A few notes

My goal for this was to mention least one private / anonymous site that you can encourage reviews on, no matter what your industry is. 

That’s why I have some sites that may seem “niche” – like WeddingWire and Zillow.  WeddingWire isn’t just for dressmakers and cake-bakers; you can also be listed and get reviews there if you’re a photographer, jeweler, florist, or DJ.  Likewise, Zillow isn’t just for real-estate agents; you can get reviews there if you’re a roofer or landscaper (for example). 

I didn’t want to dwell on one industry.  That’s why you won’t see more than a couple examples of private / anonymous sites for a given industry. 

Even if there’s not a review site that’s specific to your field, you’ve still got Angie’s List, CitySearch, InsiderPages, Yahoo, and YP.  It’s good to get a smattering of reviews at those places anyway. 

When I say a “real name” is required, I’m referring only to the rules / preferences of a given site.  It may have no way to tell a reviewer’s real name from an alias.  I doubt Sarah B. would get in any hot water if she created an account as or wrote a review as Penny O. Make sure your customers know that. 

This list is US-specific.  I’m guessing the equivalent of YellowPages in other countries – YellowPages.ca, PagesJaunes.fr, PaginasAmarillas.com, etc. –  allow private reviews.  I’d be curious to learn about other sites. 

Last but not least, huge thanks to design whiz David Deering for putting together the “Top Secret” report.  I suggest you check out his offerings. 

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What’s a private / anonymous review site you think you’ll be working into your review strategy from now on? 

What about, like Cylex (already mentioned), Yellowbook, Kudzu, Hotfrog, Merchantcircle, and the like.  They require a basic “account” (generic profile with email confirmation), to write reviews for businesses.  They seem to be geared more toward local businesses.  Although I wouldn’t say they’re prominent sites, they do tend to show up for local business searches (for me).  And they encourage reviews. 

Oh, not a surplus- just the opposite.  It’s difficult to get my customers to write reviews, no matter how happy they are with their experience.  My thinking initially was, the more sites available for reviews, the better chances of getting them.  But it hasn’t worked out that way. 
Thanks for the reply, great article, as always. 

You have to give them at least one harder choice (Yelp or G+) and at least one stupid-easy choice (Yahoo, CitySearch, InsiderPages, etc).  Too many choices leads to analysis paralysis.  That’s why I put this together the way I did:

This was great info… paralysis by analysis is a B….  We have been advertising 5 options for a long time and over 95% of the reviews were from angieslist and yelp.  We dropped down to 3 options making the 3rd (google) the 1st option with diagram, and now we have had reviews being placed on 2 review sites from the same clients for the first time. 

Your post is new but possibly dated already (oh marketing, the constantly changing landscape).  Citysearch requires an account which than shows up and it viewable by anyone looking to see what other reviews you’ve written.  So a customers name will appear next to their review. 

Hello Phil,
I was considering to allow my local directory site to allow anonymous reviews or not, your post have me made up my mind to allow it, as I see why people should be able to post private business review. 
The site is https://cityshoppingpoint.com
Don’t mean to cause paralysis by analysis, just maybe having another option would be a good thing like providing consistency or more information for potential local business customers. 
Though opening anon reviews would invite spam or shady intentions, I’ll see how it goes. 

Trackbacks

Not talking anything shady here, but there are sometimes legit reasons a customer or patient could like to keep their name out of a review.  A couple good examples would be clients of a BK attorney or …

[…] Some sites where you might want reviews don’t have an app that makes it easy to write a review on a phone.  Avvo (for lawyers) is an example.  This can be a problem if your customers / clients / patients are concerned about privacy and you’re encouraging reviews on more-private sites. […]