Changes to reported reviews.
How we're growing trust on our platform.
What's happening?
Trustpilot is an open, independent platform, where anyone can leave a review, if it’s based on a genuine experience. We believe passionately in the power of reviews - consumers are able to learn from the experiences of others, and businesses use them to build trust with their own customers and grow and improve their services. That’s only possible if we are able to ensure the reviews on our platform show the true picture, and we’ve brought in changes earlier this year, designed to do just that.
What's changing?
Every business has the right to flag a review for a number of reasons, including for not being based on a genuine experience. Earlier this year, we started using our new detection software to decide whether the review in question should stay on our platform, and we’re no longer automatically asking reviewers to provide us with evidence to prove their experience is genuine. The new process is designed to be fair to both consumers and businesses.
We’re now making it simpler for you (businesses) to challenge our decision, where you think we’ve got it wrong. You can now reply to our decision email to explain why. This is an opportunity for you to give us any information or evidence, explaining why you think the review isn’t genuine. One of our experienced content integrity team will consider all information provided and make a decision. If we agree with you, we’ll move the review offline and tell the reviewer. If the reviewer thinks we’ve got it wrong, they’re welcome to provide evidence of their experience.
Why did we make this change?
Trustpilot is a place where businesses can earn trust, grow and improve. The key to doing that is making sure the reviews on our platform are genuine and reflect all feedback about a business. We decided to make the change after we had feedback that negative reviews were being suppressed, which erodes trust in our platform, and ultimately the businesses that use it.
How does this benefit you?
- It helps increase trust in your business, the Trustpilot reviews about your business, and your TrustScore.
- The new process gives you more say to explain why you believe a review isn’t genuine. The result is fairer decisions and better outcomes.
- It reduces risks of regulatory scrutiny arising from attempts to discredit or hide genuine feedback. We’ve seen US and European regulators fine businesses for suppressing negative reviews - even when they were using other 3rd party review managers. Our changes significantly reduce this risk for you.
How does our new software decide if a reported review stays online?
Our automated engine looks at a variety of different data points about the review and the reviewer and - if it looks suspicious - we’ll filter the review. It looks at things like:
- Reviewer behaviour: This helps distinguish a typical, genuine reviewer from a fake. For example: How quickly was the review written? What did the reviewer click on before writing the review? What site was the reviewer browsing on before Trustpilot?
- Reviewer history: This helps separate ‘good’ from ‘bad’ reviewers. For example: Has the reviewer had any previous reviews filtered?
- Fraud patterns: This helps indicate how suspicious a reviewer is. For example: IP addresses, user identifiers, device characteristics, location data and timestamps.
- Harmful content: A high ‘toxicity’ score containing harmful or illegal content, is more likely to result in a review being filtered.
What can you do if you think we got it wrong?
We recognise technology doesn’t always get it right the first time.That’s why, if you think we've got it wrong, you can let us know by replying to our email. Please tell us why you don’t think the review is based on a genuine experience, accompanied by any supporting information or documentation. For example, a reviewer might refer to a staff member/product/location which doesn't exist. Or maybe the reviewer is based in a location that your business doesn’t serve. We won’t overturn our decision just because you don’t recognise the reviewer. Over 25% of reviews on Trustpilot are organic, where the reviewer wasn’t invited by the business to leave a review.
One of our trained Content Integrity team will manually review your explanation for why you dont think the review is based on a genuine experience. If we agree, we’ll move the review offline and tell the reviewer. If the reviewer thinks we’ve got it wrong, they can come back with evidence to prove their experience.
Trustpilot is an open platform
We’re an open platform. This means that anyone with an experience can write a review. Reviewers don’t need to have bought something and they don’t need to have their review ‘verified’ by the business. These types of reviews could include someone who browsed a website, even if they didn’t complete the purchase. It could include someone who received a gift bought by another person.
Our open approach ensures businesses gain a wider variety of viewpoints, from across your entire customer journey. Yes, this means that you might receive negative reviews, but customers are actually looking for a balanced report card. Very few customers trust a business that only has glowing, five-star reviews, and will therefore be less likely to purchase. Being open to a wider range of experiences also provides a business with more holistic feedback - we think that learning from those who didn’t go ahead and buy your product, or use your service, can be equally - or even more - valuable when it comes to building trust, growing and improving.
This openness resonates with consumers. Recent research by Kantar shows that Trustpilot branding in UK TV advertising can improve brand confidence by 12%. Similar research by London Research shows that European consumers are almost three times more likely to click on an online advertisement with the Trustpilot logo and stars, than the same ad without.
Our open approach means that you won’t recognise every reviewer’s username, and not every reviewer wants to provide you with their details to be contacted. You should only report reviews when there’s something suspicious. You shouldn’t be reporting reviews just because you don’t recognise the reviewer or they didn’t reply to your request for information.
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Trustpilot
A leading online review platform