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Who are you and what is Consumer Reports WebWatch? |
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Read our "About Us" page. We've made it a model of one possible way Web sites can construct an identity page with the degree of detail and disclosure consumers seek from credible sites. |
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How can my company take the guidelines pledge? |
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Click here. |
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I believe in what you are doing but I /don't have a Web site/don't work for a Web company/am not in a position to speak for my company. What can I do? |
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Click here. |
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What is the intent of this ad campaign? |
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Our intent is:
- To call attention to the Consumer Reports WebWatch guidelines, in an effort to improve the credibility of Web sites.
- To recognize companies committed to better Web practices.
- To call attention to Consumer Reports WebWatch, and its intent to recognize Web sites that do, and do not, take consumer concerns seriously.
- To demonstrate to small- to medium-sized Web publishers that there are agreed-upon steps to take to address Web site credibility concerns.
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Is this some sort of "seal of approval"? We thought Consumers Union and Consumer Reports steered clear of giving seals. |
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This is an advertising campaign. We are recognizing Web sites that have demonstrated a commitment to our guidelines. Consumer Reports WebWatch will keep seeking the improvement of Web site credibility through other means -- in fact, we have been doing so for more than a year, in our research, in collaboration with Consumer Reports magazine and ConsumerReports.org on e-Ratings, through conferences and direct-mail campaigns. We will continue to use testing methods derived from Consumer Reports' long-respected, unbiased methods.
Consumer Reports WebWatch is not creating a seal-of-approval program. Appearing in our advertisement and on the list on our site does not guarantee these sites are "safe," that they are problem-free, secure from hacker attacks or anything else. In fact, we are skeptical of any kind of guarantee that does not have an analogue in the offline world. Further, our own research has demonstrated, on more than one occasion, that consumers do not pay much attention to seals and awards on Web sites, though we certainly don't discourage their reputable and truthful use if the goal is to improve Web site credibility and trustworthiness. |
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I see a Web site on your list I don't believe complies with your guidelines. |
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Tell us about it here. If we determine that a site listed on Consumer Reports WebWatch has dropped out of compliance, we will remove it from the list. |
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You say these sites get high marks for disclosure, yet I can't find an "About Us" page with the name and address of the site. |
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Here's a consumer tip: Many sites (especially those with publicly traded stock, like CBS MarketWatch.com) disclose a great deal of information important to consumers under the heading "investor relations," or "corporate information." We don't necessarily think that's the best place for it, but you should try those links. Our guidelines seek disclosure, but we stop short of making demands that can be burdensome to architecture or design on how it is to be done. |
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Many of these sites offer products and services, even accreditation and seals. Did you test those? |
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No. We reviewed and investigated only the Web sites themselves, not the products, services, seals or guarantees they provide. |
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How was this list derived? |
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We created a contact base using a list of the top 100 most-trafficked U.S. Web sites. We used direct mail to make sites aware of the campaign and to seek their pledge to the guidelines. We also engaged in a direct-mail campaign, in conjunction with our 2003 National Summit on Web Credibility in New York City, using a mailing list of e-commerce companies in the "tri-state" area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. In addition, we asked participants at the summit to take the guidelines pledge. Some heard about the campaign by word-of-mouth. Others have come aboard since seeing our previous ads in the summer of 2003. We started with a list of 29 companies in our first ad, which grew to 55 for the second ad, and now to 94 with our third. One site prefers only to be listed on our Web site and not to appear in the ads, making a total of 95. |
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Did anyone fail to meet the guidelines? |
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About a third of the sites that took the guidelines pledge did not pass on the first try. In some cases, this was due to a relatively simple omission of information, such as a physical location, address or means of contact. Another fairly frequent cause was failure to include a privacy policy. In others, we believed there were business practices in effect on the site that are not in consumers' best interests. We are working with these sites to help them achieve compliance. In fairness to those companies, we are keeping that process, and their names, confidential. |
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How did you determine who made the lists and who did not? |
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Sites that told us they wanted to take the pledge were reviewed according to the five guidelines. It's important to note that the guidelines were intended to be general enough to apply to all types of Web sites — though there are literally hundreds of different kinds of Web sites. Some aspects of the guidelines were not necessarily applicable to all sites, others more so. |
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Do these sites pass the other guidelines you have published? |
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No. Consumer Reports WebWatch has published and publicized industry-specific guidelines for certain kinds of sites. These guidelines are more stringent, and are used to create criteria for ratings of sites by ConsumerReports.org. They are also intended for consumers, to point out specific problems and concerns among sites in a specific sector of the Web. We will continue to publish industry-specific research and guidelines like these throughout our project's existence. Further, just because a site is on our list, or in our ad campaign, does not mean it might not get an unfavorable e-Rating from us in the future. |
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Does Consumers Union or any of its affiliates have business relationships with any of the companies listed on the ad? |
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Yes, with BizRate.com, a non-exclusive, authorized distributor and sales agent of Consumer Reports' buying advice and ratings content. Revenue generated from Consumers Union's relationship with BizRate comes from sales of content to users of BizRate.com. BizRate.com is paid a commission by Consumers Union for its participation in the promotion of Consumers Union's products and services. |
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What sort of relationship does Consumer Reports WebWatch have with BizRate? |
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Like any other Web site on the list, BizRate took our pledge and passed it.
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