Frequently asked questions

RealReviews.io serves as a platform that bridges the gap between consumers and exceptional small businesses worldwide. Leveraging the power of reviews, we facilitate connections that enable individuals to discover outstanding enterprises. Since 2023, our community has contributed reviews for over 800 businesses, empowering more than 1 million people to make informed decisions and locate remarkable establishments. We welcome everyone to share their experiences by writing reviews, while also providing the opportunity for any business to register and be part of our platform. Together, we foster a thriving ecosystem that benefits both consumers and small businesses alike.

We invite you to explore our Review Guidelines, which offer valuable insights on crafting reviews that are informative and beneficial. These guidelines provide guidance on how to contribute reviews that can assist fellow users in making informed decisions. By familiarizing yourself with our Review Guidelines, you can ensure that your reviews are helpful and impactful, creating a meaningful impact within our community.

Our review platform employs the widely recognized 5-rating system, which enables users to express their satisfaction or judgment on a scale from 1 to 5. Here's a breakdown of our rating scale:

• Very Poor: This rating indicates the lowest level of satisfaction or quality. It suggests significant issues and a failure to meet expectations.
• Poor: A rating of 2 implies below-average quality or satisfaction. It highlights noticeable drawbacks or shortcomings.
• Average: With a rating of 3, we consider the experience or product to meet basic expectations without being exceptional.
• Good: A rating of 4 indicates above-average quality or satisfaction. It signifies that the product or service performs well and surpasses average expectations.
• Excellent: This is the highest rating we offer. A rating of 5 represents the pinnacle of satisfaction or quality, signifying outstanding performance and an exceptional experience.

Our standardized 5-rating system helps ensure consistency and allows users to express their opinions effectively.

We calculate average ratings to provide a summarized evaluation of a product, service, or experience. Here's how we determine the average rating:

1. Collecting individual ratings: We gather the ratings submitted by our users, each rating falling within the 1 to 5 scale.
2. Summing up the ratings: We add together all the individual ratings to obtain the total score.
3. Counting the number of ratings: We determine the total number of ratings received for a specific product or service.
4. Calculating the average: By dividing the total score by the number of ratings, we arrive at the average rating.

For example, if a product receives ratings of 4, 5, and 3, we add them up (4 + 5 + 3 = 12) and divide by the number of ratings (3), resulting in an average rating of 4 (12 ÷ 3 = 4).

By presenting average ratings, we offer users a quantitative representation of the overall satisfaction or quality level based on the collective opinions shared by our community.

In general, reviews are seldom removed from our platform. Users have the autonomy to delete their own reviews by visiting their profile page and selecting the 'Remove review' link beneath the respective review. However, our Support Team may occasionally step in and remove a review if it is found to be in violation of our Terms of Service or Review Guidelines. It's worth noting that while additional reviews are not typically removed, they might undergo a filtering process (see below for more details). We prioritize maintaining a transparent and trustworthy environment while adhering to our guidelines.

To modify or revise your reviews, simply navigate to your profile page and locate the "Write update" or "Edit review" link beneath your respective review. If you choose to write an update, your original review will remain intact, and the updated version will be displayed above it. This feature allows consumers to comprehend the reasons behind the update, aiding in better understanding. On the other hand, if you opt to edit a review, the original content will be replaced entirely. Editing should primarily be utilized for rectifying any errors or inaccuracies in the initial review. We encourage users to provide accurate and helpful information to ensure the utmost transparency within our community.

RealReviews takes fake reviews very seriously and does four important things to prevent them:

• We run sophisticated software that spots and removes fake reviews. The software identifies characteristics that might indicate a review is fake (e.g., evidence that more than one review has been written by the same person), and then removes those reviews. This software is always improving and gets better as time goes on.
• We have a Review Team that manually checks reviews for fakes. Unfortunately due to the large number of reviews we get we cannot manually read everything but we try to get to as much as we can.
• Our community flags reviews that look suspicious so our Review Team can then look more carefully at the suspicious reviews. Community involvement in fighting fake reviews is critical for us.
• We seek to educate companies and consumers about the dangers of fake reviews and how to spot them. Please read 4 things you need to know before reading reviews and What is review fraud?

At RealReviews, we offer free access to our platform for both consumers and businesses. Additionally, we provide businesses with the option to opt for a paid plan to enjoy additional features and benefits. However, it's important to note that our commitment to transparency and authenticity means that businesses cannot pay to have reviews removed or suppressed. We believe in the integrity of the review process and strive to maintain a fair and unbiased platform for all users.