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SmartCustomer is a site that helps buyers make informed purchasing decisions, backed by real reviews. Since 2007, we’ve connected millions of users with hundreds of thousands of great businesses worldwide, amplifying real voices so everyone can find and share feedback on companies and their products online.

Our mission is bringing honesty and transparency to any purchase – anyone who’s had a firsthand experience with a business can write a review. Also, any company with a website can register on SmartCustomer, whether they do business on- or off-line.

We use a weighted rating system to help buyers find the best businesses. Recent reviews are often the most helpful – plus, we want to make sure that a business's most recent practices (and improvements) are reflected in their rating. Here’s how it works for each business:

• 50% = average rating of all their reviews
• 25% = average rating in the last 12 months
• 25% = average rating in the last month

If there are no reviews within a specific weighting period, that period is assigned an "average" of 3 stars in the weighting.

Every category is sorted to display the top sites and businesses by default, making it easy for buyers to find the very best of whatever they’re looking for. Businesses are ranked based on a combination of factors, including their total number of reviews and average overall rating. You can filter and sort results by selecting different types of ratings. You can also flip through the pages to find every site listed under a particular category.

Both buyers and businesses can use SmartCustomer for free. Businesses can choose to upgrade to a paid plan for more ways to collect and publish real reviews – but they can’t ever pay to remove or hide reviews.

Rarely. Our support team and moderators will only remove a review if it violates our Terms of Service or Review Guidelines. There are certain instances where reviews are appropriately removed due to:

• Second-hand experiences
• Conflicts of interest (such as reviews from a site’s current or former employees)
• Personal attacks (such as hate speech, bigotry, and lewdness)
• Irrelevance (such as spam, or a review left for the wrong business)

Certain reviews may also be removed by an automated algorithm that is designed to protect buyers and businesses from fake reviews. Missing reviews are not deleted, but may be filtered out (more on that here). If you believe your review has been falsely removed, contact us with any context and proof of purchase at [email protected].

Reviewers can remove their own reviews anytime by visiting their profile page and clicking on the "Remove review" link underneath the review.

Businesses cannot pay to remove reviews.

Nope – under no circumstances can businesses pay to remove or suppress reviews. If you’re affiliated with a business and would like to respond to a review, though, you can do so by registering for free here.

• Conflicts of interest, such as reviews written by an employee or former employee.
• Second-hand reviews posted by someone who has not had a personal experience with a business. However, reviews submitted by someone directly involved in the purchase or who interacted with the business afterwards are permitted (such as a husband submitting a review for a business that his wife purchased from).
• Threatening language, personal attacks, hate speech, bigotry, or lewdness. Reviews containing profanity don’t typically need to be reported – certain words are automatically censored. If a review contains personal contact information, you can report the review and we’ll redact the sensitive information.
• Irrelevant content. The review should clearly state whether the reviewer has made a purchase or had a service experience with the company. For example, a review that says “I was going to place an order but then I read these reviews,” would provide the needed context.

Find SmartCustomer’s Review Guidelines here.

Please note that SmartCustomer does not arbitrate disputes. If a business feels that a review is inaccurate, they can post a public response to clear up any misunderstandings. Reviews will not be removed due to discrepancies of information provided by a reviewer and a business.

Fake reviews are no joke – we do four important things to prevent them:

1. Running sophisticated software that spots and removes fake reviews. The algorithm identifies characteristics that might indicate a review is fake (e.g., evidence that one person has written multiple reviews for the same business). Those reviews are then flagged for removal. Our software is always improving as it collects more data about the reviews for a particular business, industry, and more.
2. Manually spot checking reviews for fakes. Due to the large volume of reviews we get, it’s impossible to catch every single one – but our hardworking Review Team is committed to doing all that we can!
3. Catching suspicious reviews flagged by our amazing community. Thanks to our engaged users, our Review Team can look more carefully at suspicious reviews.
4. Educating both companies and consumers about the dangers of fake reviews, and how to spot them. For starters, check out our answer to: What is review fraud?

Review fraud is related to the solicitation of fake reviews – either positive or negative. We take it very seriously. SmartCustomer uses software algorithms, community reporting, and other methods to aggressively detect and remove fake reviews. Writing or paying for such reviews is unethical, against SmartCustomer’s terms, and illegal in many jurisdictions. As just one example, New York’s Attorney General fined nineteen companies $350,000 for violations associated with fake reviews.

Businesses who use SmartCustomer’s review collection tools are held to the highest ethical standards. We only allow reviews from unbiased samples of customers, so businesses can't materially incentivize any kind of review or cherry pick customers who are more likely to write something positive. If we catch a company soliciting or paying for fake reviews, we take action. They could lose access to their SmartCustomer business account, have their business publicly flagged for review manipulation, and be demoted in SmartCustomer search.

SmartCustomer uses a Review Filter to screen out inauthentic content and reviews that don't follow our guidelines. To prevent gaming, it pulls from a wide range of data and is intentionally difficult to decipher.

Reasons reviews might be filtered include: suspected solicited reviews, suspected site-promotion spam (fake positive reviews), suspected competitor spam (fake negative reviews), language use, irrelevant content, and other Terms of Service violations. The same filter and algorithm is applied to every business and website.

The filter isn’t perfect, but it’s dynamic and always learning. As a result, you may see reviews move in and out of a reviews page as the filter learns more about the trustworthiness of that site’s reviews.

SmartCustomer has partnered with Persona, a secure identity verification service, to ensure reviewers are human and their identities are authentic.

Persona verifies identity by using a combination of government-issued ID scanning, biometric facial recognition, and automated data checks to match a live person with their credentials. You’ll be asked to upload a photo of a government ID, then take a real-time selfie for facial recognition to match your identity instantly. The process only takes a few minutes.

Persona securely stores all personal identifiable information in an encrypted format. To learn more about how Persona handles your information, read their privacy policy here.

When a reviewer leaves a review for a business, they are prompted to share proof of purchase. If the reviewer provides one, the review may receive the verified badge.

Starting in February 2026, we updated our policy to ensure the highest level of transparency and trust. We now require all reviewers to provide valid proof of purchase before submitting their feedback.

Businesses can invite real customers to share a review after each purchase. Businesses must use supported SmartCustomer review collection tools to send review requests. These reviews will show a verified badge and be labeled as “Solicited”. SmartCustomer’s policy only allows businesses to send review requests to unbiased samples of their customers.

Instant Feedback is a first‑impression review written immediately after a customer makes a purchase, before the product or service has been delivered. If these reviews are available for a business, they contribute to a separate Instant Feedback rating, and are not counted towards the business’s overall rating.

Due to updated FTC guidelines around point-of-sale reviews, SmartCustomer stopped including site experience scores in its overall ratings and review counts and moved them to a clearly labeled Instant Feedback score and tab.

SmartCustomer has worked closely with the FTC to ensure its review collection and display practices align with the latest regulatory standards. You can read more about these changes and the company’s cooperation with the FTC here.

You can earn a "Verified User" badge on your reviews by completing the identity verification step while writing a review.

Through our secure identity verification partner, Persona, you’ll be asked to upload a photo of a government-issued ID and take a real-time selfie. This process uses biometric facial recognition and automated data checks to match your identity instantly.

Your data is always encrypted and protected. For more details, please review Persona’s Privacy Policy.

The best reviews on SmartCustomer are typically detailed and informative, describing a personal experience with a website or business. You can talk about pros and cons, what you liked or disliked, and why you'd recommend it (or not). A good rule of thumb might be to ask yourself, “Would I find this review useful?” or, “What do I wish I knew when I first found this business?”

Reviews can cover the services or products offered by a particular website, but can also contain feedback about the content of their site (if it’s a news site or a site hosting funny videos, for example). Basically, you can review anything that has a website.

What to avoid in reviews

In an effort to provide the most unbiased reviews possible, we don't let users review their own businesses, or ones they're connected to.

We ask that you refrain from profanity and personal attacks such as hate speech, bigotry, and lewdness. (Not only do kids read online reviews – it’s plain inappropriate and simply Not Nice.)

Can I write about a negative experience? Of course! Both positive and negative experiences are welcome and can be helpful to other buyers. That said, please be honest and provide as many relevant details as possible. Opinions are generally protected, but posting false information can have legal ramifications.

The easiest way to discover your friends’ reviews or to share reviews with your friends is to log in via Facebook Connect.

At SmartCustomer, we love seeing active reviewers lend each other a hand. That’s why we’ve created Contributor Levels to help celebrate our review-savvy rockstars. Here are the levels you can reach using Contribution Points:

• Level 6 - 8000 points +
• Level 5 - 4000 points
• Level 4 - 2000 points
• Level 3 - 1000 points
• Level 2 - 400 points
• Level 1 - 200 points

Reach for the stars – and higher Contribution Levels! Every time you engage with and contribute to the community, you earn points that add up and help you climb the ranks. Here’s how you can earn:

• First to Review - 100 points
• Review - 80 points
• Answer - 20 points
• Review Comment - 10 points
• Forum Post - 10 points
• Thank You - 2 points
• Helpful Vote - 1 point

You’ll want to keep your reviews up to date and accurate so that other buyers can make informed decisions.

Updating your review means your original review stays put, but the new information you add shows up right on top of it. This way, everyone can see the full picture of your experience. If you just need to fix a typo or other small mistake, though, editing your review is the way to go.

Update or edit your reviews by visiting your profile page and clicking on the "Write update" or "Edit review" link underneath each review – easy peasy.

We’ll be sad to see you go! But you can delete your SmartCustomer profile at any time by visiting your account settings. Just so you know, deleting your SmartCustomer profile will permanently remove your account, along with your reviews and contributions. :(

At SmartCustomer, we want to make sure all our users see real reviews. Reviews are generally posted within 48 hours, but some may be flagged for further review which can take up to 30 days. We use a Review Filter and algorithm to display authentic content that meets our guidelines. It’s constantly learning, so you might find reviews moving in and out of the filter as it learns more about the trustworthiness of the reviews for a particular business. If your review met guidelines but was still filtered out, shoot us an email at [email protected] and we’ll look into it.

You have the right to share your honest opinions about a business’s products, services or conduct. Businesses that threaten reviewers or offer compensation in exchange for review removal may be in violation of the Consumer Review Fairness Act (CRFA), which is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and state Attorneys General.

If you're ever in a situation where a company is pressuring you to remove a negative review (such as in exchange for a refund or exchange), please know that you have options. You can republish or write a new review covering your honest experience after your issue has been resolved. You can also report these incidents to us at [email protected]. We're here to help ensure that your reviews and opinions are protected.

In the spirit of transparency, we list all kinds of company profiles and sites – so buyers and potential customers can get an honest view of what’s out there.

We don’t remove business listings, as buyers have the right to research and review experiences on any website. Instead of removing your listing, why not take advantage of this opportunity to improve your online visibility and presence – by engaging with your fans and critics alike, and hearing what they have to say?

Nope – any business can get started for free by claiming a business profile. You do have the option of upgrading to a paid plan at any time to take advantage of more robust tools and features.

A free account gives you access to basic tools for: collecting reviews sharing reviews (on Facebook and Twitter) showcasing reviews with a website widget publicly responding to reviews requesting review verification

To level up your reviews game and put review management on autopilot, check out our full suite of business features.

Simply gather as many reviews as you can from your current customers! This is especially important since 25% of your overall score is based on reviews from the last 30 days. We offer several free tools to make review collection easy and efficient, such as Automated Review Requests.

Not at all. “Reputation management” companies often charge a fee and claim to remove negative reviews or boost ratings to manipulate your online reputation. These companies have no influence over what appears on SmartCustomer – we don’t remove authentic reviews, and we don’t alter business ratings.

If you’ve been contacted by someone offering similar “services”, please let us know at [email protected] so we can prevent them from preying on other businesses.

Absolutely! In fact, we offer tools specifically for requesting reviews from your customers.

Just a heads up, though – we don’t allow targeting only the customers most likely to submit positive reviews. It's important to gather reviews from a fair and unbiased group. If we find that reviews are only being requested from certain customers in an attempt to skew ratings, you could lose access to your business account.

Incentives aren’t illegal or unethical according to the Federal Trade Commission, but there are regulations around it and businesses should approach it with a high level of caution. To make sure that the reviews on our platform are real and unbiased, we do have some guidelines around incentives.

Incentives of any kind are not allowed for company reviews.

Certain incentives are allowed for product reviews, video testimonials, and images, only if:

• The incentive isn’t tied to star rating or sentiment,
• The review complies with all FTC rules
• The reviewer clearly and conspicuously discloses the incentive in the review itself.

This summary is for general information and isn’t legal advice. For details on regulations and FTC rules, see our Review Guidelines.

You can have the most amazing company in the world – it’ll still be impossible to please all of your customers, all of the time. Negative reviews are an unfortunate but completely normal part of doing business.

While it’s important to look for patterns in your reviews (e.g., your site is hard to navigate, or a particular customer service rep is rude), you shouldn’t read too much into any one review. Most SmartCustomer visitors are looking for a consensus among all of the reviews they read, rather than focusing on any one review – so you should do the same. In fact, having a small number of negative or neutral reviews alongside positive ones can even make a business more credible and attract more traffic and customers.

If you’d like to respond to a negative review, visit your reviews page.

Nope, and under no circumstances. If a customer's issue has been resolved, it's okay to ask them if they'd like to update their review to reflect their experience. But you can't make review removal a condition of resolving their issue.

We want to make sure businesses are being fair and ethical when handling negative reviews. Any violation of our policy can result in your SmartCustomer business account being revoked.

We work hard to catch and eliminate fake reviews on SmartCustomer. We also want reviewers to share their honest experiences openly, and we don’t intervene in disputes between businesses and reviewers. A review can’t be removed simply because a business says it’s fake.

That being said, there are six things you can do if you believe a review is not from a real customer:

1. Report reviews that clearly violate one of SmartCustomer’s Review Guidelines. Content that can be removed this way generally contain personal attacks (hate speech, bigotry, lewdness), conflicts of interest, second hand experiences, personal information of employees, or reviews placed on the wrong site.
2. Request verification within 30 days of the suspicious review posting. This feature will reach out to the reviewer for more information to confirm the legitimacy of their experience. If the reviewer doesn’t respond to the verification request, their review will automatically be removed after 10 business days. Please note that this tool can only be used twice per month on a free plan, and within 30 days of a review being submitted. You’ll have to reach out to a reviewer via private message to address any review posted over 30 days ago. Once you've resolved the issue, you can politely ask the reviewer to update or remove their review if they feel comfortable doing so. However, it's important to remember that resolution can't be dependent on the removal or updating of the review.
3. Post a public response to the review detailing why you believe the review is inaccurate. This will help mitigate the impact of that review, as consumers will see your side of the story when reading the review. Also, researching consumers tend to appreciate businesses that respond to their reviews and interact publicly with their customer base.
4. Focus on giving consumers the most accurate overall picture of your business by collecting as many legitimate reviews as possible from actual customers using our free review collection tools. When you’ve collected enough reviews, a few negative ones won't have much of an impact.
5. Use our premium review management tools to add an additional layer of security against fake reviews going forward. These tools include requiring an Order ID on all reviews, which all but ensures reviews are being written by real customers.
6. If you believe our Review Team missed a review that would normally be considered fraudulent, you can request the review to be examined again. Make sure you provide as much supporting documentation as possible. This additional review process typically takes 10 business days, and we don’t send a notification if a reported review is removed. That said, these requests are rarely successful, and we recommend trying all other options first. If we aren’t able to remove a review after our investigation, we send a message letting you know why.

One of three things:

1. The reviewer may have deleted it. While this doesn’t happen often, it’s usually because someone changed their mind or closed their SmartCustomer account.
2. The review may have been removed by staff for violating our Review Guidelines or Terms of Service.
3. The review is currently being screened by SmartCustomer’s Review Filter. This is a routine function of our automated software and affects every business on SmartCustomer. You can learn more about the filter here.

Reviews that are submitted through SmartCustomer are subject to our automated filtering software. The filter is designed to prevent fake reviews and looks at hundreds of factors, including unnatural traffic sources and suspicious user behavior. You can read more about the filter here.

To prevent ratings manipulation, collecting reviews using an unapproved solicitation link is against our Terms of Service. Instead, we recommend collecting customer reviews through the review collection tools in your business dashboard (many of which are free). These reviews typically get the “verified” label and are much less likely to be held by the Review Filter. This also helps ensure the authenticity of your reviews – and increases customer trust.

Websites like SmartCustomer are protected under federal law by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Your attorneys will find dozens of relevant cases if they are not already familiar with the statute, but Zeran v. AOL, 129 F. 3 327, 330 (4th Cir. 1997) is a well-known example.

If you're thinking about taking legal action against a reviewer, it's important to approach the situation with cautious consideration. Defamation suits are expensive, difficult to win, and may only draw more attention to issues raised. Plus, there's always a risk that the Anti-SLAPP statute could require you to pay attorneys' fees to the other party. There may be exceptional circumstances where legal action is appropriate – but in most cases, suing someone over a bad review is unlikely to give you the outcome you're hoping for.

We recommend responding to both positive and negative reviews – people love to see an active, engaged business that cares. What’s more? It’s an excellent way to build goodwill and learn from some of your most engaged customers. SmartCustomer has free tools to help you respond to reviews right from your reviews page.

To effectively connect with your reviewers (and people reading), remember:

• Your reviewers are your customers
• They’re people too, with feelings and sensitivities that can be hard to predict
• Reviewers will be vocal and opinionated even after their reviews are published, so be mindful of what you say when addressing their concerns

Responding to positive reviews isn’t as easy as it may seem! We recommend sharing a brief, friendly, and personal “thank you” to show that you care about your reviewer as a customer. The saying “less is more” applies here – they already like you, so just focus on saying hello and expressing gratitude.

Mistakes we often see include: long cut-and-paste messages, complaints about minor criticisms, mailing list requests, and offering free stuff (a big no-no – this comes across like a bribe). These tactics can turn both positive reviewers and potential customers away.

To respond to a review, log into your business dashboard.

We get it. This is much harder than responding to a positive review, and no one likes seeing a bad review for their business. So what can you do? Address the reviewer’s experience and any relevant changes you've made. This way, you can (re-)build trust and potentially win back their business – not to mention leave a good impression on potential customers who may stumble across this review.

The most important thing is to not think of such reviews as personal attacks. Remember to be cordial, and don’t get defensive. Instead, focus on establishing a real connection with your reviewer and helping them feel heard. Time and time again, we’ve seen proactive businesses create positive outcomes by engaging their dissatisfied customers with patience and respect. You’d be surprised how often a polite, simple response to a bad review can turn into a second chance.

A note of caution: If a reviewer thinks your response is condescending, rude, or insincere, they may get angry – further spreading their review across other platforms, social media, and beyond. Always communicate mindfully.

To respond to a review, log into your business dashboard.

Definitely! Public comments let you engage with your customers and offer additional information or context. It’s also a great opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction and ongoing improvement – for both the reviewer’s benefit and your potential customers. Be sure to keep your comments simple and polite. Reviewers appreciate honesty and like to know when changes are made based on their feedback.

Also, it’s worth noting that commenting might not always make sense. Here are two situations where this could apply:

1. Reviews full of profanity or other Review Guidelines violations. These typically don’t warrant a comment at all – instead, simply flag the review.
2. Reviews that elicit a strong emotional response. Hey, we’re human – it’s impossible to be completely unaffected all of the time. In this case, it's best to wait before responding. Writing a response when you're angry can make things worse and damage your business's reputation. Take some time to cool down and reflect on the review – which may bring up valid points that you can address in a calm and constructive way.

Remember not to use public comments to make personal attacks, advertise, or offer incentives to update/delete a review. Disclosing private information about your reviewers is also prohibited (full name, address, phone number, email address, etc.).

To write a public comment, log into your business dashboard.

You can, although it's best to try and reach a resolution privately first – plus we’ve noticed it’s more effective. If you decide to leave a public comment, keep it friendly, polite, and straightforward. Avoid attacking the reviewer, as others will likely read your response. The goal is to maintain a good reputation and leave a positive impression on potential customers.