1- Give a good image of you and your business
Customers do not just follow companies, businesses, or websites. They also follow the people behind such businesses. Take care of both your personal and business image; show that you are reliable by giving close treatment and being consistent.
A very good practice for those of us who have websites is taking care of the outgoing links or the recommendations we make. Why? Because if we promote spam sites, we will be considered as spam as well. Your image also depends on the quality of your content, the offers you make, the way you treat customers, etc.
2- Keep your website updated.
Something new always comes up, that's just how the Internet works, and users are waiting to get relevant information about it all. For this reason, a website that is not constantly updated will look like it's been forgotten or like no one takes care of it anymore. If your website doesn't talk about what's new, the competition will soon steal your customers.
It is recommended that you continually try to update the content you publish and provide incentives for users to be interested in staying in touch with your business.
3- Show you care about your customers
The best strategy is to show interest in your customers. Take the time to look at what they have to say and answer their questions because they will value the attention you give to their concerns. They are also a great source of inspiration for creating content that they find interesting and useful.
Many companies eliminate negative comments or those that express a complaint. The solution is not that but to work to avoid them. We can learn a lot from the opinions of users or customers, so make sure to offer great quality service and allow them to express themselves.
The 2026 rules behind reviews, rewards and staying in touch
Tips 3 to 5 encourage you to listen to complaints, reward loyal users with promotions and send the right offer at the right time. All three now come with clear rules. Breaking them can bring penalties or send your emails to spam.
Reviews: don't hide the negative ones, and don't buy the positive ones
On 14 August 2024 the US Federal Trade Commission announced its final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials. According to the FTC's Q&A for businesses, it took effect on 21 October 2024. Among other things, it prohibits:
- Fake reviews, including AI-generated ones, and reviews from people who never used the product.
- Rewards that depend on what the review says. Offering a discount or a free featured ad for a positive review is banned, whether you say it outright or only imply it.
- Undisclosed insider reviews by owners, managers or employees.
- Review suppression: using unfounded legal threats or intimidation to get negative reviews removed, or hiding negative reviews while presenting what remains as all or most of the reviews. Sorting reviews by rating or helpfulness is still allowed.
- Fake social proof, such as bought followers or views.
The FTC can seek civil penalties against knowing violators. You can still moderate. The FTC says a site may reject reviews about the wrong business, and may enforce a review policy as long as it applies it equally to positive and negative reviews. For a marketplace, this means: publish your review rules, apply them the same way to every review, reply to complaints in public, and reward people for leaving a review, never for leaving a good one.
Emails and promotions: the bulk-sender rules
Promotions and offers only work if they reach the inbox. Since 1 February 2024, Gmail's sender guidelines require anyone sending more than 5,000 messages a day to personal Gmail accounts to:
- authenticate the domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, with the From address aligned to the SPF or DKIM domain;
- support one-click unsubscribe in marketing emails and show a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the message body;
- keep the spam rate reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.30%.
Even below that volume, these habits keep your newsletters, saved-search alerts and "your ad is about to expire" reminders out of the spam folder.
A quick engagement checklist
- Turn on ratings and reviews, and write down what gets a review removed. Yclas sites let buyers rate sellers and listings, save favourites and get emailed about new listings, and message sellers on the site (see the features page).
- Reply to every complaint within a set time, and say in public what you changed.
- Reward activity (first listing, completed profile, referrals) rather than opinions.
- Before sending a campaign, check your sending domain's SPF, DKIM and DMARC records and make sure every email has a working unsubscribe link.
4- Rewards the loyalty of users and customers
Have details in the form of promotions and always be grateful for their trust. You may be surprised that your followers are not just followers, but also your promoters; they are people who recommend your publications, who believe in your offers, who text you to talk about new trends, etc. These must be recognized.
Show them your appreciation so they can continue to trust you and, at the same time, do not stop working on building loyalty among new followers.
5- Make offers according to the product and the moment
Provide the right product or service to the right audience at the right time. It always works to give the customer the product or service at the moment that meets their real or psychological needs. Don't post for yourself, don't write for yourself, work for the client and get the rewards.