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Trustpilot Reviews Reveal Crowdfire's Reputation Management Misfire
Scott Baradell
Published: Jul 13, 2021
Last Updated: Aug 20, 2021
The onslaught began a couple of months ago.
An email, then a form fill on my agency's website, then another email, then another form fill. Followed by reports from virtually everyone on my 30-person team that they were being bombarded daily by emails from individuals purporting to work for Crowdfire, the social media software company based in Mumbai with users worldwide, including high-profile U.S. customers such as the Clinton Foundation, according to Enlyft, and about half of its mostly SMB users based in the United States.
Crowdfire's founder, Nischal Shetty, is better known today as co-founder and CEO of WazirX, India's biggest crypto trading platform with over 6.5 million users and a monthly volume of $6.2 billion.
But back to my story, which is less about Crowdfire, a perfectly fine social media tool (if defanged a bit in recent years by Twitter API restrictions) and more about Crowdfire's brand, and specifically its brand trust and reputation management. It's also about the importance of review sites such as Trustpilot.
I've been in the agency business a long time. I have NEVER been as relentlessly attacked by spam from all directions as I have by @Crowdfire over the past 6 weeks. It is nonstop and abusive.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 6, 2021
This abuse includes: form fills across my agency's website, form fills via review sites like @clutch_co, spam emails from suspicious names and email addresses (none of them from @crowdfire's domain). We even changed the email address for one of the forms they kept hitting.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 6, 2021
Here's example of an email that virtually everyone on my agency's team has received from @crowdfire at least a half dozen times:
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 6, 2021
Hello there,
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 6, 2021
Nowadays, marketing yourself on social media requires you to be active 24/7. I had to deal with a lot of posting, content creation, and so on, and it was rough.
However, @Crowdfire helped me out a lot. It helps you manage your social media tasks andreduces the time
you have to spend literally 30 minutes a day.@Crowdfire is your all-in-one Social Media Management tool, that helps you with scheduling posts, generating advanced analytics, and managing social conversations and get it all at an affordable price.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 6, 2021
If you want to cut down your Social Media time, then this is your opportunity!
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 6, 2021
You can sign up for a 14-day FREE trial right here: https://t.co/1mYG209gJ2
Cheers,
Zachary.
I'm guessing this is some kind of outsourced or affiliate initiative but that's no excuse ... it's @Crowdfire's responsibility to correct or risk further damage to its reputation.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 6, 2021
That was on a Tuesday. Crowdfire never responded on social media despite being a social media app, but did respond by email to a complaint by another member of our team. And so the saga continues.
OK, update: These were spammers using @Crowdfire's brand in an apparent phishing attempt. I wish Crowdfire had responded here, or responded earlier, but I'm glad to have a response.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
Per @Crowdfire: "We'd strongly suggest you refrain from clicking on anything that is not from hello@crowdfireapp.com. You can also make them spam or forward these emails to us so we can deactivate them from our platform and eliminate spam. I wish we could be of better help."
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
So if this @Crowdfire-branded spam had hit you, too, now you know they aren't responsible. BUT ... there is a larger lesson here.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
Our brand is not what we say it is. It's what our users, and the public, says it is. We have to protect it at all costs. That's why the work of companies like @redpoints (full disclosure: a former @ideagrove client) is so important.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
.@RedPoints helps brands track when they are being impersonated, counterfeited, etc. online. And why is this important? Well, as one example, check out these reviews of @Crowdfire on @Trustpilot, one of the most widely read and respected review sites:
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
Read the reviews and you'll see why they have a 1.4 star rating ... it's review after review like these: pic.twitter.com/mN1ImPcXSb
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
Is this fair to @Crowdfire? Absolutely not. But you'll also notice that Crowdfire has not responded to these reviews and, in fact has not even claimed its @Trustpilot profile to better manage it: pic.twitter.com/bcJBIZUpwj
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
I'm sure @Crowdfire is frustrated by these spammers that are hurting their brand. They have a right to be frustrated.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
But they also have a brand to protect. That means they should be doing all they can to fight these spammers and communicate with those who have been its victims. Such as by responding actively on social media, on review sites like @Trustpilot and elsewhere.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
By claiming its @Trustpilot profile and reaching out to @TrustieSupport, it could likely clear this up and have most of the 14 1-star reviews from the past 12 months removed.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
That's what #reputationmanagement is all about in 2021. I'm sorry that @Crowdfire has been having to deal with this—but unfortunately, they don't have the choice NOT to deal with it.
— Scott Baradell (@DallasInbound) July 9, 2021
Bottom line:
- Don't ignore complaints on social media, especially if you're a social media company.
- Don't ignore reviews on sites such as Trustpilot, especially when they are in the top three Google search results for terms such as "Crowdfire reviews."
- Do more to get to the bottom of the spam issue and regularly update customers and the public on your efforts, so they know your emails to frustrated spam recipients are more than lip service.
Scott Baradell
Scott is founder and CEO of Idea Grove, one of the most forward-looking public relations agencies in the United States. Idea Grove focuses on helping technology companies reach media and buyers, with clients ranging from venture-backed startups to Fortune 100 companies.
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