How reviews work

The ZedScore

Each business gets a score from 1 to 5. It is based on all its reviews, with two adjustments so a few reviews can't give a misleading picture:

• A starting balance. We add five imaginary "average" reviews, so a brand-new business with one 5-star review doesn't jump to the top.
• Recent matters more. Reviews older than a year count half, so the score shows how a business treats people now.
• Proven customers count more. Reviews from verified customers, or from people who confirmed their WhatsApp number, count fully. Reviews confirmed by email count three quarters, and reviews nobody confirmed count half. So a pile of anonymous reviews can't push a business up or down.

Verified customers

When a business sends a customer their own review link after serving them, that review shows Verified customer. Anyone can still review a business they used. Those reviews are welcome too, they just don't carry the badge.

How we keep reviews genuine

• Owners and staff can't review their own business, or another branch of it. We recognise the phones and numbers they use.
• One review per person per business a month, by phone number and by phone.
• Unusual activity is checked by a person before it shows: a sudden burst of reviews, a wave of first-time reviewers giving the same stars, one phone reviewing many businesses, or copied wording. If we remove reviews from a page, the page says so.
• Consumer alerts. When we find a business wrote, bought or rewarded good reviews, a warning shows on its page for 90 days.
• Rewards. A business may thank customers for leaving a review, but never only for a good one, and the review must stay honest.

Replies, complaints sorted out, rankings and awards

• Reply habits count a little. With at least 10 reviews in the past year, a business that replies to fewer than half of them loses 0.1 from its ZedScore, and fewer than one in five loses 0.2. A business with 30 or more reviews that replies to most of them, mostly within 8 hours, gains 0.1. That's the most it can move.
• "Sorted out by the business." When a business replies to a review of 3 stars or less, we ask the reviewer if the problem was sorted out. Only the reviewer can say so. The review and its stars stay as written; we show the answer next to it and the share of complaints sorted out on the business page.
• "Would recommend." Reviewers can answer one optional question: would you recommend them to a friend? We show the share who said yes once at least 5 people have answered.
• Rankings. "#2 of 14 salons in Lusaka" compares businesses of the same kind in the same town with at least 10 reviews in the past year, by ZedScore.
• ZedReviews Awards. Every January we name the best three of each kind in each town for the year before, from that year's reviews only. A business needs at least 10 reviews in the year and no consumer alert, and at least 3 businesses must qualify. Awards are never judged or paid for. See the awards.

What businesses can and can't do

• They can reply publicly to any review.
• They can't edit or delete reviews, or pay for good ones.
• They can hide a review only if it has insults or hate speech, spam, someone's private details, or isn't about their business. Their page always shows how many reviews are hidden.
• If they believe a review states something false as a fact, abuses someone or is fake, they can make a formal legal complaint. Honest opinions are never taken down that way: the reviewer can always stand by their review.

Guidelines for reviewers

• Write about your own, real experience.
• Be honest, and be fair. Criticism is welcome; insults are not.
• Don't share phone numbers, addresses or anyone's private details.
• Stick to what happened. "The staff were rude" is your experience; "the owner is a thief" is an accusation you'd need to prove.
• No threats or abuse aimed at anyone, including named staff.
• One review per business per month.