Software Review Guidelines
Guidelines on reviews, verification and publication
To ensure that reviews come from real tool users, we verify the identity of all reviewers via name and email address or LinkedIn™ account. We also consider potential conflicts of interest during the review process. For example, users are not permitted to leave reviews for the software of their own employer, the subsidiary or parent company of their own employer, or a competitor.
Software providers cannot influence ratings & rankings with money. The sole criteria for determining ratings and rankings is the popularity of the tools among our users.
All reviews are checked manually by our team of experts to ensure that the published reviews come from verified sources and offer helpful content. Only verified reviews with added value for other users make it to our platform. All reviews are treated equally during the verification process, regardless of rating or provider. The label "Verified Reviewer" indicates that reviewer has been authenticated by us.
We reserve the right to reject or remove reviews that do not meet minimum quality standards. In particular, this may happen if ratings have been copied from other sources or answers do not contain any reference to the questions asked. We also reserve the right to remove reviews, comments or other content if a reviewer cannot prove that they are using or have used the software reviewed.
Users may edit their ratings to reflect changed opinions or to ensure that the rating meets our quality standards. Edited reviews will go through our review process again upon submission of changes.
We occasionally provide incentives in the form of rewards for honest reviews. These are offered as a thank you for approved reviews only. Eligibility for such rewards is never based on the positive or negative opinions of the review, but solely based on the guidelines listed below.
Reviewers repeatedly in violation of our policies or attempt to abuse our program may have all reviews disabled and legal action taken.
Buyer Warnings: Manipulation attempts by software provider in the form of influencing the ratings of their own customer do occasionally occur; we condemn such attempts and these, when discovered, will result in the deletion of all ratings received via the corresponding action. These actions include, but are not limited to, encouraging only positive reviews, discouraging negative reviews, threatening to take action against legitimately submitted negative reviews and inciting the writing of fake reviews.
Reviews Guidelines
Reviews that do not adhere to the following guidelines will not be published and may be removed at our discretion, possibly after contacting you for comment:
All reviews must be submitted using an identity that we can verify. This also applies to reviews submitted anonymously. To this end, we recommend logging in with LinkedIn™ to facilitate the verification process
Conflicts of interest are not allowed. Vendors, their employees or anyone with a financial stake in the success of a product may not review their own product(s) or those of a competitor.
All reviews must be submitted by the actual reviewer. In accordance with our verification process, reviews may not be posted on behalf of others, nor may they be submitted using a false or forged identity.
All reviews must be original. We do not permit the use of reviews copied from any other source, including our own website.
Reviews may not contain content that is in violation of stipulations laid out in the German penal code or any other laws. This applies in particular to content that is abusive, hateful, threatening, harassing, pornographic, immoral, harassing or that glorifies violence as per the definition in Section 7 UWG (unfair business practices). Reviews may not contain personal threats, obscenities or hate speech or serve to perform or promote anti-competitive acts, including progressive customer advertising (such as Ponzi, pyramid or other schemes).
No review may not contain personal information about others. We do not permit reviews to use information that can be used to identify an individual or otherwise infringe upon their privacy. This type of information includes, but is not limited to, names, addresses, phone numbers and other kinds of personal information.
Reviews must contain honest feedback about the product being reviewed. Reviews may not be used to openly promote or disparage another product. Referencing other products or vendors beyond the product being reviewed is only permitted if such a reference increases the relevance and value of the review.
Reviews may not violate the rights of any third parties. This applies in particular to content that violates copyright, patent, registered designs or utility patent laws, should the author not be the owner of such copyrights, or be in possession of express written consent from said owners.
Reviews may not contain false claims or abusive criticism.
Reviews that would cause us to violate the law will not be published. Therefore, we reserve the right to reject reviews that would compel us or our website to violate any laws or regulations.
If we are informed by a copyright owner that, in their opinion, a rating infringes on their rights, we shall forward the complaint to the author and ask them for comment. If no comment is received, the review will be deleted. If we receive a response, it will be forwarded to the rights holder. If no comment is received, the complaint is deemed to have been withdrawn. If a further statement is received, we will make a decision on the justification of the complaint and inform both parties of the decision.
Reviews can be revised at any time. Revised reviews do not have a fundamental right to bonuses. We reserve the right not to remunerate slightly changed reviews. Revised reviews must have at least one new, substantive aspect or describe what has changed since the last review.
As a neutral content platform, we rely on our reviewers to submit accurate and honest reviews about their experiences with a given software, company or service. Despite the fact that we do not engage in attempts to verify the veracity of a review or expressly endorse the opinions contained in our reviews, we may examine the content of a review at any time and for any reason. To this end, we reserve the right to remove a review at our discretion, if we have reason to believe it violates any of our policies.
How to write effect reviews
Help the OMR Reviews community. Ideally, your reviews will help people when deciding which new software or service to purchase. Therefore, it is key to include details in the review that you yourself would find helpful. The more informative a review is, the more attention it generates and, therefore, the more credible other users find it. Remember that other users often find your insights more helpful than the opinions of analysts or consultants because they are based on your direct, first-hand experience in an actual business environment. With that in mind, make sure it is clear from your review that you really do use or have used the tool.
Details are your (and others’) friend. Please provide detailed answers (at least three sentences or more) for each of the three questions we ask.
Watch your objectivity. Even if you like, like really like, the product or service, there are surely certainly things that could be improved. To this end, make sure you provide constructive feedback along with any positive aspects. People are less likely to trust mostly positive (or mostly negative) reviews because they don't provide a balanced and realistic representation of the user experience.
Be honest. In addition to being objective, it’s best if you are brutally honest about your level of experience with the software, service or hardware. Reviews that relate to specific situations and use cases are much more engaging and compelling than those that do not.
Authentication. We are dedicated to ensuring that reviews are written by real users. To this end, please do the following:
Enter your real name in your OMR profile.
Name the company you are using the software for (by adding "(anonymous)" we’ll keep the company name off the platform).
Stay current. If it’s been over two years, since you last used a piece of software or a service, please do not submit a review. As B2B software can change significantly in a relatively short period of time, these reviews are outdated and, therefore, unhelpful.
B2B Context. When writing a review, please keep in mind that all software reviews must be written from a business perspective. "Paypal is great for sending money to colleagues for lunch," for example, is not something we can publish on our platform. You are also not permitted to review or rate a company or software you work for.
Please note that we do in fact read every single review. Within 72 hours, we will either publish or reject your review, depending on whether it meets the criteria listed above. Occasionally this will take a bit longer. Rejected reviews can be revised by you once after submission. Only on published reviews will we send the promised incentive.
How to read reviews
A review expresses the opinion of a single person who has had experience with a particular software product. When reading reviews of a software product, it is important to consider the following:
● Do not rely on a single review. Each reviewer's experience is unique to their own situation. Consider multiple reviews, if possible, to develop a comprehensive understanding of the software's capabilities and standing.
● Consider the response of the vendor. There is always more than one side to every story. Consider both the evaluation and any response from the vendor. Vendor responses can be used to assess how vendors handle issues.
● Evaluate ratings over time. It is important to consider how provider ratings have evolved over time to determine if previous issues have been fixed and/or if new issues are being addressed. More recent reviews are more likely to reflect the most current features and relevant experiences of a product.
Software reviews serve as an important tool to help you make informed decisions. Use your judgment when evaluating the content of a review and make your decisions based on all the information available to you.
Code of conduct within the OMR Reviews community
We work to ensure that our content is useful, transparent, and safe for the entire community. Violation of these guidelines may result in content being removed or in a user being banned permanently from participating in the OMR Reviews Community.
● Use your real identity. Write reviews under your real name so that you are credited for your expertise.
● By using this platform, you agree to treat other user with respect. We do not tolerate content that harasses any person or group based on race, gender, religion, nationality, ethnicity, political group, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristic. Abusive behavior will not be tolerated.
● Respect the Platform. Users who do not post meaningful content, use fraudulent means to generate traffic, post unwanted advertisements or manipulate content will be banned.
● We encourage diverse opinions. Users are encouraged to share personal opinions. Respectful dialogue makes the entire community better.
● Users can edit their posts at any time to reflect changing circumstances.
● We reserve the right to remove posts and discussions that do not meet minimum quality standards or guidelines. These include, but are not limited to, those that have been copied from another source or posts that contain meaningless or illegal comments.
Tips for Software Vendors
We recommend that all software vendors ask their customers to leave reviews with authentic, unbiased feedback. If we find evidence that software vendors are requesting only positive reviews, we will remove the reviews. To help software vendors connect with their customers, we offer services through which we contact software vendors' customers on their behalf and ask them to provide authentic feedback on one or more of their offerings.
We encourage software vendors to engage in dialogue with users and offer them the opportunity to respond publicly to posts. If a post contains inaccurate or negative comments, we ask software vendors to provide their perspective and consider the comments made by users in this forum.
● Users have the opportunity to report concerns about a review. In this case, an OMR Reviews team member will investigate and provide a response.
● Software vendors and other individuals who believe their rights have been violated by a review have the opportunity to object to reviews in whole or in part. In this case, the procedure described in the guidelines and in § 10 of the terms of use will be followed.
We protect the privacy of our users
Account Privacy. We will not share your information with external sources without your explicit consent. While we ask contributing users to sign in using their LinkedIn™ profile, a verified business email address or other selected platforms, this information is used solely to verify the user identity and authenticity.
● Anonymized Reviews. We understand that business relationships between customers and sellers may require discretion. That is why OMR Reviews offers its users the possibility to have their reviews published without some of their personal information (last name, photo, company). The OMR Reviews team validates these reviews based on the information provided by the user, but an "anonymized" review will only show the user's first name, company size, industry and job category. OMR Reviews will not share users' undisclosed information with the public or the company whose software, service, or hardware the users have rated.