Can I trust mattress review sites?

The simple answer is no. No, you cannot trust mattress review sites. 

I reality most mattress review sites are actually retailers in disguise. They shroud themselves in secrecy. Even tricking Google and other search engine results just to make a hefty commission. 

Often they are owned by equity funds or funded by mattress sellers. Most all that we have found simply exist to recommend mattresses and generate a commission. Unbiased they are not. 

In fact, many mattress review sites create their sites with trusted .org /.edu / .gov type domains. They do this to trick search engines into reducing their advertising cost by as much as 50%.

This presents their mattress review site as unbiased, when in fact most all exist in a pay-for-play environment. Hoodwinking you into thinking they are your trusted advisor when really they are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

For these main reasons, you cannot trust mattress review sites. Read on for a deeper dive and expert insight on why the battle for your mattress dollar rages on.

Understand my job would be 1000% easier if you could actually trust mattress review sites. Because their simple premise is from across your screen they can recommend the perfect mattress. And while they may very well recommend reputable companies making quality mattresses, the simple fact is they cannot be trusted. 

Mattresses are very subjective and not objective at all - and almost every recommendation they make has a hidden secret - a commission attached to your purchase.

Unlike appliances, vehicles, tools - all things which are purchased for a very defined purpose and have objective decision points - mattresses are highly subjective. If you have a large family with car seats a 4 door sedan simply won’t work. Objectively a minivan or large SUV is the best fit. Without visiting a car lot or test-driving anything, a large family knows they need a minivan or larger SUV.

If you are a hobby chef who enjoys cooking at home often, objectively you would decide to purchase convection ovens, with taller and deeper shelves. A cooktop for easy clean-up. In other words, you would purchase a stove, fridge, and other appliances which best fit your cooking desires . Again mostly all objective decision points. And most any other chef friend you have would likely enjoy cooking your kitchen and you in theirs.

As a tradesperson no matter which trade you are in - objectively all can agree core tools are needed in the toolbox to complete the job. There is no subjectivity. A carpenter needs a tool belt, hammer, tape measure, square, saws, and a pencil. Electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians all have core tools they need which are required.

Each has an objective bare minimum for any and all jobs they perform. Naturally, there is a spectrum of quality but the fact remains that each needs to have the core list in their toolbox, 100% objective, 0% subjective. 

But when it comes to mattresses they live in the world of subjectivity, at a rate of nearly 100%.

If 10 people were to try a DreamCloud mattress, which we have on display in our showroom and you can see here (this is a safe click within our website), we would very likely get 10 differing opinions, subjectivity. Yet the same 10 people would all agree that a family of 6 or 7 could certainly not get into a 4 door sedan comfortably.

And yet, most all mattress review sites attempt this ruse of making the subjective, objective. All of this is done in order to make a sale from you and earn their commission at any cost. My good friend Mike Magnusson the founder of www.GoodBed.com gave a fantastic presentation at our industry conference in August of 2020. He delivered a power-packed one-hour-long expose on the mattress review site industry. In a nutshell, you cannot trust mattress review sites. A link to his presentation is here (this click will take you to vimeo.com)

I want to be abundantly clear about a couple of things.

First, this is not sour grapes simply because I own a main street mattress store. The reality is our business has grown every year since the online mattress industry exploded in 2014.

As a person of integrity, I simply cannot stand when my competition, whether online or offline, plays with a different rule book. All I want is to compete on a level playing field. Once my customers and my competition are on a level playing field I am not concerned with the outcome. More often than not we earn the business from our local customers because they trust us more than they trust mattress review sites.

Speaking of rules, the online mattress review sites routinely break rules set forth by the federal government without consequence. One is the disclosure of paid endorsements. You’ve often seen TV infomercials or radio commercials where disclosures are made via a verbal announcement or on-screen text. Legally all businesses are required to present these disclosures when compensation has been made for testimonials.

Even some types of print ads must have the word ADVERTISEMENT at the top along with a dotted line around it. You’ll find no such thing like this on any online mattress review site. Yet they are really one big advertising site generating millions of dollars in commissions.

If these disclosures exist they are often buried at the bottom of some obscure, unpopular page in small font. They certainly are not near the buy now or buy here button. And they certainly are not in the pipeline when you check out with your purchase. 

Questionable to outright illegal tactics are everywhere in the online mattress review site world.

In Mike’s presentation, you’ll see why you cannot trust mattress review sites. You are encouraged to watch the entire presentation. It's a deep dive into the mattress industry. Below I highlight the most important facts about mattress review sites for you.

At minute 31:49 he explains how mattress review sites are really just mattress retailers in disguise. He also discusses why you cannot escape their grasp of your online profile once you search for mattresses.

At minute 35:47 you’ll discover there are in fact 135 different mattress review sites. All of them vying for your purchase in order to generate commission. They represent themselves as your shopping ally and friend. But in fact, increased competition and funding from large Wall Street equity banks is driving up commissions. This means you pay more for your online mattress! Think about that for a second, mattress review sites have become so profitable even Wall Street is all in!

As if this isn’t bad enough at minute 36:42 you’ll discover Wall Street has fully sunk its claws into the mattress review space. Wall Street is actively purchasing and creating portfolios of numerous mattress review sites. Thereby gaming the system, separating their content from one domain to the next.  This makes your research more difficult by clogging up the results of your online searches.

Shockingly 20 of these mattress review sites have corporate connections to the very mattresses they recommend! In other words, these sites have financial stakes with the mattress manufacturers they are recommending to you. All while representing themselves as an unbiased advocate for you. This is about as far from trustworthy and unbiased as it gets.

And finally, the most damning aspect of these untrustworthy mattress review sites is that they masquerade as nonprofit entities! 

Not only does this fool you, it even fools Google. Because when a spammy mattress review site has a .edu/ .org / .gov domain Google automatically trusts those sites more than a .com / .net / .biz website. Not only is this outright lying, but it is also breaking the law with unfair trade practices. 

These black hat tactics mean main street owners pay upwards of 50% more to position their ads for your review as compared to the fake, spammy supposed nonprofit site. Google presents these supposed “trusted domains” at a greater frequency in front of other forthright businesses, typically at a rate of 50%. Thereby reducing the review site operators advertising costs and unfairly increasing the costs of other trustworthy and forthright sellers.

As you can read here and see in the video link included from www.GoodBed.com the battle for your mattress dollar rages on.

We chose to make happy customers, always.

I’ll present you with one last reality. If you’re shopping for a mattress in Lancaster County or willing to visit our store (we deliver outside of the county often, even across state lines) who will you trust more? A store with a stellar 5-star reputation as found  (this is a safe click within our website) who 7 days a week has a choice - make their customers extremely happy or upset? Or online sellers working with their spammy mattress site partners who simply look to sell just another mattress?

Do you want to be a happy customer waking up well rested and refreshed? Or just another faceless, nameless number?

Remember - you can look us in the eye. Our word is our bond, we say what we will do and then do what we say. It’s a simple business model that works. Or you can risk your purchase with a large Wall Street-owned mattress review site. 

And while you might say, come on it’s 2021, things have changed! They certainly have and we are constantly evolving our business to ensure customer happiness. But the fact remains you sleep 8 hours a day, does it not make sense to know who you are sleeping with?

As always if we can help you to wake up happy please connect with us using the consultation button on the right of your screen. Thanks for reading!