Detailed, constructive and friendly feedback as part of reviews is valuable input for our online review community, including for the businesses being reviewed.
What may and may not be included when you write a review on Trustpilot is set out in our guidelines. You can get an overview of the most important points in this infographic:
Provide useful, constructive feedback
A good review contains enough detail so that readers can understand the facts. Describe what factors contributed to the experience being positive, negative or mediocre for you. You can also elaborate on what you think the company does well and how it can improve. But please always keep it friendly!
Here are two examples of reviews that can be useful for other consumers and for the company being reviewed:
Feel free to write about different aspects – but definitely about customer service.
Make sure your review is relevant by telling about your entire experience with the company. In doing so, be sure to address the level of customer service you received. Let other consumers know how much the company cared about you. If you only focus on one aspect, such as product quality or delivery options, readers will only get a limited insight.
A good review is detailed, specific and honest
There is no rule that says a review cannot be short and to the point; however, the more specific and detailed you are in describing your experience, the more useful your review will be. We recommend that you report from your own personal perspective. Stick to the facts and be honest. Help the readers of your review to understand your perspective.
The following reviews are too succinct to help readers understand what the reviewers liked about the company. They also do not give the company helpful feedback on how it can improve:
Links and personal details are not allowed
Reviews on Trustpilot must not contain any information that can identify individuals, such as names, phone numbers or addresses. In addition, reviewers are not allowed to recommend other businesses in their review. For example, the author of the following example may be asked to revise his/her rating:
This version of the rating, on the other hand, is allowed:
We understand that it can be tempting to highlight exceptionally good or poor customer service by naming the employee in question. However, compliance with all applicable data protection regulations is a must on Trustpilot. We therefore recommend that you keep your review general and instead contact the company directly with praise or complaints about specific employees.
Stay polite and friendly
We do not censor or revise reviews before they are published, as we trust that the majority of our users have good intentions. When a review is published on the web, it means that anyone can read it. Therefore, the same rules apply to customer reviews as to other public content.
Freedom of expression gives you the right to express your opinion; however, there is a line between appropriate and inappropriate content. Defamatory statements, for example, are prohibited by law. This includes accusatory statements that are untrue or have not yet been proven to be true.
Instead of angrily pointing the finger at someone when you have had a negative experience, write in a calm, sober tone – this will also make your report more credible. Simply describe what happened and leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusions. If you remain factual, the company will also be more willing to find a solution to the problem you describe.
Feel free to update your rating if there are further developments
An important option on Trustpilot is that you can edit your review at any time if you change your mind or an issue has been resolved, and you can submit a new review if you have a new experience with the same business.
For services that last over a period of time, such as subscriptions, you can adjust your rating as your relationship with the service provider develops. While companies are allowed to invite their customers to leave a review immediately after registering for their service, it may be useful for customers to return to their review in certain cases and edit it so that it reflects the overall picture of the experience or a change in opinion.
Make sure you are reviewing the right website or business
Make sure you post your review on the right company profile. If a business has claimed its profile page on Trustpilot, you will often find information about the business on the right-hand side of the page that will help you check if this is the business you want to review.
Trustpilot is a portal that businesses can use free of charge. The reviews on Trustpilot are public, but this is no guarantee that the rated business will see your feedback. If you have a pressing problem, you should contact the respective company directly.
Please also note that Trustpilot does not have the role of resolving disputes between raters and businesses. However, the company has the opportunity to read your feedback and respond to it. In addition, other users who read your review can learn from your experience.
Read your review thoroughly
It’s a good idea to check that your customer review is easy to read, makes sense and contains no typos before posting. In fact, an astonishing number of reviews contain errors. So don’t forget to read through your text again briefly before you publish it.