts, promotional codes, contest entries, refunds, free gifts, or other business-related perks for leaving a review.
- Invite customers you know have a special connection to your business (for example, close family members, people who work in or with your business, or shareholders of your business).
- Blackmail, threaten, or pressure reviewers into writing, editing, or removing a review. If you believe a review violates these business guidelines, you must flag it.
Asking people or businesses to write fake reviews (whether positive or negative).
Businesses may only use the Evalueate-supported invitation link to request reviews. Sending invitations without a paid plan for our platform is still considered use of our services and is therefore subject to our restrictions. For more information, please see our Terms of Use for Businesses.
Who owns the reviews about my business?
Reviews are user-generated content owned by the people who wrote them. Reviewers can edit or delete their reviews at any time. There are several options for sharing and presenting reviews about your business, as well as your Evalueate and star ratings. The available options depend on your Evalueate Business subscription. Please ensure you follow our legal brand guidelines when sharing your reviews.
What about fake reviews?
Fake reviews are reviews that do not reflect the genuine service or purchasing experience with a business. They are often written in an attempt to mislead other consumers and manipulate their opinions of that business (whether positive or negative).
Fake reviews undermine trust and are illegal. We do not tolerate them on our platform. Do not write fake reviews for your business, do not solicit, or encourage people to write fake reviews.
To protect our platform and ensure we are increasingly effective at identifying and removing fake reviews, we employ a three-pronged approach that encompasses our people, technology, and community. Our automated detection technology goes beyond the content of reviews and analyzes a wide range of behavioral data points. This is supported by a layer of custom-built systems designed to detect other forms of suspicious behavior and abuse, as well as the human expertise of our Fraud teams.
We run all reviews through our automated detection software before posting them to our platform. When we detect fake reviews, we remove them and take action on the account in question.
Does responding to reviews build trust?
We encourage businesses to engage with reviewers by responding to reviews. Responding to reviews gives you the opportunity to answer customer questions, resolve issues, thank your customers, and build trust. Please ensure your responses are always polite and professional and do not contain personal information, threats, or aggressive language—otherwise, we will remove your comments.
What if I disagree with a reviewer's opinion?
Evalueate is a place to share feedback about authentic experiences, and we maintain a neutral stance. We generally do not get involved in disputes about what happened between a reviewer and a business, unless required to do so by law.
If you disagree with a review but it doesn't violate our guidelines, we encourage you to write a response to it and share your perspective. This will help reviewers determine how much weight to give it. This also demonstrates your genuine interest in customer feedback and your willingness to engage with reviewers to constructively resolve any issues.
Do you remove companies from Evalueate?
There are certain types of companies we don't want on Evalueate because they can cause or create harm, or because they don't share our values and core values. We call these companies "bad matches" and remove them from Evalueate. If you abuse our platform, we may take other measures, as described below:
As an open review platform, anyone can create a profile for a company on Evalueate. We believe this is the best way to ensure consumers have a voice and a place to speak freely about their honest experiences. However, when a company that doesn't meet our ethical standards is added to Evalueate, we will take steps to remove and block it from our platform. We consider these companies "bad matches" for Evalueate.
A bad fit for a company can cause or create harm, and they don't share our values and core values; for these reasons, we simply don't want them on Evalueate.
The types of businesses we don't want on Evalueate and consider unsuitable are those that:
- assist businesses or individuals in manipulating news, reviews, documents, and results;
- promote hatred, violence, terrorism, xenophobia, or any form of discrimination against any person or group;
- offer illegal products and services; illegal drugs, prescription medications sold on the illegal market;
- offer or facilitate escort services, mail-order brides, prostitution, or any form of forced labor or human trafficking;
- offer or produce sexual abuse or explicit images, and material that depicts children or animals in a sexual or illegal manner;
- organize illegal animal fights or sell products made from endangered animal parts;
- facilitate criminal activities of any kind, including activities conducted via computers or the internet;
- engage in financial scams such as pyramid schemes, credit card fraud, and mortgage fraud;
- or otherwise operate illegally; for example, by selling counterfeit or unsafe goods and services, or by generally engaging in misleading advertising;
- use or facilitate the use of artificial intelligence in a way that could harm others, for example, in any of the products or services mentioned above.
Once a potentially inappropriate company is reported to us, we will investigate it and take action if necessary. If we determine that the company is inappropriate, we will remove it from Evalueate. If you encounter a company on Evalueate that you believe is inappropriate, you can report it to us.
What constitutes abuse of the Evalueate platform?
The vast majority of businesses use Evalueate as intended, in the best interest of everyone. However, we do not allow users to abuse our platform, for example, by posting or collecting fake reviews, abusing our flagging feature, or collecting reviews in a biased or unfair manner. We also do not allow users to copy, collect, and commercially exploit the data on our platform without our permission (also known as "data scraping"). If you abuse our platform, our data, or our brand, we will take action—this may include blocking access to or suspending features in your Evalueate business account, terminating any agreement you have with us, placing a consumer warning on your profile, hiding your Evalueate account, and taking legal action.
Brand Abuse
Businesses with a paid plan with Evalueate may display Evalueate designs, such as our logo, stars, and widgets, on their websites and in their promotional materials. As long as it's consistent with their subscription, our Business Terms of Use, and our Brand Guide. Businesses that properly mention Evalueate Designs in their communications and materials demonstrate to the world that they truly care about their customers.
If a business presents Evalueate Designs in a misleading or deceptive manner, we will take action to stop it. Examples of brand misuse include:
- Misleading consumers by displaying an old or outdated EvaluateScore or star rating instead of using our dynamic ValueBoxes or providing up-to-date information;
- Displaying reviews or other Evalueate Designs on a business's website, in advertisements, or on another domain without our permission.
Who has the final say?
These guidelines are just that: guiding principles. Our goal is to explain how we operate and why. In case of ambiguity, we have the final say on how these guidelines are interpreted. We may also update them at any time. Visit our Help Center for more information.