Reviews Policy
Specsavers Optical Group Limited (including its subsidiaries and holding companies) (referred to in this policy as “Specsavers”, the “Specsavers Group” , “We”) value all feedback (positive, negative and neutral) and welcome our consumer’s (referred to in this policy as “You” or “Your”) thoughts on our eye and hearing care products and services, our retailers and our wider business.
We also know that You may use rating and review information to help You to make informed choices, especially when You are first thinking about eye or hearing care.
This policy explains how We gather, manage and publish reviews, particularly online; how We distinguish reviews from testimonials and other forms of marketing; and how We seek to ensure that reviews published online (including on our websites) are genuine.
How to contact Specsavers
If You have any concerns about reviews of the Specsavers Group, or our eye or hearing care products or services, which are published on our websites, on our social media or in our marketing materials, then please contact us at the following email address: pressoffice@specsavers.com.
How We use reviews and testimonials
We use reviews and testimonials in several different ways. For example:
- We may re-use customer ratings and/or reviews which are originally published on third partyowned platforms such as Trustpilot and Google, including on our website.
- We may use, on our website, ratings and/or reviews from customer satisfaction surveys conducted by us.
- We may approach customers who have visited our stores for testimonials for use in press releases, advertising and marketing materials; telling their individual story about the eye or hearing care products or services they have purchased.
- We may run ad hoc consumer insights trials from which We may use overall perceptions based upon the data gathered.
- We work with influencers, affiliates and other content creators (directly or through intermediaries) who post advertising content about us and our products and services on social media and other digital platforms, such as TikTok.
- We may refer to awards won or reviews of our services or products by news and other outlets.
- We may ask our employees for testimonials about their experience of working at Specsavers, for use on our recruitment pages and for external promotion on third-party owned platforms such as LinkedIn.
We explain in this policy how We manage and present the different types of review and testimonial information that We use.
Prohibition of fake reviews
- We do not allow the submission of fake reviews (or the commissioning of anyone else to submit fake reviews).
- A fake review is a consumer review that purports to be, but is not, based on a person’s genuine experience. These could be positive or negative and could include, for example, ratings or reviews from people who claim to have purchased one of our products or used our services, when they have not.
- We periodically monitor reviews that have been published on our online platforms.
- If We discover or determine that a rating or review on one of our online platforms is fake (or has been incentivised, where the incentive has not been made clear in the review), We will act to remove the review.
- We have a community management team who routinely monitor reviews being published on Google and Trust Pilot. The team will submit takedown requests if they consider the reviews are likely fake, although ultimately the removal of such ratings or reviews is outside of our control.
- We ask in our employee handbook that employees of Specsavers do not provide ratings or reviews relating to our products or services on third party-owned platforms. They may discuss their experiences working as an employee of Specsavers, disclosing that employment relationship.
- If You identify any suspected fake reviews (or reviews that have been incentivised, where the incentive has not been made clear in the review, or any reviews that have been submitted by our employees), You can report this to us by contacting us as follows: mailto:pressoffice@specsavers.com.
How and where We use reviews and testimonials which have been subject to some form of incentive
- We do not allow the publication of reviews where the reviewer has received an incentive where that incentive has not been prominently disclosed.
Satisfaction surveys
- We may ask customers to respond to a satisfaction survey. We may use reviews and/or ratings from the responses as part of our advertising of our business, brands, products, services and specific retailers.
- When We ask customers to complete a satisfaction survey in this way, We may provide a small incentive to thank them for their time, for example, by entering them into a monthly prize draw.
- To distinguish this content from other forms of review, we will disclose that the review has been incentivised, for example by stating e.g. "Consumer review from survey sent to customers after in-store visit. Survey completion incentivised with a prize draw, including a chance to win a voucher".
Testimonials
- We may, from time to time, use testimonials from happy customers as part of our advertising of our business and our products and services. We may find these customers through their interactions with our in-store sales team, through what they say on social media, or through third party review platforms such as Trustpilot and Google.
- Our testimonials feature genuine customers telling real stories about their experiences with us.
- If We have identified a customer to provide a testimonial, We will contact them and work with them to create content for use in our marketing. This could be video or written content for use in any media (website or email news stories, press releases, social media content, on-site signage etc.). We do not necessarily publish all the materials that We or our customers create. We may provide a small incentive to certain customers who We work with on testimonials, in recognition of the time it takes to create this content (whether or not We ultimately use their content) and the usage they are granting us.
- So that You know that testimonials are part of our advertising, and can differentiate them from other forms of review, We seek to ensure, through context and/or labelling that the testimonial is clearly presented as advertising content. We also disclose, where applicable, that the testimonial has been incentivised.
- We ask that the customers We work with on testimonials give their genuine thoughts. However, their story is individual to them and You should not assume that their experience is representative of other customers or the body of other forms of review (e.g. on third party platforms, such as Trustpilot). If You would like to see our broader ratings and a fuller body of review information, then please visit our Trustpilot page (Specsavers Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of www.specsavers.co.uk) or the Google pages for our stores.
Consumer trials
- Where We publish overall perceptions based upon aggregated and anonymised data gathered through ad hoc consumer insights trials, We will disclose any associated incentive for participants.
Influencers, affiliates and other content creators
- We also work with influencers, affiliates and other content creators – these are individuals who may post reviews of products or services that We have provided on social media channels such as TikTok. This may be through the TikTok creative exchange, for example, where the relevant content is posted on our channels.
- We may pay these influencers, affiliates and other content creators and/or provide them with free products, merchandise, services, or tickets to our events, or offer alternative incentives.
- We always ask our influencers, affiliates and other content creators to ensure that any content they post about us is prominently and clearly disclosed as advertising content, e.g. by labelling their content as '#Ad' or with a similar label.
- We make it clear in our briefings that the content must reflect their genuine opinion. However, their story is individual to them and You should not assume that their experience is representative of other customers or the body of other forms of review.
Media
- We work with media and often provide our products to feature in style articles as product placement or in editorial style shoots or for review purposes. The relevant media prepare their shoots, articles and reviews in line with their own editorial policies.
- We may also provide media with gifting packs.
Employee testimonials
- We may ask our employees for testimonials about their experience of working at Specsavers, for use on our recruitment pages and for external promotion on third-party owned platforms such as LinkedIn.
- If We have identified an employee to provide a testimonial, We may provide a small incentive in recognition of the time it takes to create this content (whether or not We ultimately use their content) and the usage they are granting us.
Reviews on third party platforms and social media
- Beyond that outlined above, You may find reviews of our products and services on third party platforms, social media and within community groups.
- We do not control these third party platforms – You should consult the review policy published on the relevant third party platform to learn more about how they manage reviews and about their policies on fake and incentivised reviews.
- We will not knowingly re-publish reviews from third party platforms or re-post content on social media which have/s been publicly flagged as suspicious.
- If We become aware that a rating or review published on a third party platform, such as Trustpilot or Google, is likely to be fake, We will submit takedown requests with those third parties, although ultimately the removal of such ratings or reviews is outside of our control.
How to give feedback
We welcome Your thoughts. You can tell us about Your experiences (whether positive, negative or neutral) at any time by:
- speaking to one of our employees at a store;
- posting on our social media;
- posting on Your social media and tagging us;
- contacting us directly at pressoffice@specsavers.com;
- posting on third party review sites – e.g. Trustpilot or Google.
When You submit a review to us, or a review about us, or our eye or hearing care products or services, to a third party platform, You must ensure that Your review:
- is not false, inaccurate or misleading - Your ratings and reviews of Specsavers Group and its products and services or any Specsavers store should be based on Your genuine experiences;
- makes apparent (prominently, within Your review) any incentive You may have received in connection with the review (including any payment, voucher, prize promotion or other gift or incentive);
- has not been copied from anyone else and does not infringe any third party rights (including without limitation copyright, rights in trade marks, moral rights, rights of privacy/publicity or any other intellectual property rights);
- does not violate any law, is not likely to be considered offensive, and (without limitation) is not threatening, libellous, or discriminatory; • does not include the personal information of anyone else;
- does not contain any computer viruses, worms, or other potentially damaging computer programs or files;
- is not otherwise in breach of this policy or the rules of any platform on which You post the review.
By submitting a rating or review to us, You confirm that:
- everything You say or write in Your review is accurate and Your honest opinion and relates to Your own personal experience of the Specsavers Group or our eye or hearing care products or services or a Specsavers store (and not the experiences of people other than You);
- You have not concealed any incentive You may have received in connection with Your review (reviews with concealed incentives are prohibited);
- You are the sole author of and are personally responsible for any rating or review You submit and You own any copyright or other intellectual property rights that relate to it; and
- all 'moral rights' that You may have in the content (as the author of the content and including any right to be named as author or to object to editing) have been voluntarily waived by You. Please note, however, that we will not edit or present Your review in a way which would make it misleading.
You grant to Specsavers Group a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable and sub-licensable licence to use, modify and publish the content of the review or rating You submit for any advertising, marketing or promotional purposes. We are under no obligation to use any review or rating You submit to us, for any purpose, but We shall not ask for any such review or rating to be removed from any platform where You have posted it, unless it breaches the applicable platform rules.
If We use Your review and You want to ask us to stop using it or if Your feelings have changed, please contact: pressoffice@specsavers.com.
Reviews and complaints
We will not:
- try to persuade You to submit a complaint, rather than leave a review for publication;
- try to dissuade You from leaving a review of Your experience even if Your initial problem has been resolved through our complaints process; or
- ask any owner of a third party review platform to treat a negative review intended for publication as a complaint and not publish it.
General
We are continually looking to improve and update our practices and procedures in relation to reviews. We reserve the right to amend this policy at any time, including to reflect changes in how We use and present review information, so please check back here from time to time.