Sitejabber is an AI-enabled online platform where millions of buyers and businesses worldwide come together. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Sitejabber CEO and co-founder Michael Lai to learn more about the company.
Michael Lai’s Background
What is Michael Lai’s background? Lai said:
“From an early age, I was interested in the intersection of business and technology, which led me to get a Computer Science degree from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard Business School. My passion has always been building products that will have a positive societal impact. In 2007, my co-founders and I started Sitejabber, which began my journey as an entrepreneur.”
Formation Of Sitejabber
How did the idea for the company come together? Lai shared:
“One of my co-founders, who happens to be a medical doctor, was helping his wife start a dermatology clinic. He found a website selling an expensive piece of medical equipment, but he faced a problem: He didn’t know if it was safe to purchase from this company. Worse, there wasn’t any way for him to ask other customers about their experiences or vet the website’s authenticity. This dilemma led to the creation of Sitejabber. We wanted to protect consumers from online scams and build trust and transparency between businesses and their customers.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Lai reflected:
“One of my favorite early memories was when a consumer reached out to us to thank us for the work we were doing. She almost fell victim to an online scam but was able to use Sitejabber as a resource to avoid using a particularly shady business. After chatting with her, I found out she lives in Houston, where I grew up. We became friends and still keep in touch today.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Lai explained:
“Sitejabber is a review platform that allows consumers to research businesses and share their experiences with others. Consumers can read reviews, compare related businesses, and discover new brands they may not have previously heard of.”
“Sitejabber also offers a review marketing platform that enables businesses to leverage feedback and user-generated content from real customers. Businesses using Sitejabber can collect and publish verified reviews, expanding brand visibility and empowering motivated buyers to shop confidently.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Lai and the team faced in building the company? Lai acknowledged:
“Because reviews are so crucial in consumers’ purchasing decisions, there has been an explosion of fake reviews perpetrated by disreputable businesses, scammers, and third-party services. In addition, regulatory agencies in the US and abroad are trying to protect consumers by enacting new rules and regulations, which results in a rapidly changing regulatory environment.”
“To address fake reviews, we use a combination of technology, human moderators, and the online community to help flag and remove untrustworthy reviews. We also work with organizations like the FTC to establish and communicate best practices to businesses on our platform to keep them and their reviews compliant.”
Evolution Of Sitejabber’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Lai noted:
“Sitejabber started as a free consumer protection resource that strived to keep consumers safe online. Eventually, we started getting requests from business owners for ways to monitor and respond to the reviews they were receiving. In response, we created a product for business owners that, over time, has evolved into a comprehensive review management platform. Businesses today can use our platform to collect, monitor, manage, and leverage reviews to improve and grow their business. The mission of our company has expanded to connect consumers with great businesses all over the world.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Lai cited:
“In 2017, we became one of a handful of official Google Seller Ratings Partners, which enables businesses running Google Ads to incorporate their Sitejabber ratings and reviews into their ad campaigns. Businesses utilizing this feature can significantly increase their conversion rates and utilize their ad budget much more efficiently.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Lai about the company’s customer success stories, he highlighted:
“eCampus is a leader in the textbook rental space, a highly competitive industry. In this environment, reviews from real customers become a critical differentiator. Before Sitejabber, the eCampus team manually pulled reviews from numerous sources and painstakingly sourced previous buyers from whom to request reviews. Now, they leverage Sitejabber to efficiently and effectively uplevel their review collection, distribution, and reputation maintenance.”
‘Sitejabber’s approach to review management is more holistic than any other solution on the market, spanning the entire buyer’s journey and all channels,” said Jacob Strange, Digital Marketing Manager at eCampus.’
Funding
After asking Lai about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“In 2010, we received an SBIR grant from the US Government’s National Science Foundation because the NSF believed what we were doing was not only technologically interesting but beneficial to American society. We used that grant to develop AI and machine learning (ML) algorithms to identify websites that were selling counterfeit goods. The following year, we received a second SBIR grant to extend that technology to help detect clones of websites that proliferated whenever a bad website got shut down.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Lai assessed:
“Our reviews platform aims to help any business that sells online to consumers. This broadly includes most retail categories and online services in e-commerce, which continues to grow significantly every year.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Lai affirmed:
“When working with businesses, we take a holistic approach to review management by ensuring they collect and feature reviews in all the places important to their customers. Additionally, with millions of monthly visitors, Sitejabber provides an additional channel for businesses to reach new and existing customers. Lastly, we are the only review platform that is both backed by the US Government’s National Science Foundation and an official Google reviews partner.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Lai concluded:
“When it comes to reviews, AI has tremendous potential to unlock a nuanced understanding of customer feedback at scale. We are investing heavily in ways companies on our platform can leverage AI to deeply understand their customers and drive significant business improvements.”
