Trust is a crucial way to build your business and gain customers, so finding ways to build trust and customer loyalty can be crucial to your start-up’s success.
Trustpilot.com opens in new window is a free customer review website that allows users to leave reviews and experiences about any business worldwide.
Reviews are freely viewable, allowing companies to see how they compare to other businesses and allowing customers to decide whether to use a particular business.
Trustpilot sees nearly one million new reviews a month worldwide opens in new window.
They can provide valuable insight into how your start-up is seen by customers opens in new window and areas where competitors are failing opens in new window or performing well.
New ventures can benefit from Trustpilot reviews as it is a free service that validates a company’s quality of service and goods while displaying professionalism and integrity.
Read our guide on what makes a business successful opens in new window.
What is Trustpilot?
Created in Denmark, TrustPilot is a review site for consumers to share their experience of using businesses worldwide.
It’s free for consumers to share their feedback with an online community on businesses they’ve used, allowing other users to read customer experiences about a company they are considering using.
Trustpilot issues businesses with a “trust score” badge, displayed as stars (from one to five) based on the overall average satisfaction of reviewers opens in new window.
If a business has less than 10,000 reviews, the trust score is recalculated after a new consumer leaves a review.
For businesses exceeding 10,000 reviews, the score will recalculate daily, and you will get an alert whenever reviews are posted about the company.
Trustpilot has features to ensure the authenticity of reviews left on the site, including:
- Verified reviews – a review is labelled verified when customers respond to a direct invitation from Trustpilot and if reviewers provide proof (such as pictures, receipts, and documents) to validate their experience.
- Verified business profiles – a company can be listed as verified by sharing a form of identification with Trustpilot.
How can Trustpilot boost your start-up?
Helps retain and attract customers
Positive reviews from previous customers may help validate your work efforts and the quality of your products or services.
When a customer publicly endorses your business, not only do you gain invaluable feedback on the reasons behind customer satisfaction, but it also reaffirms your trustworthiness to current customers and can help raise awareness of your brand with new customers.
Increase brand visibility
Branding is an essential tool opens in new window for all businesses to be considered by potential customers.
Your company brand helps create an image that signifies what your business is about, such as its vision, purpose, and values, while distinguishing your company from competitors.
Positive reviews can help bring your brand to life, such as going the extra mile for a customer opens in new window or rapidly responding to and resolving a problem.
Read our guide on how to turn your start-up into a valuable brand opens in new window.
Drive organic traffic to your website
Trustpilot profile pages can appear higher in search results, especially if your business has many reviews.
Prospective customers may be more likely to visit your website opens in new window if they find it through Trustpilot.
Referrals from Trustpilot can help you gain more referral traffic for free and can be a good source of new customers opens in new window.
Read our guide on optimising your small business website to maximise traffic opens in new window.
Gain valuable customer feedback
Listening to customer feedback can play an essential part in business growth.
To build and manage a successful business, finding out what your customers like and where improvements can be made is a good idea.
Online reviews are an easy and practical way for customers to share their experiences.
Taking onboard customer feedback can help you to adapt your way of working to meet their expectations and potentially gain new customers.
Read our guide on how to measure customer satisfaction opens in new window.
Build consumer trust
Exhibiting candid customer reviews tells potential customers that you’re confident in what your business offers, which can encourage confidence in potential customers.
Inviting customers to leave reviews about your business shows your confidence in the service or products you offer and transparency in your willingness to share other customer reviews.
How can small businesses use Trustpilot?
Creating a Trustpilot account
- Create your profile with your email address and set up your profile page, providing relevant information about your business.
- You can customise your profile page by uploading your business logo and writing a business bio.
- Apply for a business category. Categories cover an array of industries, from health and beauty to vehicles and transportation. Choosing the correct category for your business makes it easier for prospective customers to find you.
- Once your profile is set up, you can invite customers to review your products or services.
- Use Trustpilot’s analytics features to monitor your reviews.
Paid vs free account
You’ll have the option to sign up for a free plan, which allows you to engage with customers and see basic performance reports or upgrade by paying a subscription fee.
The benefits of upgrading include:
- enhancing your online presence through promotions and social media opens in new window likes
- gaining detailed insights into performance, trends, topics etc
- using APIs to allow you to send invitations to customers
- importing trust reviews to your website and advertisements
- adding Trustpilot stars to appear in product search results
- showcasing the most relevant reviews to clients
- distinguishing your business in local searches.
How to encourage people to review
You can invite your customers to leave a review of their interactions with your business by utilising Trustpilot’s automated feedback service (AFS). opens in new window
Interactions may include welcome emails, order purchases, order confirmations, receipts, welcome emails, and shipping reports.
If you blind copy (BCC) Trustpilot into the customer’s email, it will prompt an invitation for the customer to review their experience.
You can go one step further and personalise the invitation opens in new window with your company’s tone of voice to catch customers’ attention and encourage them to leave a review.
Managing reviews
Your responses will be listed below each customer’s review.
Whether you receive positive or negative reviews, it can be a good idea to respond to them in a reasonable time scale; this demonstrates that you value your customer’s thoughts and opinions and that you’re actively listening to and acting on them.
It’s advisable to take a calm and controlled approach when replying to criticism opens in new window, as potential customers will view this.
Likewise, it’s recommended to thank all customers for their feedback.
Add Trustpilot reviews to your website
Displaying positive reviews on your website and social media platforms can increase popularity with potential customers and drive traffic to your website.
Trustpilot allows companies to showcase their reviews in trust box widgets opens in new window, which come in various designs to suit your preference and can be displayed anywhere on your webpage.
Gain referral traffic
Trustpilot is a robust tool for attracting organic web traffic; the more reviews you receive and display on your business profile, the stronger the connection between your organisation and Trustpilot can increase your website’s authority.
This, in turn, could help it climb search engine results on platforms such as Google, increasing the visibility of your start-up online.
Thinking of starting a business? Check out our free online courses in partnership with the Open University on being an entrepreneur.
Our free Learn with Start Up Loans courses opens in new window include:
- Entrepreneurship – from ideas to reality opens in new window
- First steps in innovation and entrepreneurship opens in new window
- Entrepreneurial behaviour opens in new window
Plus free courses on finance and accounting, project management, and leadership.
Reference to any organisation, business and event on this page does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation from the British Business Bank or the UK Government. Whilst we make reasonable efforts to keep the information on this page up to date, we do not guarantee or warrant (implied or otherwise) that it is current, accurate or complete. The information is intended for general information purposes only and does not take into account your personal situation, nor does it constitute legal, financial, tax or other professional advice. You should always consider whether the information is applicable to your particular circumstances and, where appropriate, seek professional or specialist advice or support.
