If you own a brick and mortar business, Yelp is the best way to spread the word through word of mouth from your customers. But if your business is online, consider directing satisfied customers to a Web service called Trustpilot. The site claims to be gaining 300,000 new users and 400,000 new reviews every month.
Trustpilot is a community which connects online consumers and companies via the use of these reviews. By inviting customers to provide reviews of their experiences, Trustpilot provides constructive feedback to companies looking to improve their game. Not only that, but anyone considering doing business with an online website can check Trustpilot to see if someone there has recommended the company.
For small businesses that operate entirely or mostly online, it’s an easy way to gain feedback from your customers and visitors, both good and bad. It’s similar to the way customers can give feedback about a brick and mortar business in their area on Yelp. That feedback helps local businesses improve and, if positive, attracts more customers.
Trustpilot reviews will also appear in search engines. So anyone searching you will immediately see if they can trust you with their credit card information or not:
In an interview with Small Business Trends, Peter Mühlmann, CEO of Trustpilot explains:
“Customer engagement and loyalty are crucial areas of focus for any small business, especially those who primarily work with online transactions. Online businesses providing unique services are launched every day, but without the brand recognition of e-commerce giants like Amazon, consumers are likely to question the service and experience they will have with an unknown brand.”
So in other words, what Trustpilot is offering is for you to conduct all of your customer service communications through them, in order to increase awareness of your brand. You can prompt people to review you, as well as send out customizable emails to customers. You have to be careful though that you are not accidentally labelled as a spammer – use the email function carefully!
Throw in the usual stats and demographics, and the integration with social media, and you have a tool that will allow you to continue to build connections with your customers.
Mühlmann ads:
“At Trustpilot, we believe in connecting consumers with the best merchants, and often these are small businesses. Small businesses, without the brand recognition of the bigger retailers, can leverage online reviews to create a sense of trust and transparency so consumers will feel that they know them and want to do business with them.”
Trustpilot is headquartered in Copenhagen, London and New York. The site offers a variety of languages. So if your online business caters to customers overseas, this might be an easy way to get feedback from them too.
