Certificates & ratings
Why we deliberately do not use seals & stars for our online store
We deal intensively with the topics of certificates for online stores and customer reviews. Many purchasing decisions are based not only on price, but also on trust and transparency. But what do ratings and certificates actually say about a store - and what added value do they really offer?
After careful consideration, we have made a conscious decision not to purchase a certificate and not to collect customer reviews on external portals. We would like to explain our reasons for this openly and transparently.
How authentic are "real" customer reviews?
Review portals advertise with the promise of "genuine customer reviews". However, it is striking that most stores are consistently rated between 4 and 5 stars. At the same time, companies regularly receive offers to have negative reviews removed or to buy positive reviews as part of a package price. It is almost impossible for end customers to understand how authentic the reviews displayed actually are.
A specific industry case for classification
In the furnishing industry, a well-known German online store was saved from the worst by several rounds of financing and a change of ownership in recent years. During this phase, numerous negative customer reviews on well-known review portals became publicly visible over a longer period of time.
Customers reported a lack of feedback after long waiting times, unavailability by phone, missing deliveries, lack of response to written messages and more. At times, the average rating for this company was in the region of one star! Within a reasonable period of time, the publicly visible overall rating of this store rose again significantly.
We cannot make a legal assessment of this process, but this case shows us impressively that ratings and certificates are created today in an environment in which representation and reality are not always congruent. It is almost impossible for outsiders to understand how ratings are arrived at, how they are weighted or why overall ratings can change significantly within a short period of time. This is why we at Home & Light continue to consciously focus on transparent communication and direct accessibility - instead of external rating seals and recessions.
Certificates - cost-intensive and, in our view, without any real added value
Many certificates and seals of approval are based on a fee-based model in which:
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the monthly fees are often linked to turnover
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retailers have to disclose sales figures
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the economic basis lies primarily in the sale of the seal itself
In our view, a certificate can therefore make no well-founded statement about consulting expertise, service quality or actual customer satisfaction.
Your Home & Light team
