Consumers expect your business to have reviews they can read before they decide to take a next step with you. Your goal is to make sure you have enough of them to give potential customers an accurate picture of how great you are!                                                     

But how do you go about gathering those reviews?                                                                    

Typically, businesses send their requests via email, but it can take a while to see a result that way when only 15% of emails are opened.

We do have rules about what should and shouldn't be included when you write a review to get you started, here's an infographic that summarizes the main points:

Provide useful, constructive feedback.          

A good review includes enough detail to give others a feel for what happened. Explain which factors contributed to your positive, negative, or just so-so experience. You might also offer your view on what the company is doing well, and how they can improve. But keep things friendly and courteous!                                          

Talk about a range of elements, including customer service.                  

Increase the relevance of your review by addressing your overall experience, including the level of customer service you received. Tell people how helpful the company was! Focusing on only one element, such as product quality or delivery options, provides limited insight to readers.

#Be detailed, specific, and honest.                                       

There’s no rule against only writing a handful of words in a review, but the more specific you can be, the more likely the review is to be useful. We suggest writing from your own individual perspective, keeping it honest and sticking to the facts. Help readers stand in your shoes.                   

Leave out links and personal information.           

Reviews on Trustpilot shouldn’t contain information that identifies people — such as names, phone numbers, or addresses. We also don't allow reviewers to use their review to promote other companies. For example, the author of this review could be asked to edit it:

We understand that it can be tempting to highlight exceptionally good or poor customer service by naming the person who served you. But adherence to privacy laws on Trustpilot is important, so we suggest keeping your review general, and writing directly to the company to praise or complain about specific employees.

#Keep it civil and friendly.     

We don’t moderate or censor reviews before they’re posted because we trust that the majority of our users have good intentions. But publishing a review online means it’s public. Therefore, the same kinds of rules apply to customer reviews as to any kind of published opinion.                        

Freedom of speech gives you the right to express yourself, but there’s a line between appropriate and inappropriate. At the extreme end, the law prohibits defamatory statements. This includes accusatory statements that are untrue or not yet proven to be true.                                                             

If you’ve had a negative experience, instead of pointing an angry finger, a more credible approach is to adopt a calm, sober tone. Simply explain what took place and leave it to readers of your review to draw their own conclusions. This might also mean that the company in question will be more willing to engage with you to address the problem.

#Feel free to update your review if needed.                   

An important feature on Trustpilot is that you can edit your review to reflect a changed opinion or a resolved problem.                                                       

For sign-up services that continue over a period of time, you can edit your review as the relationship evolves to reflect the unfolding experience. We do allow companies to invite their customers to review them immediately after signing up. However, in some cases, it can make sense for users to later return and edit their review to reflect a more complete picture of their overall experience, or a changed opinion.          

#Check you’ve got the right domain name or company.                                

Check that you’re posting your review in the right place. If a company has claimed their profile, there’s often information about that business on the right-hand side of the profile page that can help you check whether this is the business you’re intending to review.                                    

 A platform that companies can access for free. Reviews are public, but that doesn’t guarantee that the reviewed company will see your feedback. If you have an urgent problem, you should contact the company directly.                                                        

Please also remember that Trustpilot’s role is not to resolve disputes between reviewers and businesses. However, if you choose to write a review, the company in question may see your feedback and engage with you. And other users who read your review will be able to learn from your experiences.

#Proofread your review.       

It's a good idea to check that your review is readable, makes sense and has no typos before posting, but a surprising number of reviews contain errors. So remember to quickly run your eye over your text before hitting post.