Consumer Approval Program

The RatePoint Consumer Approval Program promotes business quality by working with businesses and consumers to receive and manage customer feedback, and then display it in a form that consumers can use when making purchasing decisions. Being a member of this program allows you to promote the quality of your business that is validated by an independent third-party organization. It also provides you with the tools to communicate with your customers, and in the case of a negative review, a direct way to reach out to them, and turn them into a satisfied customer.

How does the program work?

Businesses who are part of the RatePoint Consumer Approval Program display a RatePoint badge on their website that can be clicked on by their customers. When they click on the badge, a form appears that allows them to submit a review about your business. RatePoint then authenticates the user to assure that the input is legitimate. The feedback then goes into a management system or is displayed directly on the website.

How does this compare to the Better Business Bureau?

Our programs are complementary. The Better Business Bureau primarily focuses on soliciting complaints and reporting negative ratings. RatePoint encourages businesses to be proactive and ask customers 'how are we doing' on a regular basis to incorporate positive feedback as well. With RatePoint available the next day for only $149.95 per year, you may wish to have both to begin to focus on the proactive approach to gather positive feedback.

What do I do with the decal?

We recommend that you place the window decal either on the door of your business, or on your storefront window. If these are not options, any location near the cash register is ideal. The sticker is vinyl, and the adhesive is not permanent.

Tell me about the online badge and how that works?

The online badge is dynamically generated by code that we provide you that is placed on your website. If your business has a positive RatePoint Rating, your site will display a "Consumer Approved" badge. If your business does not have enough ratings for this status, it will simply display as "Member". If you have a negative RatePoint rating, the badge will become invisible until you work to remove those ratings from the system.

Is it enough to just put the decal up and/or the badge on the website?

You should always be asking people to review your site by visiting your website and clicking on the badge. When businesses actively solicit feedback, they receive up to 40% more feedback which is generally positive. Businesses who are passive generally receive negative feedback. With both the decal and the online badge, placement is highly important. They should be easily visible. The decal should be at eye-level. The online badge should be prominently available on your home page without having to scroll down.

How do we know if the consumers rating our business are legitimate?

RatePoint uses a variety of authentication tools to verify the legitimacy of a review including e-mail and telephony verification. Reviews that are anonymous or are not authenticated are only placed online at the discretion of the business.

What happens when I get a negative rating?

When you receive a negative rating RatePoint opens the doors for communication between you and the consumer. Since the user has been authenticated, we provide you several ways to reach out to a consumer with the goal of turning their review into a positive one. The rating is not placed on the website until this process is complete. By communicating with the customer, there is a high likelihood that the negative rating will be resolved.

Are there any other benefits I receive from being part of this program?

As a member of the RatePoint program, your business will be listed in our upcoming Merchant Directory which will be connected to our high-traffic web ratings site. This will provide your business with additional links and help to increase your standing on search engines such as Google. In addition, we're actively seeking partners that can provide you with additional benefits.

I do business internationally - how would this work?

RatePoint displays in eleven different languages. When an international customer visits your website, we display our badge based on the language that user's web browser is set to. In addition, all of our forms are also localized for that language.