Trustpilot is a review website that connects companies and consumers to improve buying and service experiences. It offers a numerical TrustScore of 1 to 5 based on customer reviews and allows companies to respond to them.
Regardless of their origin or motivation, negative Trustpilot reviews can have devastating consequences for businesses. In many cases, a company that responds well to negative feedback can turn a bad review into a positive opportunity to fix an issue and build its reputation.
However, a lot of businesses that use Trustpilot receive unfair or misleading reviews. These are sometimes created by competitors or customers who have no idea how to write reviews or who are trying to get their money back.
In some cases, companies can also be guilty of using Trustpilot to bribe its clients. For instance, a business could pay a customer to leave a positive review or to give it a high TrustScore.
To prevent exploitation of this, Trustpilot’s anti-bribery policy prohibits businesses from using incentives to collect Trustpilot reviews. These include gifts, free products and services, and other offers.
As of 31 July 2020, companies are no longer allowed to offer incentives for Trustpilot reviews. Learn more about this change.
In order to keep Trustpilot fair and transparent, the company takes a neutral stance when disputes arise between companies and reviewers about buying or service experiences. For example, if a company claims that a product was delivered late and a reviewer disagrees, the company will still have to respond and provide a full explanation for why they were not able to deliver on time.
