Wow, so in the midst of preparing my post for today I received an email from SponsoredReviews.com. The review I did yesterday of Laser-Toner.co.uk was apparently not quite up to their standards. Well, rather than give you second hand information, I’ll just post the email.
Ben,
There are several problems with the following review: http://bloggingexperiment.com/archives/under-the-microscope-laser-tonercouk.php
Problem 1 – It is not ok to plug your own review services inside of a post that we are paying you to do. Please remove mentions that people can buy reviews from you directly in the post.
Problem 2 – The review contains several links to ChipSEO.com with the text “Business”. We are assuming these are some sort of contextual link from another service. We do not allow contextual links other then the advertisers links in our paid posts.
Problem 3 – While the advertiser did not require a “Benefits Only” post, we feel you go a little too far in your negativity of their site. Not all websites are created equal, Advertisers are not paying you to tell people not to visit their sites.. While this makes you look credible to your audience it pisses advertisers off. You can feel free to critique advertisers sites as long as you are providing contructive[sic] comments as well. If in the future you find that you cannot spin your reviews to be mostly constructive, we suggest not doing the review at all.
Please fix these issues promptly or we will need to refund the advertiser.
Now, to be fair, I wasn’t in the best of moods to begin with, but that about sent me through the roof. First of all… well again, let me just post my response rather than rehashing the whole thing.
Please show me where you state that #1 and 2 that you mentioned are not allowed. I’ve searched high and low on your site and have not seen any mention of either of these supposed rules. The second problem you mention you assume incorrectly. ChipSEO.com won a prize I gave away on my blog that every time I write the word business on my site, I link to their site. Surely you aren’t suggesting that we are ONLY allowed to link to the advertisers required links are you?
As for the third problem you say that not all websites are created equal. No correct me if I’m wrong but I was being paid to review the website in question. I reviewed it and found it to be lacking. You’re saying you want me to “spin” that opinion? I thought you guys wanted an honest opinion, especially when the advertiser does not require a “benefits only” review. You say that advertisers are not paying me to tell people not to visit their site. I never said such a thing and in fact linked to the site as required. I DID make the suggestion that people should not purchase from the company. That’s quite a bit different. I’m sorry that this particular advertiser doesn’t like the review but as you stated, not all websites are created equal and the site in question, after an extensive review, proved to be a very poor website.
I’ve been a huge fan of Sponsored Reviews and have done quite a few reviews for you. I’ve recommended you several times and to as many people as will listen. However, if I’m not allowed to speak my mind and you try to enforce rules that are no where to be found on your website I’m afraid my opinion of your company will change quite drastically.
I feel like I should reiterate the fact that I have been, and hopefully will continue to be, a big fan of SponsoredReviews. However, if these are the policies that they are going to enforce, I’m simply won’t be using their service anymore. If I’m not free to speak my mind on reviews, especially ones not listed as “Benefits Only” (which I don’t bother bidding on), I’d be selling my credibility to the highest bidder. In fact, this email would seem to call into question their entire operation. I’ve looked through all the terms and conditions and the Blogging “Best Practices” and everything I could find and have never once seen a mention of other links within my reviews.
Also, using the phrase “spin your reviews to be more constructive” seems like an incredibly poor choice of words! Enough people automatically assume that a paid review is biased and worthless, why in the world would a company that depends on these types of posts want to play into that assumption and essentially prove it to be correct? Not to mention the fact that isn’t pointing out the areas of the site I had a problem with the very definition of being constructive? I mean if they took that review and said, ok, how do we fix these issues, their site would take a HUGE leap forward.
I know I say this a lot but I’d really like your input on this one. Am I off base here? Am I letting my bad mood cloud my judgment on this one or what?
Author: Ben
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Maybe you were a little harsh. But honestly, I wouldn’t pay for you to tell me how great a job I’m doing. Little to no benefit will come from that. What I need to know, is what is wrong.
You were a little rough, and our all too common sarcasm may seem harsh when someone doesn’t understand just how much we use it. However, all in all, I think you are okay here.
The whole problem with paid reviews is that the advertiser expects a positive recommendation and the company that facilitates the review process wants happy advertisers.
I’m not into the review business anymore and don’t readily recommend it as an effective advertising platform to most people. It’s much more effective to advertise when the advertiser can choose the ad copy they are represented with.
However, I do agree completely with you that if SponsoredReviews wants to enforce these rules they talk about in that e-mail then they need to explicitly state those rules in their TOS. Otherwise I don’t think they should be allowed to refund the purchase and revoke your fee as you fulfilled the order within their stated terms.
Your review was harsh and because of that I checked out the site. Everything you said was true. I wouldn’t buy from them either. If a company isn’t willing to face criticism when they do a poor job they shouldn’t ask for it.
As for points 1 and 2, I can understand those but, as you state, they need to state their rules explicitly.
Finally, if they want spin, then you have to decide whether the money is worth it. Essentially whether you want to be a source of information or PR. Walking away from the bucks might be hard and slow you down a bit but I think it will be worth it in the long run if Sponsored Reviews has decided to become Sponsored Spin.
You are right. I do paid reviews too and if we are not allowed to put in our honest review, this will diminish the credibility of the blog.
I think Sponsored review as a middleman should not interfere if the advertiser didn’t request a “Benefits only ” review.
@Pops – Yeah I agree. I visit the site too even though it is a harsh review. Even a negative review can drive traffic, so why complain?
Ben, that is really unbelievable to me… especially to actually tell you to spin the review, that is just incredible. That just goes to show how some of these “advertisers” operate.
Don’t ask me my opinion and then tell me what my opinion should be, what the heck kind of review is that?
I am really quite appalled by their correspondence with you, take away the plug for my winning link
I have read several the TOS for several review companies, and most of the time I have found them to specifically stated in their TOS that a “good review” is not a requirement.
Now I would like to know how many other of these emails went out to other reviewers…… or are you really the only one that has given an honest opinion that was not completely glowing.
If that is how they require reviews to be written why don’t they just write the review themselves??? Just send out a form letter with the content already written and give it to you to post, great idea, it would speed up the review process and be a great money maker
I think the review was accurate and fair, even if I did have a contextual “business” service link thing. Scott
Well, it’s better if there is no middle man. Just advertise that you do reviews on here and don’t use any service to do so.
As for reviews, I understand that harsh comments will lower the reviewed blog’s standings. That is another reason why I base reviews of blogs on the good opinions and try to stay away from the bad, unless it is clearly shown in visibility.
-Mike
It appears I was in fact wrong on the first two issues. Well, at least mostly wrong. While I was not able to find the rules that mentioned the first two points, their reply back to me did point me to the right page. I’m not sure how to get there normally but the page did address those two issues.
The third problem was clarified ad bit and it wasn’t that I couldn’t be critical, it was that I could have probably said it more “tactfully.” I’ve been told I could be more tactful before so i guess I can’t argue that but come on, you saw that site, I mean really, how would you have put it? Anyway that being said, I’ve written another post updating the situation and I’ll still be using and recommending SponsoredReviews for paid reviews.
Wow, I’ve always been very dubious of doing sponsored reviews on my site and after having read this, my gut instinct was right. That’s just something I’ll stay away from. And yes telling you to spin the review in that way just epitomises the whole point of paid reviews – glorified ads.
My .02, don’t ask for a review if you do not want to hear the response. About being tactful, how can a honest negative review ever be tactful. About your bad mood, Ben is it your time of the month?
Maybe it was a little harsh. In my opinion, you shouldn’t accept reviews of sites that you think will recieve a harsh or over 30% negative review. Just my 2 cents
Here’s a quote from a Bob Dylan song that seems to apply.
“Don’t ask me nothing about nothing. I just might tell you the truth.”
Hmm… I’ve been thinking about this one carefully, I think that if you put yourself in the shoes of the person asking for the review, they are doing this in public, they havent asked for a private review. Therefore as far as I understand it they are looking for advertising, it may be called a review but really its just the reviewer writing a glorified ad.
Surely no-one is going to pay to have a review published and be happy if the review is bad. Of course not, they want reviewers to say nice things and for people to visit their site.
I think the problem is in the way the service works; and I’ll admit I don’t use it so I don’t know exactly how it works. As a site owner I would want to see reviews from a few individuals and have the choice of which one gets published, with even the ability to ask for edits. I wouldnt want someone simply writing what they think of my site without at least first vetting it.
I went to their site. There’s nothing on it, except for links to ink cartridges. No descriptions. No small talk. Nothing. Just links. Maybe there’s more copy elsewhere, but I didn’t stay long enough to find out.
Your review… don’t change it. I read magazines and other review sites that review products often and I actually look for the negatives first because I frankly don’t really trust the positives all that much. The negatives give me a chance to notice a reoccurring theme developing about it and then choose to evaluate whether I want to try the product myself. The way some companies take little accountability for some of their “underdeveloped” products nowadays… they shouldn’t get away with half quality stuff at our expenses. Having a professional looking website is a must, but as you pointed out, if the communication is confusing (IE: do they ship next day or 2 days), then what does that say about the company behind the website? I’d be a little skeptical.
If your review was given negatively toward one of my sites, sure I might get offended at first, but I’d end up taking it to heart and if your opinions were merited, I’d change the site.
It’s easier to take “positive” criticism, though, (if there is such a thing).