As of date May 15th, all reviews on Trustpilot will get a dedicated web page with a unique URL, available for copying and pasting. This means you’ll be able to single out any review on Trustpilot and share it with ease everywhere on the web: via email and on social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. All related comments, replies, etc. will travel with the review wherever and whenever it’s shared.

Of course, these new review pages have been designed with responsiveness in mind, so they will resize automatically to accommodate whatever device you’re using at the moment. So the reviews will be accessible on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers.

This is how a prompt reply from a company looks with the Single Review Page.

How the Single Review Page works

The Single Review page works like this:

• The review title will always be clickable, opening up the review in full screen.
• All review links on the front page activity feed will also lead to the single review page, as does the ‘Read more’ link under the review of the day.
• Moreover, all individual reviews can also be indexed on search engines.

Why Single Review Page is good for consumers

For consumers, it’s simple, reviews are now easier than ever to share with friends and on social networks. If a review is written by a Facebook friend for instance, their ‘friend’ status will be indicated below their name. Whenever a review is shared on a social network, anyone who clicks on it will be sent directly to the review page itself.

Merchants benefit from Single Review Page, too

This translates into good news for companies, as it increases visibility in terms of shares, particularly on social media sites. Consumers will easily be able to see the company’s TrustScore and total number of reviews on each single review page. Furthermore, there’s seamless navigation between the review page, the user profile and the company profile page, which facilitates more traffic to the company’s page.

We hope you’ll like this new update. Please use the comments if you have any questions regarding Single Review Page.

The importance of trust on your website can’t be underestimated. A proven way to build trust is to include a list of independent reviews from Trustpilot on your website. There’s a standard widget for that, which we call a TrustBox. Although we can’t issue any guarantees, it generally has a positive impact on overall trust and conversion rates. Having the courage to display customer reviews increase sales, in other words.

Recently, the British company Express Watches – an authorized Seiko watch dealer with 21 years of experience – did a split test using a tool called Visual Website Optimizer. In the watch industry, replicas are a known phenomenon, making people question the authenticity of products they are buying. A key objective for Express Watches is to make sure their online presence is perceived as trustworthy.

Proven results from the A/B split test

To quantify how much independent customer reviews would impact sales, they setup an A/B split test. The hypothesis was that a larger TrustBox should help reduce buyer anxieties among visitors and increase sales from the site. To keep a long story short, the results showed that the version with the TrustBox beat the original with a percentage improvement of 58.29%.

You can read more about the split test on Visual Website Optimizer’s blog. If you have results to share from split tests you have done using trust elements like customer reviews, you are welcome to share it in the comments. And don’t hesitate to comment with any question you may have about setting up split tests with customer reviews.

Next week we’re heading to London to attend one of Europe’s oldest and largest conferences about ecommerce and digital business: Internet World. This is the first time we’re attending as both an exhibitor and speaker, so we’re pretty excited!

Our CEO and Founder Peter Holten Mühlmann will be talking on Wednesday, the 24th of April, about why trust will become the currency of tomorrow. For us there is no doubt that we need trust more than ever before. As consumers are gaining more power, the need for openness and transparency is critical, and only companies that can achieve great customer service will win.

Peter has been asked by the event organizers to answer some questions about how he sees the tech industry evolving.
Check it out here

So if you’re in London next week, we would be very happy to meet you. It’s free to attend the trade show, and you’ll be able to listen in on the many conferences and sessions that will be held over 3 days. Meet us at stand E1027 for a cup of coffee, a good chat and more surprises!

At Trustpilot, we come across a lot of interesting research on reviews and ratings. Recently, we found this infographic that the folks at PeopleClaim did. It includes a lot of the findings and research. In particular, we like the facts about how consumers are using reviews as a part of their purchasing decisions.

Please note that the infographic includes facts about product and merchant reviews. Regardless, it includes some solid facts.

The 28 things You Didn’t Know About Reviews and Ratings

On Trustpilot any consumer can read and share their experience from companies they bought from. Any consumer should have the chance to make his or her voice heard. A natural consequence of this open approach is that we work tirelessly to ensure that consumers can trust that the reviews they read are made by real consumers.

The active community adds trust

15% of Trustpilot’s work force is focused on quality assurance. We ensure review quality by constantly scanning for suspicious reviews; apart from those efforts, we have an active community that also contributes to creating a more trusted review platform. By reporting a review, any consumer or company can inform us if a review looks suspicious. Reported reviews are carefully investigated according to the following this process:

Increased transparency when reviews are reported

Reviews can be reported for several reasons, but imagine a company profile where all reviews are reported. That doesn’t build trust. But now we show these details whenever a review is reported:

• Whether the review was reported by a consumer or a company
• When the review was reported
• The reason why this review is under investigation

Ultimately, these changes make it more transparent to other consumers as they can see what is going on. But we also expect this open approach to reduce the various attempts we’ve come across to impact a company’s reputation in both positive and negative ways.

Consumers want concise answers

Answering customer reviews in a polite and concise way is still the best thing a company can do to deal with criticism in public. It gives consumers both sides of the story, and helps them when evaluating the company’s level of service.

All reported reviews are now displayed with these additional details. Any user or company can report a review, and we have a well-working process in place to investigate these reviews. So please use the function when needed.

You can read more about review reporting here and you are always welcome to ask any questions about this matter in the comments.

These are exciting times for Trustpilot. After securing €10 Million in funding and being honored as Startup of the year in Denmark, we are happy to announce Tim Weller as Non-Executive Chairman.

Tim is a successful entrepreneur and business leader within the publishing and technology industries. Most notably, he founded Incisive Media in 1995 and expanded it into a £250 million plus publishing and events business within 13 years. During this time, Tim was named one of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurs of the year. He continues to hold the position of group chief executive for Incisive Media, a privately held company.

Peter Mühlmann, co-founder and CEO comments on the appointment:

“Following the recent funding, we have been focused on our expansion strategy and moving the business forward towards our goal of making Trustpilot the open, de-facto standard for customer reviews. Having a person of Tim’s caliber join our team is a significant milestone for Trustpilot; Tim’s experience in growing successful businesses, combined with his industry knowledge, is going to be hugely beneficial for the organization, and I am really pleased to welcome him to the Trustpilot team.”

For more information please download the press release.

Today, we are proud to announce that Trustpilot is recognized as winner in two categories at the Danish Startup Awards 2013, hosted by technology news site, The Next Web. Trustpilot won the main category, “Startup of the year” and our CEO, Peter Mühlmann was a clear winner in the category, “Best Co-founder”. Europe’s fastest growing review site is now among the finalists at The Next Web Conference Europe.

But the award is more than just a nice recognition, Peter Mühlmann explains:

“Of course, we take pride in winning the awards – especially by being recognized as Startup of the year with so many other rising stars on the Danish startup scene. What I am most excited about is that the recognition is echoing all over the world. We have a clear ambition that we want to build trust between consumers and companies globally – winning this award is a big milestone on the mission to be the world’s most trusted platform”.

After 4,845 votes and 4 weeks of online battling, the winners of the Danish Startup Awards were revealed. The Next Web is having similar competitions in 12 European tech hubs. In April, all local winners will meet up at The Next Web Conference Europe – one of Europe’s largest tech conferences. We’re looking forward to it.

Titusinder af virksomheder verden over opfordrer kunderne til at anmelde på Trustpilot. Det giver et talerør og mere indsigt til forbrugerne, mens virksomhederne får feedback fra deres kunder, så de kan yde en bedre kundeservice.

Flere måder at indsamle anmeldelser på

En virksomhed kan spørge efter anmeldelser på mange måde. Det kan ske ved at bruge vores tjeneste, eller virksomheden kan selv invitere kunderne til at anmelde. Uanset hvordan en virksomhed vælger at indsamle anmeldelser, er det vigtigt, at retningslinjerne bliver overholdt. Disse retningslinjer indeholder blandt andet påbud fra Forbrugerombudsmanden og er udarbejdet af førende jurister på området.

Når virksomheder bruger Trustpilot’s tjeneste til at indsamle anmeldelser, har vi en standardskabelon til email-invitationerne, som vi opfordrer til at bruge. Virksomheder kan tilpasse den skabelon, så den harmonerer med virksomhedens overordnede kommunikation, bliver mere relevant for modtageren og gøre det mere tydeligt, hvem der er afsender.

Korrekt indsamling af anmeldelser

Korrekt indsamling af anmeldelser betyder:

• Såfremt kunden tilbyder sine kunder modydelser for afgivelse af anmeldelsen, må modydelsen ikke være betinget af, om der afgives en positiv eller negativ anmeldelse af kunden, og det skal udtrykkeligt fremhæves over for brugeren, at modydelsen er ubetinget af, om anmeldelsen er positiv eller negativ.
• At man ikke må opfordre til kun at skrive positive anmeldelser.
• At sproget i invitationen er neutralt og ikke forsøger at påvirke anmelderen til at skrive positivt eller tiltrække kunder, som man forventer at være mere positive stemte.
• At der er bestemte krav til emailen, der eksempelvis ikke må indholde reklame for virksomhedens andre produkter.

Her finder du samtlige retningslinjer for brug af tjenesten.

Vi har en hel afdeling dedikeret til at arbejde med at sikre kvaliteten i anmeldelser. Blandt deres opgaver er kontrol af de email-invitationer, som virksomheder har tilpasset. Ved den seneste screening fandt vi brud på retningslinjerne i nogle få tilfælde. Her indskærper vi over for virksomhederne, at de skal følge retningslinjerne.

Når vi finder brud på retningslinjerne, er det ofte et spørgsmål om oplysning på området. Brugeranmeldelser er stadig et område i hastig udvikling, og vi oplever at nogle virksomheder ikke er klar over, hvis de er gået over stregen, når de indsamler anmeldelser.

Det er i alles interesse, at Trustpilot bliver brugt efter hensigten.
Har du som forbruger oplevet at modtage invitationer, som ikke fremmer at forbrugere får et retvisende billede af en virksomheds omdømme, opfordrer vi til at du kontakter os.

Har du som virksomhed spørgsmål til, hvad du må og ikke må, er du velkommen til at stille spørgsmål ved at bruge kommentaren eller henvende dig til os. Vil du være på den helt sikre side, kan du altid bruge vores standardskabelon.

Valentine’s Day you said? Again? Already? I better start browsing online to find something for my loved one.

Last minute purchases mean more online research

Does that sound familiar? You are not the only one rushing out right before it’s too late. According to the data we crunched, last minute purchases are more the rule than the exception for special occasions like Valentine’s Day, and more and more research happens online prior to buying. But regardless if it’s a heart-shaped box of filled chocolates or a nice bouquet of red roses, you don’t want your Valentine’s Gift to arrive a day too late. So what do you do when time is limited and you are insecure about whether the company can deliver on time? You seek advice from others and read online reviews.

Traffic peaks right before Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day has a big economic impact for certain businesses. In 2011, the average American shelled out $116.21 on traditional Valentine’s Day merchandise. But the holiday is also popular in most European countries which all have their own traditional way of celebrating The Golden Legend.

Flowers and chocolates are among the most popular gifts for Valentine’s Day. According to statistics from our review platform, consumers are researching a lot. We looked at traffic on the most obvious category pages. In general, it slowly increases the weeks before Valentine’s Day and peaks in the very week. Here’s how it looks for the sub-category “Sweets & Chocolates”.

When digging into data from a single company profile page, you’ll see the same trend. Here’s a chart showing the traffic from 2012 on a major florist’s profile page on Trustpilot. We included the figure from Mother’s Day; it peaks right before, so it seems to be slightly busier when compared to Valentine’s Day.

The closer you get to special days like Valentine’s Day, the more important it becomes to get consumers to feel confident that your business can deliver on time. Increasing customer confidence is key.

Are you ready for Valentine’s Day? Your competitors may be primed for the seasonal sales, however, lack of trust is an even more decisive factor in a time-sensitive buying process. How do you address your customers’ concerns and make them feel comfortable when making last minute purchasing decisions? Please share your thoughts.

Let’s go social: Sharing your shopping experiences on the go!

As the Trustpilot community grows, we’re seeing an upturn in demand for smart mobile support of our reviews. We’re working at full speed so that consumers can read and write reviews on the go, via the mobile device of their choice.

It’s all about responsive web design. We’ve given our review pages a smarter, cleaner look and feel. This means you get a seamless viewing experience, whether you’re accessing Trustpilot from a desktop, smartphone or tablet.

More connectivity options and the freedom to choose your preferred social network

In 2012, we focused on integrating our review platform with Facebook. So now, you can share your Trustpilot reviews on your own Timeline, read your friends’ reviews, and comment, too. Connecting via Facebook also makes it easier to access reviews in no time at all.

With these new features, we’ve not only improved social connectivity, we’ve also increased both the level of trust and quality of reviews on Trustpilot. We firmly believe that connecting via Facebook creates a more friendly atmosphere for sharing your shopping experiences with your friends and trusted connections.

As our goal is to continue to expand our reach and enter new markets, we’re preparing to integrate Trustpilot with other globally recognised social networks. This means you’ll have even more connectivity options. Ultimately, we want to give you the freedom to use the social network of your choice, anywhere, anytime.

Most trusted review platform in the world!

Trustpilot aims to become the most trusted online review platform in the world. To that end, last year we implemented a new design of our Front page on Trustpilot. You can now find a section detailing our commitment to building trust between consumers and companies; we also published our new user guidelines. Accordingly, we’ve streamlined the process for reporting suspicious reviews; as a result, we’ve seen significant improvement in review quality over the past year. And in 2013 that trend will continue, as we’re working hard to maintain the highest level of trust.

New Business page – get inspiration on how to earn and show your trust

In 2012, we launched a new business website. Here, we give professional Trustpilot users free tools along with inspiration for best practices, so that they can better serve their customers and ultimately, build better customer relationships. They can also download the whitepaper to learn how to select an online review platform.

Companies are on a self-service for optimal interaction with consumers

Last year we aimed at providing companies with self-service features; this year, we’re making things even easier. Our self-service features allow companies to better interact with their customers, optimise review statistics and invite customers for their endorsement in a consumer-friendly way.

Take a sneak peek at Trustpilot Labs

We are proudly pioneering the online review space, so get ready to see some new, innovative stuff courtesy of Trustpilot Labs. We’re sure both community users and companies will love it. Stay tuned!

Your opinion is valuable to us. If you have any ideas or constructive feedback about how we can make Trustpilot better for you in 2013, feel free to post them on Trustpilot company page.