REVIEW websites such as TripAdvisor and Feefo have resulted in online reviews becoming an important part of making all types of buying decisions, from booking a holiday to buying a dishwasher, and even choosing an estate agent.

Although the reviews are from complete strangers 88 per cent of consumers trust them as much as a personal recommendations, according to a survey by BrightLocal.

Furthermore, 72 per cent say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more, and 85 per cent read up to 10 reviews.

Peter Loverdos, group operations director at Romans, said: “The influence of online reviews on consumers’ decisions is huge, and they’re becoming as powerful as word of mouth recommendations for estate agents.”

Peter said Romans enlisted online customer review specialist Feefo in 2013, to collect valuable feedback on the service provided to customers.

The property services group chose Feefo because it is independent, proven, and works across all industries as opposed to working with estate agents only.

The business felt this added more credibility to its testimonials as there is a consistent and robust vetting process in place.

In the last year close to 400 customers have left independent feedback for Romans, via Feefo, and 95 per cent of them have rated the service as good or excellent, resulting in the estate and lettings agency being awarded the Feefo Gold Trusted Merchant accreditation.

“Our business is about helping people make the right property decisions,” added Peter.

“Buying or selling can be a very complicated and stressful process as it typically involves many different parties, so the whole process needs to be managed by knowledgeable, experienced people and that is where Romans' 27 years' experience adds value for our customers.

“Being awarded the Gold Trusted Merchant status from Feefo is a great accolade and testament to the focus that our teams have on customer service.” Visit romans.co.uk to view recent Feefo reviews for each of Romans’ 22 estate and letting agencies.