How
are the reviews and ratings gathered
of a site?
Techrate.com
combines consumer feedback from
two different sources to create
the most comprehensive and reliable
store ratings available anywhere.
Website
Certified Ratings
Most
of our stores are nominated as "Website
Certified ". These stores have
agreed to allow Techrate.com to
collect feedback directly from their
customers as they make purchases.
To do this, Techrate.com literally
sits at the checkout (receipt) page
of tens of millions of transactions
each month inviting real customers
to share their experiences and give
feedback directly after a purchase.
Of course, a transaction is not
complete until a customer receives
his/her goods. Therefore, we follow
up via e-mail to make sure that
the store delivered the goods as
promised. This continuous process
ensures that Techrate.com is able
to collect timely, detailed and
accurate ratings and feedback about
both the ordering and fulfillment
process of every Website Certified
store. No other ratings methodology
comes close!
Techrate
Members
Techrate.com
has put together a large number
of active online shoppers to volunteer
to provide ratings and feedback
to help others shop. Also, each
month our site welcomes a huge number
of online shoppers looking to compare
prices and share their experiences
regarding each merchant. We use
this virtual army of shoppers to
rate stores who may not want to
cooperate with Techrate by giving
us access to gather feedback from
their customers at checkout. By
combining the above sources of feedback,
we assure you the shopper that we
have the most reliable and up-to-date
ratings possible regarding each
store!
How
an online store is rated?
To
rate the stores the shopper has
to click on any Store Report Card
link and you will have an opportunity
to "Give Feedback" to
Techrate.com regarding your purchases
at the store.
On
the other hand, every time you make
a purchase at an online store looks
for the Techrate.com survey invitation
on the receipt page. Simply click
on that invitation and you'll be
presented with the Techrate.com
survey. In the survey, you'll be
asked to evaluate the store for
the purchase you just made. If you
do not see a survey invitation on
a store's receipt page, this means
that the store is not yet participating
in our free Website Certified survey
program. We encourage you to ask
the store to join the program and
help us help all online buyers make
more informed, confident decisions.
How
frequently are Store Ratings and Reviews
updated?
The
customer feed back is taken every
day. Every week the ratings and
reviews of Website Certified stores
are updated. Techrate Member Ratings
are also collected continuously,
but updated on a weekly basis.
Where
is a Store Report Card?
The
rating of the store listing is done
by the simply scale or on the number
of reviews link at Techrate.com
and you will see its report card.
Click on the Store Ratings tab to
search directly for Store Report
Cards and compare stores with in
a particular category side-by-side.
Store Report Cards include the Store
Rating through customer reviews,
key features and services offered,
and important contact information.
How
is the store ratings calculated?
Great
care is ensured with Techrate.com
for the rating calculations as we
use the most rigorous and reliable
resources for up-to-date ratings
possible. Accordingly, we take the
latest feedback from our point-of-sale
survey network and combine it with
the latest feedback from Techrate
Members to arrive at Store Ratings.
The
equation that determines each merchant's
rating is calculated as follows
for each dimension of service:
Merchant
ratings often change over time -
Summer time is not the same as Holiday
season - time is also a very important
element in our calculations. Accordingly,
we only use data from the latest
90 days when performing the calculations
to arrive at a rating. That means
that, the information on Techrate
is not more than three months old!
It
is to be noted, that while we give
weight age to each individual feedback
point for all sources equally in
our ratings, the stores participating
in our Website Certified program
generally have the most reliable
ratings because they are allowing
Techrate to proactively and continuously
solicit feedback from actual customers
on their site receipt page and through
follow-up e-mail surveys after fulfillment,
when the experience with a store
is freshest. Thus, the Website Certified
program represents the "gold
standard" of customer satisfaction
ratings of stores. To find stores
in this program look for the "Website
Certified" medal on the site
or the following designation on
ours: Website
Certified.
What
are the 15 quality ratings and what
do they mean?
We
follow 15 quality rating pattern.
8 Out of 15 ratings are determined
at the point-of-sale or "checkout".
Asking a store's customers to evaluate
their purchase experiences immediately
after completing the online transaction
collects these. The rest of 7 quality
ratings are determined when the
purchase is expected to be receiving
as an "after delivery"
follow-up. Explanations of each
ratings attribute are found below:
Source
Rating
Explanation
at checkout
Ease of
finding what you are looking
for
How easily
were you able to find the product
your were looking for
at checkout
Selection
of products
Types of
products available
at checkout
Clarity
of product information
How clear
and understandable was the product
information
at checkout
Prices relative
to other online merchants
Prices relative
to other web sites
at checkout
Overall
look and design of site
Overall
look and design of the site
at checkout
Shipping
charges
Shipping
charges
at checkout
Variety
of shipping options
Desired
shipping options were available
at checkout
Charges
stated clearly before order
submission
Total purchase
amount (including shipping/handling
charges) displayed before order
submission
after delivery
Availability
of product you wanted
Product
was in stock at time of expected
delivery
after delivery
Order tracking
Ability
to track orders until delivered
after delivery
On-time
delivery
Product
arrived when expected
after delivery
Product
met expectations
Correct
product was delivered and it
worked as described/depicted
after delivery
Customer
support
Availability/Ease
of contacting, courtesy &
knowledge of staff, resolution
of issue
after delivery
Would shop
here again
Likelihood
to buy again from this store
after delivery
Overall
rating
Overall
experience with this purchase
Our
Travel Reservations category maintains
a slightly different set of quality
ratings that have been custom-designed
to better evaluate these online
businesses.
Source
Rating
Explanation
at purchase
Ease of
making reservations
Convenience
and speed of making reservations
at purchase
Planning
selection
Quality
of travel planning selection
at purchase
Planning
information
Quantity,
quality & relevance of information
at purchase
Ease of
comparing prices
Ease of
comparing prices across other
online travel sites
at purchase
Confirmation
process of reservation
Order was
confirmed
at purchase
Accuracy
of reservation
Was reservation
correct and complete at time
of confirmation
at purchase
Speed with
which reservation was confirmed
Confirmation
was received in a timely manner
at purchase
Overall
look and design of site
Overall
look and design of site
after travel
Timely delivery
of ticket/confirmation
Timely delivery
of ticket/confirmation
after travel
Accuracy
of ticket/confirmation
Error-free
ticket/confirmation
after travel
Customer
support
Availability/Ease
of contacting, courtesy &
knowledge of staff, resolution
of issue
after travel
Value for
price paid
Value for
price paid
after travel
Would shop
here again
Likelihood
to buy again from this travel
site
after travel
Overall
rating
Overall
experience with this purchase
How
to stop ratings manipulations and
fraud?
We've
put in place many ways of detecting
and eliminating fraudulent ratings.
For obvious reasons, we don't like
to detail exactly what we look for
and how we detect fraud, but suffice
it to say that we use a combination
of sophisticated mathematical algorithms,
large numbers of reviews from a
variety of sources that are checked
against each other for consistency,
and powerful analytic tools and
systems to make sure that we are
on the leading edge of detecting
and eliminating systematic fraud
from our ratings. The most reliable
store ratings on the web are Techrate.com!
How
is Techrate rating well than the other
store ratings?
Techrate
is the only shopping site, which
focuses on comparison ratings. Thus,
our methodology, sampling techniques
and comprehensiveness of sources
are unsurpassed. And now, with the
colorful Smiley Scale, our ratings
are extremely insightful and easy
to use too.
Do
stores pay to be listed in the Store
Ratings section?
No.
To preserve the highest levels of
objectivity and independence in
our ratings, we do not charge stores
for evaluation or listing on Techrate.com.
We are dedicated to providing consumers
with correct information to make
them more informed and confident
for online buying decisions.
What
is the benefit for the stores for
receiving participating Website Certified
programme?
"Website
Certified" medal for display
is given by the Website Certified
store. Techrate.com showing all
visitors their participation in
the web's most rigorous monitoring
program and their proactive stance
of receiving feedback and providing
a satisfactory customer experience.
All participants in Techrate.com
point-of-sale survey program receive
free real-time research based on
survey results to help them to better
serve their customers' needs.
What
is the eligibility for the stores
to be Website Certified on Techrate.com?
Any
online store can apply to participate
in the free Techrate.com Customer
Certification Program as long as
the store:
Have full
online ordering capabilities
Sells
products/services over the Web
Agrees
to be independently evaluated by Techrate.com
survey process.
How
can anyone join the Techrate.com Online
Research Panel?
To
maintain the high integrity of our
data, we require all members of
our research panel to be online
buyers. We give online buyers the
opportunity to join the Techrate.com
Online Research Panel by expressing
their interest on our surveys. To
join, simply click on the panel
information checkbox in the survey
following your next purchase from
a Website Certified online store.
More information will be sent directly
to you via email.
Website
Certified.
