How We Help People Make More Confident Choices Online
SmartCustomer was founded on the belief that consumers deserve honest information and that businesses should be accountable to the experiences they deliver. We've spent 20 years building the platform, the policies, and the technology to make that possible.
Now, millions of consumers rely on SmartCustomer to discover businesses, share experiences, avoid scams, and make more confident purchasing decisions. This trust hub is where we open the hood and show exactly how SmartCustomer works, how reviews are collected and moderated, and the standards we use to maintain trust and integrity across the platform.
Our Values
The values SmartCustomer is built on have been shaped by our experience as a trusted resource for consumers since 2006. They guide how we continue to evolve the platform to better serve both buyers and businesses
Trust
Reviews influence real decisions about where people spend their money and which businesses earn their loyalty. That kind of influence only works if the reviews behind it are authentic. Everything we work towards starts from that premise.
We are committed to openly explaining how our platform works so consumers and businesses can make informed decisions with confidence.
Independence
We're an independent platform. Businesses can engage with their reviews, but they can't control them. No business can pay to remove a negative review or inflate its rating. That independence is one of the reasons our platform is worth using.
Integrity
We use technology, human moderation, community reporting, and policy enforcement to reduce fake, manipulated, incentivized, or conflicted reviews.
While no platform can eliminate abuse entirely, we continuously invest in systems designed to protect the authenticity of reviews on SmartCustomer.
Consumer Advocacy & Protection
Consumers deserve access to real customer experiences when evaluating businesses online.
SmartCustomer exists to help consumers share experiences, learn from others, and make safer, more informed purchasing decisions.
Accountability
We maintain standards for both reviewers and businesses, and we take action when those standards are violated.
This may include moderation actions, review removals, account restrictions, or additional verification measures intended to protect the integrity of the platform.
Our Credentials
SmartCustomer has operated in the consumer trust and reviews space since 2006.
We're an Official Google Review Partner, meaning our reviews meet Google's standards for quality and authenticity. We've received Innovation Research Grants from the National Science Foundation and we're backed by Silicon Valley investors including 500 Startups and The Seraph Group. Our work has been featured across consumer and business media like NBC News, CBS, Forbes, Glamour, and Business Insider.
Why We Created SmartCustomer
When SmartCustomer was founded in 2006, buying from a business online required a leap of faith. The early internet gave rise to a wave of online scams, with consumers having little reliable information to distinguish legitimate businesses from fraudulent ones. Buyers were often left asking:Is this business legitimate?Can I trust this company?Is it safe to spend my money here?
SmartCustomer was created to answer those questions. We became one of the first platforms to host consumer reviews specifically to build trust between buyers and businesses online, giving consumers a place to share genuine experiences and a way to make more confident decisions.
Founded in Silicon Valley by Michael Lai, Dr. Rodney Gin, and Jeremy Gin, SmartCustomer became one of the first consumer protection platforms focused on helping people share experiences, identify trustworthy businesses, and bring greater transparency to online purchasing decisions.
Now, decades later, the problem hasn't gone away. It's gotten harder. Online scams are more sophisticated and more widespread than ever, and the landscape of information consumers rely on to make decisions has grown more complex. Buyers face an overwhelming amount of information from businesses, advertisements, search engines, social media, and AI-generated content.
That makes trustworthy reviews more important than ever. Reviews remain one of the most powerful tools consumers have, but only when people can trust them. That means understanding where reviews come from, how they are protected from manipulation, and whether businesses have influence over what appears publicly.
SmartCustomer is committed to maintaining that transparency and serving as a trusted layer between consumers and businesses online, even as that internet continues to evolve.
What You Can Learn in This Trust Hub
We built this hub as a central place to learn how SmartCustomer works, how we protect the integrity of our reviews platform, and what standards we hold ourselves, businesses, and reviewers to. Here's what you'll find:
How SmartCustomer Works
An overview of our review ecosystem and business model, including what businesses can and can't do.
Our Review Collection Process & Fake Review Detection
How reviews are collected and verified, and how we detect and remove fake or manipulated reviews.
How SmartCustomer Ratings Are Calculated
The methodology behind our star ratings and the factors that go into calculating them.
Our Review Integrity Policy & Guidelines
Our full policy for reviewers and businesses, including our rules on fake reviews, incentives, insider reviews, and review suppression, and how we enforce them.
FAQ
Answers to the most common questions from consumers and businesses about how SmartCustomer works.