What is Word of Mouth?

Word of Mouth is the No 1 business review site in Australia.

It's a user-generated directory where people share the experiences they have with businesses - both good and bad. Every day, Word of Mouth helps thousands of people find awesome businesses (and avoid dodgy operators).

As well as helping consumers get better service, Word of Mouth also helps good businesses stand out from the crowd and be recognised for providing great service.

We all know how powerful a recommendation is, but with our busy lives it's sometimes hard to have that over-the-fence chat with our neighbours to find out where they get their hair cut or their car serviced. But who doesn't want to hear about a great new restaurant that's just opened, a fantastic plumber that won't rip you off, or a dentist that makes the experience pleasant?

We're different (in a good way!)

Traditional directories let you find businesses - but how do you know if they're any good? The businesses that pay the most are always the most prominent but this tells you nothing about their service.

We believe good businesses should be rewarded and Word of Mouth helps them by amplifying their word-of-mouth reputation. And if businesses are providing poor service, well we believe people should know this too so they can choose other alternatives.

Word of Mouth is absolutely the best way to find the best local businesses, using real information from real people.

And for businesses, Word of Mouth provides a place where they can be promoted on merit (not on how much they spend) and good businesses can acquire quality-oriented customers, without spending a fortune.

It's just word-of-mouth on steroids.

How it Works

1) People enter reviews about businesses they've used.

They explain what they loved or didn't love about their experience, and they give each business a rating for quality, value-for-money, service, and their overall experience. Each user has a TrustFactor to indicate how reliable their review might be. (In real life, some people's recommendations are worth more than others and the TrustFactor simulates this.)

2) Other people can find the best businesses (and know which ones to avoid).

When someone needs to find a business, they see a list of categorised businesses that have all been reviewed, with juicy information describing real customers' experiences, as well as details of how close the business is to them. They can also sign up to receive a regular email with the reviews for businesses nearby.

3) Businesses with great reviews soon get rewarded

When businesses are reviewed, this helps them get found online (on Word of Mouth, and in Google and other search engines). And there's nothing more convincing than seeing that other customers are happy. Businesses with several good reviews tend to get lots of new customers from Word of Mouth (business owners can find out more about this here)

Simple really - and surprising it hasn't been done before.