Editorial policy

This policy was last updated on 4 March 2024.

Thank you for reading the Style Factory editorial policy. This explains our approach to testing products, and why you can trust our reviews. If you have any queries, do feel free to contact us.

1. Experience

Every review of a product we publish is based on having exhaustively tested the product in question.

And, because we don’t just review tools but perform client work too, in many cases we have already extensively used the products we’re reviewing (for example, when building websites or running marketing campaigns for other people or organizations).

This gives us a unique perspective on the pros and cons of individual pieces of software, which we can then bring to our product reviews.

2. Impartiality

We know that review sites can often present products in a positive light in order to gain affiliate commissions.

We believe that this is not in the user’s interest, or ours — increasingly Google (which sites like ours rely on for traffic) is penalizing websites publishing biased content.

Accordingly, Style Factory has a strict honesty policy and a firm emphasis on editorial independence. In each review or comparison we publish, you will always find a clear outline not just of the pros of a product, but its negative aspects too.

3. Accuracy

We strive at all times for 100% accuracy in all our reviews, comparisons and how-to guides, and fact-check any claim we make.

Additionally, all our content is reviewed regularly (typically on a monthly or quarterly basis) to ensure that what we’ve published remains accurate and up to date.

If you have any concerns regarding the accuracy of a piece, or wish to highlight any factual errors, feel free to contact us.

4. Transparency

Like many similar websites, our work is funded in part by affiliate commissions. This means that when you click on a link to a product contained in a review or comparison, and then go onto buy it, we may receive a commission.

Any piece of content on the Style Factory website containing affiliate links will always have a notice indicating that they are being used, and as discussed above, we do not let affiliate commission rates influence our editorial policy.

You can view a list of our affiliate partners on our advertising disclosure page.

5. Methodology

We have standard operating procedures (SOPs) that we follow when creating product reviews. Typically, our review process involves the following steps:

• market analysis (to gain a full understanding of the context in which a product is being used)
• data collection (where we gather key information about the product being reviewed —userbase size, revenue, founding date, history etc.)
• defining review criteria (to ensure that our reviews and comparisons are covering the key aspects of a product that users need to be aware of)
• testing (this involves testing product features extensively against our defined criteria, and appraising them accordingly)
• content creation (we produce content based on the data gathered and the testing done)
• editing (articles produced by our writers and researchers will be subjected to a rigorous editing and fact-checking process before being published).

During all stages of this process, the emphasis is always on impartiality and adhering to high ethical standards.

You can read more about our review methodology here.

6. Use of generative AI content

Although AI tools are getting increasingly sophisticated, we don’t believe that they are suitable for producing product reviews yet. The products we review are designed to be used by humans, not computers — so we use real, qualified humans to test and write about them!

Our lead researcher, Matt Walsh, is an Adobe Certified Associate in Photoshop and Illustrator. He also holds a certificate in digital marketing from DMI (Digital Marketing Institute), along with a postgraduate certificate in Design thinking, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Creative Thinking from Trinity College Dublin.

Our Founder, Chris Singleton — also a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin — started his career as a data analyst for Irish marketing company Precision Marketing Information; since then he has worked on digital projects for a wide range of well-known organizations including Cancer Research UK, Hackney Council, Data Ireland and Prescription PR.

You can learn more about our team here.

7. Reader and user feedback

In all our reviews and comparisons we invite readers to comment on our content and add their own perspective. We moderate all these comments, but in most cases try to publish them (even when readers have something negative to say about either our reviews or the products being discussed in them).

There are occasions where we do refrain from publishing user generated content (usually where there might be a negative legal consequence if we do so), but most comments do get published — we believe that reader contributions are really helpful to us in terms of improving our content, and are also valuable to other site visitors too.

Increasingly, we are also including user feedback in our reviews — the aim being to ensure that the real-life experience of product users is being reflected in our content.

8. A jargon-free approach

We understand that topics like web design, ecommerce and email marketing can be confusing for some — especially readers who are new to these areas.

Accordingly, we try to write all our reviews in simple, everyday English and in a way that is easy for a non-technical audience to understand.

9. GDPR and data protection

We respect our users’ privacy and aim to adhere to all relevant GDPR and data protection rules.

Please read our website terms of use page, our privacy notice and our cookie notice for more information on how we do this.

10. Accessibility

We aim to ensure that visually impaired users and those using screen readers are able to use our site without difficulty.

Our developers have designed the site in a way that ensures accessibility, and we regularly test our site using industry-standard accessibility tools.

More information / getting in touch

Please do feel free to get in touch if you have any queries about this editorial policy or our work in general.

You can email us using our contact form, and our other contact details are below.

Registered office
124 City Road, London EC1V 2NX

Head office
Suite 2, 5A Signal Walk, London E4 9BW

Phone: +44 (0)20 3286 1160

Company details: Style Factory Communications Ltd. is a limited company, registered in England, no. 10232963.