Thanks for rating us, Australia!

Submitted by Greg McAweeney on 8/12/2009 09:30 | category: RaboDirect

I was thrilled to learn that RaboPlus recently tied for the prestigious title of “Australia’s Best Bank” as rated by the mozo.com.au community.

On behalf of the team at RaboPlus, I’d like to say a big thank you to you – our customers – for rating us so highly, and for your continued support.

I asked Mozo’s Managing Director, Rohan Gamble, a few questions about the Mozo ratings philosophy. Here’s what he had to say…

1) How do the Mozo ratings work?

The Mozo ratings are Australia's first people-powered bank ratings, like the TripAdvisor hotel ratings but for banks. We ask Australians to review their financial institution and rate them on everything from customer service to interest rates and fees. The Mozo data geeks then tally up these ratings to calculate Australia's best and worst banks, as judged by thousands of real banking customers.



In our first year over 20,000 Australians have rated (or slated!) their bank. And we can now announce that RaboPlus is the people's choice for Best Bank of 2009! RaboPlus and UBank both scored a massive 8.7 out of 10, and in a double whammy RaboPlus was also voted Best Savings Account Provider.

2) What are the benefits of ratings and reviews by customers rather than judged by qualified professionals?

Whether you're in the market for a new savings account or a home loan, you want to have confidence that the provider you choose is going to look after you. They might be advertising a great introductory interest rate, but you also want to know what's their customer service like? How convenient are their banking facilities? And will they continue to give you a great interest rate six or twelve months down the track? 

The only people who can really answer these questions are actual customers. The Mozo bank ratings and reviews give you the inside scoop on everything from superb service to sneaky fees, from those who really know.

3) How credible are they?

The Mozo reviews aren't a forum for bank haters with an axe to grind. Instead, they're about Australians helping each other through the money maze. All reviews go through a stringent moderation process before being published on Mozo.com.au. We also have a number of security checks in place to ensure that our ratings and reviews are not being manipulated by financial institutions or anyone else. 
 
With 20,000 plus reviews currently on our site and more being added every day, we're the most comprehensive bank review site in the country.

You can read more about our recent Mozo win at mozo.com.au.


Ratings and reviews

User-generated ratings and reviews of financial companies and products are a really valuable application of Web 2.0. They’re nothing new, but appear to be (un)surprisingly under-utilised by Australian financial services companies.

They allow consumers to get a more balanced view of financial companies or products before they decide to invest – instead of only hearing one side of the story.  And let’s face it, Aussies are a tad cynical when it comes to anything our bank has to say! 

On the RaboPlus website we have been using ratings and reviews of some products and other content for quite a while now. As well as providing a channel for our customers to have their say, we benefit from real feedback to help us improve our products, service, investor resources and website content. We’re planning to expand the reviews to include our savings and managed funds products soon.

What do you think? Are consumer ratings and reviews useful in making decisions about financial institutions and products?

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