Trustpilot might not be at the top of most B2B marketers’ lists. As a consumer review site, it covers much more than just software, and its content leans more B2C than B2B.
Yet the site has solid use cases for B2B software vendors, and its premium plans are remarkably inexpensive. So is it worth an investment?
In this Trustpilot overview, we’ll cover when to consider focusing on this review site and how to use it to generate demand for B2B SaaS.
What is Trustpilot?
Trustpilot is a consumer-focused review site that invites people to share their experiences with vendors in a wide range of categories. As the company explains, it aims to “build trust between consumers and businesses.”
CEO and founder Peter Holten Mühlmann founded the company in 2007. Initially, it was intended as a place where consumers could review and read about experiences with online marketplaces and ecommerce sites.
Today, the site still features many of these ecommerce and local business categories. But it also has several categories for software and technology.
Trustpilot is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It has a handful of satellite offices in Europe and the United States.
Who is Trustpilot for?
On the surface, Trustpilot is for consumers who want to make smarter purchase decisions. But it also provides ample value to B2B and B2C software vendors who tap into its review collection and demand generation tools.
Quick overview for vendors
Trustpilot isn’t the right choice for every SaaS company. It’s best suited for B2B software vendors that also have a strong B2C offering.
But because of its consumer-focused roots, the site is far from the best option for companies that exclusively (or primarily) serve B2B customers—especially enterprise SaaS.
How do you claim your product profile?
For software vendors, the first step is creating a free Trustpilot account. To get started, all you need is contact information for you and your business.
How do you optimize your profile?
After claiming your free profile, you can complete your business’s landing page. In addition to adding your company’s website and logo, write a description of your business—like QR Code KIT has done
Unlike many other software review sites, Trustpilot doesn’t cap descriptions at a few hundred characters. In fact, the site recommends writing at least 200 words to introduce your business.
Why? One of Trustpilot’s main selling points is its search engine optimization (SEO) potential. Some of its SEO tools only apply to companies using Google Business Profiles or Google Shopping. But for any Trustpilot business profile, adding more information and relevant keywords makes it more likely to appear in search results.
To be fair, profiles from any software review site have a good chance of appearing in Google search results for your business. The difference is that Trustpilot gives you much more space to write SEO-friendly content.
When creating your profile, you’ll also need to verify your company details and choose a category for your business. In addition to a primary category, you can choose up to five additional categories to ensure your profile appears in relevant searches.
Trustpilot doesn’t support images or videos with free plans. But with premium plans, the site offers extra widgets and calls-to-action (CTAs) to help you get more reviews. We’ll cover these tools in detail below.
What’s an example of a good vendor profile?
1Password is a great example of an optimized Trustpilot profile. At the top, the profile shows a Verified Company badge, highlights its 10,000+ reviews, and displays a CTA button that links to the company’s website.
The 1Password profile then lists the company’s B2C and B2B offerings, using images and checklists to make the products’ selling points stand out.
The 1Password website leverages the company’s social proof, highlighting its status as a best-rated password manager on Trustpilot. But it’s important to note that this label appears on the company’s B2C landing page, not on its B2B landing page.
Quick overview for buyers
As a buyer, you can get the most value from Trustpilot if you already have a shortlist of software to research. Because it’s a review site with a much wider scope, software categories aren’t as nuanced and can be challenging to filter.
How do you research software companies?
To find software, search for a product on the Trustpilot homepage or select a category to browse. It’s important to note that when you browse software categories, you won’t see any sponsored results at the top of the page. (We’ll cover the site’s sorting methods below.)
Keep in mind that the site doesn’t have some of the research tools you might expect from a B2B review site. For example, it isn’t possible to add products to a list, save reviews, or otherwise keep track of the software you’re considering.
Another key difference is the lack of comparative research. Unlike many B2B software review sites, Trustpilot doesn’t list alternatives to the software you consider. That means it’s up to buyers to direct their own research.
However, you can filter reviews to find what matters to you as a buyer. You can filter by rating, opt to look at verified reviews only, or check recent reviews only. You can also filter by keyword, which is helpful if you have a specific use case to address.
How do you review software companies?
While anyone can browse the site’s reviews, you have to register for an account before you can leave a review. To share your experience with a software product, click the Write a Review button. You’ll be prompted to give it a star rating between 1 and 5.
You’ll need to confirm the product name and version, and give it a rating from one to 10. Then spend some time writing out your experience with the software. You’ll be prompted to share how long you’ve used the product, your use case, and the most valuable features.
Before submitting your review, you’ll need to confirm that you’re a real user of the product. If your company has a business relationship with the vendor, you’ll need to disclose it—which will likely result in a disclaimer appearing on your review.
Note that PeerSpot doesn’t request a title when you submit a review. The company creates titles automatically, based on your rating. For example, reviews with high ratings get positive titles, while those with low ratings have titles that mention aspects that need improvement.
How does Trustpilot work?
From rating methodologies to premium services like review collection and demand generation, let’s take a closer look at how software vendors can use Trustpilot successfully.
What is a TrustScore?
TrustScore is the platform’s proprietary rating system and reflects a score from one to five. Trustpilot considers both recency and frequency when calculating this score. Essentially, newer ratings are more heavily weighted, and a steady stream of reviews contributes to a higher rating.
The platform also uses a Bayesian average to weight the total rating distribution. The more reviews your business collects, the less this factor will affect your TrustScore.
Trustpilot then displays your TrustScore on your profile, using a color coding system to highlight differences in ratings. Red TrustScores are considered the worst, while green are the best—like Buzzsprout’s TrustScore above.
How does Trustpilot sort reviews?
Your TrustScore can have a major impact on where your product appears in your category. By default, the site sorts listings by relevance. To determine relevance, the site looks at both TrustScore and review count.
To be eligible to display a Most Relevant badge, your company must have collected at least 25 reviews in the past 12 months. In addition, you must proactively ask for reviews—which is a free service.
Buyers also have the option to sort by most recent reviews and top ratings. As a buyer, you can also use the site’s filter options to narrow your search.
How can vendors get more reviews?
Trustpilot makes it relatively easy and affordable for vendors to request more reviews. Once you’ve set up a free account for your software product, you can request up to 100 reviews per month at no cost.
With a paid plan, you can step up your review collection process significantly. Even the lowest tier plan (starting at $250 per month) allows 500 verified review invitations, while the top-tier plan (starting at $900 per month) includes unlimited verified review invitations.
All you have to do is upload your customer data and allow Trustpilot to contact them automatically. In addition to current customers, the site also lets you request reviews from customers who have purchased from your business in the past 90 days.
What is a TrustBox widget?
As a premium customer, you can access a handful of widgets that plug into your website. You can use them to display Trustpilot reviews on landing pages that tend to attract customers with intent, such as your pricing page.
You have a few different options for showing your reviews. For example, Buzzsprout has a dedicated landing page for reviews, which displays input from various sites. Its Trustpilot widget shows the company’s TrustScore, total number of reviews, and a selection of positive customer responses.
Available options depend on the plan tier you choose. The lowest tier plan includes eight widgets, while the mid-tier plan includes 22 options
What is the image generator?
For premium customers, website widgets are just one option. You can also promote your reviews on your social media channels using Trustpilot’s image generator. This tool automatically turns reviews into social media-ready content that displays the customer’s review, along with the TrustScore.
You can use the image generator to make organic social media content. But the platform also licenses review content for social ads, which can help you get even more value from the social proof you’ve collected.
How can vendors use Trustpilot data?
As a premium customer, you can also access exclusive review data. All paid plans include access to Trustpilot’s analytics dashboard, while mid-tier plans (starting at $600 per month) and above can access advanced review analysis.
The analytics dashboard is helpful for monitoring the source of your customer reviews and the sentiment over time. It’s designed to help you track the invitations you’ve sent and the number of reviews you’ve collected as a result.
This dashboard also forecasts your TrustScore, which can be helpful for evaluating the program’s success and better understanding your investment. For example, if your TrustScore is projected to decline, it might be time to send more review invitations.
With higher tier plans, you can learn even more about customer sentiment. Trustpilot analyzes sentiment and calls out keywords to help you understand how customers feel about your product and identify any positive or negative themes.
How does Trustpilot make money?
Trustpilot doesn’t charge buyers to use the site or vendors to create basic profiles. Businesses can create profiles, ask customers for reviews, and reply to them at no cost.
However, the site does charge vendors for premium plans. These plans include the paid services we covered above.
Is Trustpilot trustworthy?
Altogether, the site has over 213 million reviews of 893,000+ businesses, making it one of the largest review sites in existence. The company reports that nearly 75% of consumers are more likely to buy from a business with a good Trustpilot score—a statistic that speaks to the brand’s credibility.
Profiles automatically display a Company Activity profile that reflects how businesses are using the site—and whether they’re paying for a premium plan. For example, Anyword’s profile shows that the company follows best practices by asking for both positive and negative reviews and that it pays for premium features.
Clicking on this panel reveals a surprising level of detail about the company’s review sources and ratings over time. For example, you can see whether reviews are organic or generated by the business. You can also check star distribution by review source.
Trustpilot also charts the company’s reviews over time. Using the sorting options, you can see when the company received positive or negative reviews and check sources over time. This chart is helpful for getting a better sense of the product’s trajectory.
It’s important to note that Trustpilot doesn’t have the rigorous vetting and verification process that many B2B software review sites do—especially those focused on enterprise tools. However, the site does prompt buyers to become verified reviewers.
In addition, Trustpilot removes reviews that it determines to be fake or biased. According to the Trustpilot transparency report, the company removed over 2.7 million fake reviews in 2021, which accounts for nearly 6% of the total reviews submitted to the site that year.
Interestingly, the number of fake reviews removed in 2021 exceeds the total number of reviews that the largest B2B software review has published overall (G2, with over 2.3 million reviews)—which illustrates how large Trustpilot is in comparison.
Next steps to learn more
Whether Trustpilot is a good fit for your business or you’re curious about other options, software reviews can be a powerful tool for generating demand. Get to know the best B2B software review sites and learn how to leverage them for your business.
