Paid Advertising vs. Earned Certifications: The Diamond Certified Difference

All organizations that certify local companies rely on one or more funding sources: advertising, donations, company-paid subscriptions or consumer-paid subscriptions. They use these funds to create methodology, conduct operations, verify information, analyze results, deny or award certifications and monitor the performance of each certified company. Some spend even more on customer satisfaction surveys and collection of original research data. Professional ethics matter most, starting with ratings methodology. While all certifying organizations require funding, the highly ethical ones don’t allow their funding sources to bias the results. In the case of 25-year-old American Ratings Corporation, creator of Diamond Certified Resource, high ethics and accuracy start with its methodology creation, which includes funding customer satisfaction surveys and collection of original research data. Any local company can apply for the certification and pay a small rating fee, whether they pass or fail. The Diamond Certified bar is set high, though. Only companies that achieve a customer satisfaction rating of 90 or higher on a 100-point scale for Highest in Quality and Helpful Expertise and pass all required credentials checks earn Diamond Certified. Companies that fall short of these high standards don’t earn Diamond Certified, regardless of how much they’d be willing to pay. Advertising funds crowdsourced review sites. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it does mean these sites must generate mass traffic and monetize company owners’ interest to fund their business. To gain a high volume of reviews and a large number of companies, they use review intake methods that allow non-customers to post reviews and company owners to seed and cherry-pick only satisfied customers for review solicitations. Unfortunately, they’re plagued by fake and cherry-picked reviews, which has resulted in massive star score inflation. <a href="https://seobandwagon.com/research/gbp-benchmarks" target="_self">A recent study by SEO Bandwagon</a> concludes that two-thirds of rated Google business profiles hold at least a 4.5 star rating, with plumbers and roofers scoring an average 4.9 stars. Since most local companies have a star rating score that used to be held only by the top rated, consumers are forced to wade through reviews and see if they can purge fake and misleading ones in their minds. Diamond Certified Resource’s professional ethics, ratings methodology and experienced team Having started their customer satisfaction research in the early 1990s, the founders of Diamond Certified are pioneers in creating certifications for local companies based on customer satisfaction surveys. The Diamond Certified Research Team is also deeply experienced in ratings and research, with most managers having served on the team for more than two decades. Team members are committed to maintaining high ethical standards and producing highly accurate company ratings and research. Founder/CEO Greg Louie describes their core principle as simple but powerful. “No company is awarded Diamond Certified unless it truly earns it,” he says. “Also, companies must maintain their Highest in Quality and Helpful Expertise status or we take it from them.” What is Diamond Certified? Created by American Ratings Corporation in 2001, the Diamond Certified Research Team rates local companies (mostly contractors and service companies) on customer satisfaction, quality and Helpful Expertise®. To earn Diamond Certified, companies must apply and pay a small rating fee, pass or fail. Then the Diamond Certified Research Team puts the company through <a href="https://www.diamondcertified.org/ratings-process/" target="_self">a rigorous 12-step rating process</a>, which includes in-depth customer satisfaction surveys and credentials verification. The rating fee does not influence the results. In fact, most companies can’t qualify. The Diamond Certified Research Team does not use any unverified online reviews. It conducts independent, research-grade ratings and research of only verified customers. Here’s a simple summary of its rating process:  <ul> <li>A local company applies for Diamond Certified. The Diamond Certified Research Team gathers a customer list of all past customers during the previous year or a random sample of 400 customers for larger companies. Researchers conduct telephone and email surveys of these customers at random and verify that each respondent is an actual customer before proceeding. This process prevents surveying fake or cherry-picked customers.</li> <li>During these live telephone interviews, surveyed customers evaluate the company’s work quality, whether the company provided Helpful Expertise and whether the client would use the company again. In addition to collecting customers’ scores for the company, researchers record verbatim responses to open-ended questions.</li> <li>The Diamond Certified Research Team calculates an overall customer satisfaction rating on a 100-point scale for Highest in Quality and Helpful Expertise and verifies the company’s credentials. Only companies that achieve a customer satisfaction rating of 90 or higher on a 100-point scale for Highest in Quality and Helpful Expertise and pass all required credentials checks earn Diamond Certified. The team then calculates a Star Equivalent Score for each verified customer rating by weighting a Quality score on a scale of 1 to 10, a YES/NO Loyalty (intent to return) score and a YES/NO Helpful Expertise score.</li> <li>The team produces a bound, printed report (25-30 pages) that includes verification of applicable state licenses and confirmation of required general liability and workers’ compensation insurance coverage. </li> <li>Companies that meet all of Diamond Certified’s high standards are awarded the prestigious Diamond Certified, and their complete ratings and research report is posted to their Diamond Certified Company Report at <a href="http://www.diamondcertified.org/" target="_self">www.diamondcertified.org</a>.</li> <li>The Diamond Certified Research Team then monitors each Diamond Certified company’s performance and produces ongoing ratings and research. Each Diamond Certified Company Report is the most accurate and deeply researched report available anywhere on that company. It includes ratings, verbatim survey responses, researched articles, a capabilities table, charts, videos, photos, and <a href="https://www.diamondcertified.org/find-expert-advice/" target="_self">expert profiles and advice</a>.</li> </ul> “Companies that maintain their Diamond Certified status also agree to additional levels of oversight,” says Director of Ratings David Pak. “For example, they must participate in ongoing verified customer surveys and research interviews, which are published on their Diamond Certified Company Report at diamondcertified.org.” “We also track voluntary customer feedback between survey periods,” adds Greg Louie. “A company may face suspension or termination if that feedback reveals a concerning pattern of business practices, even if its overall survey score remains high.” Consumers who work with a Diamond Certified company also receive mediation support and are backed by the <a href="https://www.diamondcertified.org/performance-guarantee/" target="_self">Diamond Certified Performance Guarantee</a> for up to $1,000. The Diamond Certified Difference Diamond Certified gives consumers a researched basis for choosing a quality local company: verified customer surveys, rigorous qualification standards, credentials verification, in-depth company-specific research, and ongoing performance ratings and monitoring. Companies can’t buy their way into Diamond Certified. They must earn it and keep earning it to retain it. For consumers, that means greater confidence when choosing a high-quality local company. The ratings and research behind each Diamond Certified company are available for free at <a href="https://www.diamondcertified.org/" target="_self">www.diamondcertified.org</a>, so consumers can examine the ratings, read customers’ verbatim responses, explore the in-depth research and make an informed choice. About American Ratings Corporation American Ratings Corporation, the creator of Diamond Certified Resource, the source for consumers who love quality local companies, rates local companies by surveying only their verified real customers to produce the country’s most accurate ratings of local companies. It also creates deeply researched company reports and consumer guides that give consumers the best companies plus the best advice for choosing a local Auto, Home, Health or Personal service type of company. Only companies rated Highest in Quality and Helpful Expertise® earn Diamond Certified and are backed by their Diamond Certified Performance Guarantee. All their deeply researched reports and guides are available for free at diamondcertified.org. They also produce an annual, full-color, printed Diamond Certified Directory with 840,000 copies published in 9 geographic. zones in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Each April, these are mailed for free to their 182,000 Diamond Certified Preferred Members and selected homeowners and companies.