Liars, fakers and cheats: how we protect businesses against review fraud

### Thank you for entering your details! 

Your copy of *Liars, fakers and cheats: how we protect businesses against review fraud* [is available to download here](https://2749863.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2749863/How%20we%20protect%20you%20against%20review%20fraud%20eBook.pdf) :)


Grey lightest BG - No image

### Thank you for entering your details! 

Your copy of *How we protect businesses against review fraud* [is available to download here](https://2749863.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2749863/How%20we%20protect%20you%20against%20review%20fraud%20eBook.pdf)

Thanks!

Hubspot form - How we protect businesses against review fraud

How we protect businesses against review fraud report download form

TABLET - 80px top 80px bottom

GENERIC - 40px top 40px bottom

In this eBook, we want to lay out the kinds of issues we see people facing on a daily basis, the impact this can have on individuals and eCommerce as a whole, and most importantly – how we’re actively chasing the liars off the internet.

Frauds and fakes are eroding consumer confidence like a sandcastle facing the tide, wrecking the online shopping experience that should bring nothing but great things.

We hate this. It’s a problem for everyone, and we’re at the frontline of solving it. 

In our latest eBook, *Liars, fakers and cheats: how we protect businesses against review fraud*, we lay out the kinds of issues we see people facing on a daily basis, the impact this can have on individuals and eCommerce as a whole, and most importantly — how we’re actively chasing the liars off the internet.

The power to stop liars, fakers and cheats is in your hands.

Blue chalk dark bg

Honest Marketing report - Banner image

Brands that take a stand: Marketers who match consumers’ desire for purpose come out on top 

[Get the report here](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/brands-that-take-a-stand?cta=banner)


View Trustpilot's latest reports as we share industry data, whitepapers and research papers from verticals including automotive, finance, ecommerce and more.

Guides and reports | Trustpilot Business Blog

Guides and Reports

The antidote to purchase paralysis

### Thank you for entering your details! 

Your copy of *The antidote to
purchase paralysis* [is available to download here](https://2749863.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2749863/The%20antidote%20to%20purchase%20paralysis%20EN%20eBook%202022.pdf) :)


### Thank you for entering your details! 

Your copy of *The antidote to
purchase paralysis* [is available to download here](https://2749863.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2749863/The%20antidote%20to%20purchase%20paralysis%20EN%20eBook%202022.pdf)

Hubspot form - The antidote to purchase paralysis 

The antidote to purchase paralysis report download form

In this eBook, we look at how too much choice can inhibit buying, and what today's brands can do about it.

[Purchase paralysis is real](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/browsers-to-buyers/reckoning-with-the-paradox-of-choice-why-more-really-is-less). And it’s bad for business.

To find out what exactly can be done to cure purchase paralysis, we’ve pulled together a helpful guide that explains just that. Think of this as a toolbox - full of tips and tricks on how to guide consumers down the purchasing pathway.

The power to improve your customer’s experience is in your hands, and honestly, the solutions are pretty simple (and we’re not just saying that).


The complete guide to marketing with customer reviews: 2021 update

Trustpilot's complete guide to reviews

Marketing with customer reviews is a surefire way to build trust in your brand, and turn that into measurable ROI through increased web traffic and sales. In this practical guide, we'll show you 15 ways you can improve your marketing strategy with reviews.

I rely on reviews. You rely on reviews. 

We all rely on reviews. 

In fact, [consumer behavior](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/consumer-behavior-in-the-age-of-coronavirus-global-review-trends-by-industry) has evolved such that shoppers the world over are relying on reviews from their fellow customers to find the most up-to-date and accurate information about businesses in their local communities and beyond. 

So, if you’re wondering whether you could be doing more with customer reviews, know this: reviews can provide your business with so much more than feedback on your products and services. 

They're also a powerful marketing engine in their own right. Customer reviews are a way to build trust in your brand, and turn that brand trust into measurable ROI through increased web traffic, sales, and revenue. 

In this practical guide, we’ll show you exactly how to turn your customer reviews into better business results by putting them to work throughout your entire marketing strategy. 

And on the off chance you’re totally new to the world of reviews, we’ll start with a quick overview of their many benefits, and how they work together to propel business growth. 

## Why every business needs customer reviews and testimonials

We’ll keep this brief — the virtuous cycle of collecting reviews goes something like this: 

### 1. Build trust in your brand by collecting and responding to reviews.

Reviews are an opportunity for anyone familiar with your brand to publicly share what they love about your products, services, and [customer experience](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/5-reasons-why-customer-experience-is-the-pulse-of-every-business). So, having reviews publicly available conveys to potential customers that you’re safe to do business with.

Once you have some reviews about your business, you can:

### 2. Attract new customers by using reviews, ratings, and testimonials throughout your marketing strategy. 

Showing off your customer reviews is how you turn your hard-earned brand trust into measurable ROI. 

Whether you dream of becoming the search result they actually click, driving more traffic with your emails and ad creative, or converting more browsers into buyers on your site — [social proof](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/why-and-how-social-proof-influences-consumers) like reviews, star ratings, and testimonials can help with that. 

To meet the expectations of all the new customers you’ll attract from showing off your reviews, you’ll need to: 

### 3. Tap into the goldmine of fresh consumer insights within your reviews.    

You’ve built a trusted brand. You’ve attracted more customers than ever before by exuding trustworthiness in all of your marketing. Now you need to understand what all of your new customers thought about their experience with your brand. 

Reviews act like a window into the minds of your customers, allowing you to discover exactly what they want — and deliver it — so you can build customer loyalty, get even more customer feedback, and continue using that feedback to attract new customers.

Sounds good, right? It all begins with [getting reviews](https://business.trustpilot.com/features/get-reviews) for your business so you can start showing off the trust in your brand. 

This is especially easy for businesses built on major eCommerce platforms to get up and running thanks to Trustpilot’s native integrations for [Shopify](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/shopify-plus), [BigCommerce](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/bigcommerce), [WooCommerce](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/woocommerce), [Magento](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/magento-commerce), [PrestaShop](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/prestashop), [Shopware](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/shopware), and [OpenCart](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/opencart). 


complete-guide-to-reviews-img1

Trustpilot reviews displayed on a phone

## 15 Ways to use customer reviews in your marketing strategy

Once you’ve collected some reviews about your business, you can start showcasing the voice of the customer throughout your marketing strategy to increase organic traffic, dial up your paid digital campaign performance, and ultimately win more customers. 

## Improving organic SEO with customer reviews

With [91.5% of organic traffic](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-101/seo-statistics/) going to sites listed on the first page of search engine results, we can’t overstate how important your organic search ranking is when it comes to attracting new customers. 

__With that in mind, here are five ways you can use customer reviews to improve your organic search rankings.__

### 1. Build strong off-page SEO by collecting reviews on a third-party platform. 

Off-page SEO describes any actions you take to build up a digital footprint outside of your actual website — whether it’s building credible backlinks to your pages, staying active on social media platforms, or even creating a profile on a [third-party review platform](https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2018/02/26/can-independent-review-platforms-make-google-love-site/) like Trustpilot. 


Off page SEO

off-page SEO diagram

Even though search engine algorithms are always evolving, the experts at [Moz](https://moz.com/learn/seo/off-site-seo) suspect that off-page SEO considerations like relevance, trustworthiness, and authority carry more than 50% of the ranking factor weight. 

Fortunately, building up your online presence with third-party reviews can help your business tick all three of those boxes. 

### 2. Drive more referral traffic from your Trustpilot business profile. 

On top of the off-page SEO benefits for your actual website, creating a profile on Trustpilot can also lead to a huge spike in referral traffic. 

That’s because when someone searches for reviews of a brand, they’re likely to find that brand’s Trustpilot [business profile page](https://support.trustpilot.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013930439-Introduction-to-your-company-profile-page) at the top of the search results. Why, you ask? 

We don’t mean to brag, but Trustpilot’s [domain authority](https://moz.com/learn/seo/domain-authority) is strong. So, the more reviews you collect — and the more you [enrich the content](https://support.trustpilot.com/hc/en-us/articles/202616716-Customize-your-company-profile) on your business profile page — the easier it will be for search engines to associate your brand with ours, and show your presence on Trustpilot right at the top of search results.

This could be your competitive advantage since referral traffic is so often overlooked — even though it’s a free source of qualified leads, and can even [improve your organic search performance](https://moz.com/blog/organic-traffic-without-ranking). 


Learn how TaxSlayer used their enriched business profile page to generate a 500% increase in referral traffic to their site.

### 3. Get more organic traffic by displaying customer reviews on your website.

Featuring customer reviews on key landing pages is easy to pull off with review widgets, and this small addition to your website can improve how often your pages show up in organic search results. 

That’s because reviews are a form of user-generated content, and UGC is SEO gold:

- __Reviews increase the amount of text on each page.__ This extra text makes your page more valuable in the eyes of Google because you’re offering them more context for what the page is really about — and whether it should surface for the user’s search query. 
- __The ratings associated with your reviews help Google understand the quality of your products and services.__ At the end of the day, Google wants to show the most reputable search results in hopes of delivering the best experience to their users. 
- __Review text adds fresh content to pages that might not otherwise get frequent updates.__ This tells Google that the information about your business is recent and up-to-date, and is therefore worth surfacing for the user’s search query.  

These elements work together to [help Google understand your website](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/why-does-google-care-if-your-business-has-online-reviews-in-2019). Over time this can lead search engines to show your pages in search results more frequently, and drive larger volumes of high quality traffic to your site.


reviews are great for SEO because they provide fresh content and long tail keywords, both of which Google loves

complete-guide-to-reviews-img4

Google search on a laptop

### 4. Earn review snippets in organic search with product reviews. 

When marketers think about star ratings in search results, paid listings usually come to mind — and we’ll get there in the next section. But most marketers don’t realize they can also earn star ratings on their organic search listings and appeal to those savvy shoppers who might be [less inclined to click-through an ad](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/can-online-reviews-revive-consumer-trust-in-advertising). 

As it turns out, collecting [Product Reviews](https://business.trustpilot.com/features/product-reviews) can help you qualify for [review snippets](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/get-seen-in-search/rich-snippets-stars-for-product-reviews-can-boost-seo) in organic search.  

And those shiny gold stars on your listings can help attract more attention to your product pages, and even improve your click-through rates by up to 35% in organic search. 

Not bad!

It’s not hard to do — our range of [eCommerce integrations](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/type/apps) allow you to make your Product Review data discoverable to search engines in just a few clicks that add some simple code (aka schema markup) to your product pages. This allows search engines to easily get a sense of your products’ overall ratings, and determine whether you meet their requirements for displaying review snippets. 

If your review stats meet [Google’s requirements](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/data-types/review-snippet), your product pages could appear with performance-enhancing review snippets in the SERPs. 


According to Conversion XL, review stars in search engine results can improve CTR by as much as 35%.

complete-guide-to-reviews-img5

According to ConversionXL, review snippets can improve click-through rate by as much as 35% in organic search

### 5. Rank for long tail search queries with product reviews.

Collecting product reviews can also amp up the SEO power on each of your product pages, and help you rank for a broader range of relevant keywords. 

It’s pretty straightforward. Allowing customers to leave reviews about your individual products — and putting them front and center on your product pages — can improve your site’s visibility for [long tail search queries](https://yoast.com/focus-on-long-tail-keywords/#:~:text=Focusing%20on%20long%2Dtail%20keywords,as%20they%20are%20more%20specific.), with no copywriting effort on your part.

Try as you might, thinking of every possible descriptor, use case, or problem your product solves can be difficult to say the least. Thankfully, product reviews let your customers become the copywriters, enabling them to share their own unique experiences with your products. 

The icing on the cake is that all this happens automatically — no extra copywriting or content creation for you.

## Enhancing paid digital campaign performance with customer reviews

Today’s consumers have seen it all — and many of them don’t want to see ads or slick marketing messages anymore. In fact, more than [75% of consumers](https://deloitte.wsj.com/cmo/2018/04/03/are-consumers-adlergic-a-look-at-ad-blocking-habits/) regularly use an adblocker.

To make matters even more challenging for digital marketers, research shows [fewer than 3 in 10 consumers](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/learn-from-customers/trustworthiness-in-advertising-what-consumers-have-to-say) report a solid level of trust towards digital advertising channels.  

__Fortunately, customer reviews and star ratings can enhance your digital campaign performance on the channels that have the [biggest influence](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/can-online-reviews-revive-consumer-trust-in-advertising) on consumer’s purchasing decisions.__

### 6. Qualify for Google Seller Ratings to improve Google Ads performance.

A close relative of review snippets in organic search, [Google Seller Ratings](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/get-seen-in-search/how-to-land-great-reviews-and-boost-your-google-seller-rating) are a one-stop-shop for:

- Adding a healthy dose of social proof to your paid search listings.
- Making your business stand out from the competition.
- And increasing click-through rate on your Google Ads campaigns.

A higher click-through rate often leads to increased sales, and will usually improve your [Quality Score](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/140351?hl=en) — meaning you’ll get traffic at a lower cost per click. This in turn gives you a lower cost per acquisition, and frees up more budget for the rest of your business.

Just keep in mind that whether Google Seller Ratings display on your paid search listings is up to Google’s discretion in line with their [latest guidelines](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375474?hl=en) — which tend to stipulate that a business must have a certain number of reviews and a certain aggregate rating before those shiny gold stars will appear below your [Google Ads](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/browsers-to-buyers/why-wont-my-google-seller-ratings-show-up-and-4-other-gsr-questions).

Once you do earn them though, your [Google Seller Ratings](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/get-seen-in-search/how-to-land-great-reviews-and-boost-your-google-seller-rating) will appear in Google search results, Google Shopping listings, and even on Google search partners’ listings. 

So if you ask us, it’s worth setting yourself up to qualify for them.

### 7. Enhance your retargeting campaigns with customer testimonials, reviews, and ratings.

[Retargeting campaigns](https://blog.alexa.com/retargeting-vs-remarketing/) can straddle a range of platforms using paid ads to re-engage potential customers who have visited your website or social media profiles. 

No matter which platform you’re using to run a retargeting campaign, you can see a [performance improvement](https://business.trustpilot.com/customer-stories/finance-insurance/why-taxslayer-chose-trustpilot-to-leverage-customer-feedback) if you include your reviews and ratings in the ad creative. This can look like:

- Quoting an individual customer review.
- Using your overall rating in your ad creative.
- Showing off how many customers have rated you highly.

The best part? Highlighting your reviews in ad creative can be done without design skills (or even an in-house designer) with some help from Trustpilot’s social media [Image Generator](https://business.trustpilot.com/features/social-media-tools).

With retargeting, you’re putting ads in front of people who have some existing relationship with your business. The extra social proof you add to your retargeting creative might be the deciding factor that nudges customers to purchase from you.


Learn more about Trustpilot's social media tools. 

## Getting more from your email marketing with the voice of the customer 

Though it’s a tough number to pin down, email marketing experts estimate that the average person sends and receives [126 business emails per day](https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/knowledge-base/how-many-emails-does-the-average-person-receive-per-day/). That’s a whole lot of emails.

It’s easy to see why the average open rate for emails is about [22%](https://mailchimp.com/resources/email-marketing-benchmarks/) — and why it can be so challenging to cut through the noise with email marketing.

__Here are four ways you can let the voice of the customer do it for you.__

### 8. Boost email click-through rates by adding customer reviews and testimonials.

Every improvement in email click-through rate is going to drive more qualified traffic to your website and increase the odds of a conversion. So you might be interested to know that customer reviews can improve the click-through rate in all of your [marketing emails](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/browsers-to-buyers/4-email-marketing-strategies-to-unlock-black-friday-sales-volume-throughout).

Unlike channels with strict word counts and requirements for visual creative, with email you’re free to be creative with how you show off your reviews. You can even use them as the entire basis for different types of email content and CTAs. 

Whether you’re drafting a monthly newsletter, a seasonal product promotion, or a dynamic remarketing campaign – [highlighting a customer review](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/inside-trustpilot/social-proof-in-email-marketing-is-easier-than-ever-with-trustpilots-klaviyo) that’s directly related to your offer puts the social proof your customers crave right on a silver platter, and [increases the odds](https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2019/06/improve-your-ctr-using-social-proof/#:~:text=4.,a%2037.5%25%20increase%20in%20conversions.) that they’ll click-through to your landing page, and ultimately convert. 

And with [82% of shoppers](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/why-and-how-social-proof-influences-consumers) reporting that ratings and reviews in email marketing can make them more likely to purchase, that’s pretty promising.  

### 9. Let customer reviews do the talking in your welcome campaigns.

Welcome campaigns are your first opportunity to build a direct relationship with a future customer. Most of your email signups probably haven’t made a purchase yet, and they could even be brand new to your business.

This is your opportunity to convince them you’re a brand they can feel comfortable buying from — and it’s the perfect time to let your satisfied customers do the talking. 

Think of your reviews as a dynamic database of nuanced marketing content to make your campaigns as compelling as possible to your email audience segment. 

When you’re in the early stages of building a relationship with your future customers, it’s a good idea to: 

- Include a relevant customer review in each email, whether it’s about a specific product or your customer experience in general. 
- Feature your top-rated products and services based on your reviews. 
- Show off your brand’s personality by curating some surprising or funny customer reviews. 

This is just a sampling of the creative ways you can make a first impression through your customer reviews and generate warm responses to your email campaigns. 

### 10. Show off your trustworthiness in the email header, footer, and subject line.

Every email you send should include some proof of your trustworthiness. One easy way to achieve this is by including your star rating to your email template’s header, or adding a customer testimonial in the footer. 

With email [open rates](https://mailchimp.com/help/about-open-and-click-rates/) hovering around a modest 22%, it’s also in your best interest to lead with social proof right in the subject line. Here are some sample ideas to get you started:

*- "Our top reviewed products this month."*
*- "Thank you for making us a 5 star company."*
*- "5 ways we’ve used your reviews to improve our customer service."*
*- "Meet Sue, our top customer service rep."*
*- “We thought our teapots were great, your feedback has made them even better!”*
*- “The products you love.”*


Complete Guide to Reviews Quote Jillian Lore

Trustpilot logo Round Star BlueBG 420x420

Digital Marketing Specialist, Rush49

### 11. Abandoned cart emails are more effective with customer reviews.

No matter how watertight your online shopping journey is, abandoned carts are bound to happen. 

According to the experts at [Klaviyo](https://www.klaviyo.com/blog/whats-is-abandoned-shopping-cart-email), the average cart abandonment rate is about 70% on desktop and a whopping 85% on mobile — so it’s not surprising that abandoned cart email flows have become so popular. 

Many retailers rely on special offers and promotions in these email campaigns to lure would-be customers back to their website, but adding a testimonial, review, or rating can be more than enough to bring them back without compromising your precious margins.  

So if you’re putting together an abandoned cart email flow, consider including a few reviews about your customer experience or best-selling products to reassure any hesitant shoppers out there that your business is not only safe to buy from — but that there’s plenty to love about your brand.

No matter what type of email campaign you’re running, it’s easy to feature Trustpilot reviews with our integrations for major email providers like [Klaviyo](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/klaviyo), [Fresh Relevance](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/fresh-relevance), and [Movable Ink](https://business.trustpilot.com/partners/movable-ink). 


Adding reviews to your cart abandonment email campaigns can boost CTR by up to 220%

complete-guide-to-reviews-img7

NewYorkDress saw a 220% increase in CTR after adding reviews to their cart abandonment emails

## Improving website conversion rates by putting customer reviews front and center

Today, [89%](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/4-things-every-business-owner-should-know-about-the-state-of-reviews) of consumers check online reviews throughout the online shopping journey. So, by the time a potential customer lands on your website, chances are they’ve already formed a first impression about your brand. 

If you want to make sure that first impression leads to a conversion, it’s a good idea to provide all the reassurance they need to click “BUY” right on your website. 

__Here are four ways to [improve your conversion rate](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/browsers-to-buyers/what-is-conversion-rate-optimisation) with customer reviews on your website.__

### 12. Use reviews to make a stellar first impression on your homepage. 

When you improve the trustworthiness of your marketing campaigns, you’re likely to drive a lot more qualified traffic to your website. If your goal is turning more site browsers into buyers, your website should be just as trustworthy as the marketing materials that led them there. 

When it comes to website optimization, the homepage is often overlooked in favor of product pages and the checkout page — and that’s a missed opportunity.

Even if the majority of your site visitors arrive via a specific landing page, there’s a good chance they’ll still want to check out your homepage, especially if they’re unfamiliar with your brand. 

With this in mind, try to highlight customer reviews as much as possible on your homepage. You could:

- Showcase the quality and quantity of your reviews — for example, *“We received 2,365 reviews this year, and 95% of customers gave us a 5/5”.*
- Feature 3-5 recent reviews to show off what your others love about your customer experience.
- Round up your most reviewed or highly rated products and services — for example, *“Here are some products our customers gave 5 stars”.*

Remember, your homepage is where site visitors turn to find [trust signals and other social proof](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/what-is-social-proof-and-why-is-it-important-for-marketing) for your brand — so don’t miss this opportunity to easily build trust with curious customers by showing off a highlight reel or some summary statistics about your customer reviews. 


complete-guide-to-reviews-img9

ThirftBooks have embedded customer reviews throughout the customer journey

### 13. Add review widgets to product pages to make the buying decision easy.

We’ve already established that product reviews are an SEO secret weapon — but they can also make [conversions skyrocket on your product pages](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/customer-stories/get-seen-in-search/ann-summers-uses-product-reviews-to-increase-sales-up-to-230). 

According to the experts at [Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/blog/15359677-why-online-store-owners-should-embrace-online-reviews), 79% of online shoppers trust information shared in product reviews as much as a personal recommendation. And other studies have revealed that [product reviews are 12x more trusted](https://econsultancy.com/ecommerce-consumer-reviews-why-you-need-them-and-how-to-use-them/) than manufacturer or product descriptions. 

In short, [showing relevant reviews](https://business.trustpilot.com/features/trustbox-widgets) on product pages makes the buying decision easier for hesitant shoppers. 

That said, not all reviews carry the same weight. 

Research shows that shoppers want to see real product images from other customers (aka [user-generated content](https://business.trustpilot.com/features/product-reviews)) when they look at product reviews:

- Millennials trust user-generated content [50% more](https://www.iab.com/insights/user-generated-content-for-marketing-and-advertising-purposes/) than traditional media and think it’s 20% more influential on their purchasing decisions.
- Consumers are [3x more likely](https://www.iab.com/insights/user-generated-content-for-marketing-and-advertising-purposes/) to perceive user-generated content as authentic compared to content created by a brand.

So if your goal is to increase conversions on your product pages, make sure your product review provider gives customers an opportunity to share their own photos.

If you display these on your product pages, your conversion rate is sure to thank you. 

### 14. Add star ratings to the site header and footer to make every single page more trustworthy. 

Depending on what they searched to find your business, customers can land on almost any page on your site from the SERPs. With this in mind, every page is an opportunity to convince them to make the critical decision to purchase.

The easiest way to make sure your trustworthiness comes across loud and clear — no matter where visitors land on your site — is to add your star rating to your header or footer.

It’s a small change that can make a big difference.

### 15.  Reduce your exit rate by highlighting reviews and ratings on exit pages. 

Every journey has a start point and an end point — and if that end point isn’t the order confirmation page, you should take every opportunity to increase your conversion rate.

First, identify any pages with high exit rates by checking out your [exit page performance](https://www.paperstreet.com/blog/how-to-use-google-analytics-to-identify-exit-pages-and-improve-them/) in Google Analytics and noting which ones have high traffic and a high exit percentage. 

With exit pages, it’s worth taking the time to look at the actual page and see if you can spot a problem:

- Are there enough calls to action on those pages to keep people on the website?
- Is the page a dead end on the website?
- And of course, are there any customer review sentiments that might help keep people on this page?

Once you’ve ruled out other potential issues, it’s worth exploring any opportunity to show off relevant reviews on your exit pages — and Trustpilot’s [Review Tagging](https://business.trustpilot.com/features/review-tagging) feature makes this easy.

Here’s an example.

If your Delivery and Returns page has a high exit rate, you might start tagging reviews that mention delivery or returns so you can easily filter reviews by those keywords. This should make it easy to find a testimonial or two that sings your praises about delivery and returns — so you can feature them on your Delivery and Returns page. 

This tiny consideration could lead to a meaningful drop in your exit rate, and more conversions down the line. 

## Grow your business by amplifying the voice of the customer

If you made it this far, it should be clear that there’s an infinite number of creative ways you can integrate reviews into your marketing strategy to attract more customers — and make sure they actually convert. 

As we laid out at the beginning of this guide — customer reviews are all you need to kickstart a sustainable cycle of business growth. 

1. __Build trust in your brand__ by collecting and responding to reviews.
2. __Attract new customers__ by adding reviews to your marketing campaigns and across your website’s shopping journey. 
3. __Tap into the goldmine of fresh consumer insights__ within your steady stream of new customer reviews.

And then the cycle repeats, all because you put your customers at the heart of your marketing strategy. 

And if you really want to make the most of your customer reviews in your marketing strategy, focus on growing your [review collection](https://business.trustpilot.com/features/review-invitations) until your [social proof reaches critical mass](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/3-reasons-why-you-really-need-to-get-more-reviews). This makes it easier to highlight your reviews across your marketing channels, and eventually tailor your review curation to campaigns and product promotions.

So, the next time you approach a marketing campaign or a business challenge — whether it’s online or [offline](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/ratings-and-reviews-in-above-the-line-advertising) — ask yourself if customer reviews could be used to boost performance results.

You heard it here first: the answer is yes. 


Speak to one of our review experts today. 

The complete guide to marketing with customer reviews

Trustpilot Consumer Insights: 2020 Holiday Readiness Guide, featuring 8 tips to help your customers buy with confidence in peak shopping season

2020 Holiday Report

Trustpilot Consumer Insights: 2020 Holiday Readiness Playbook

This holiday season is poised to mean more than ever to consumers, so we used Trustpilot consumer insights to create 8 tips to help your customers buy with confidence this holiday season.

Suffice to say that COVID-19 and the resulting global recession, disrupted supply chains, and mass uncertainty have had a lasting effect on [consumer behavior](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/consumer-behavior-in-the-age-of-coronavirus-global-review-trends-by-industry), with some industries seeing unprecedented sales as the world sought to entertain themselves with new hobbies during lockdown — and others finding themselves more [prone to fraud](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/2020-consumer-report-combating-misinformation-in-the-health-beauty-sector), disappointing customers who had less to spend in the first place.

According to the consumer sector experts at [McKinsey](https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/the-consumer-sector-in-2020-and-beyond), two pandemic-fueled consumer behavior trends are here to stay. The first is that in the face of widespread economic uncertainty, shoppers are more focused than ever on the perceived value of their purchases — a measure which tends to skyrocket when [the brand in question is trusted](https://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/how-to-increase-sales-by-building-brand-equity-shaping-brand-perception.html). The second is the obvious shift to making purchases almost exclusively online.

Some consumers are doubling down on loyalty while shopping online, purchasing only from [brands they already trust](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-future-of-brand-strategy-its-time-to-go-electric). But some are taking chances on new brands and products now that their options have multiplied, in many ways leveling out the playing field and creating more opportunity for lesser known brands and businesses.

Either way, this holiday season is a huge opportunity for businesses of all shapes and sizes: consumers have shifted so much of their spend to online channels that eCommerce shopping levels have been tracking well above peak holiday shopping levels, and compared to predictions from the [2020 Adobe Digital Economy Index](https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/www/us/en/experience-cloud/digital-insights/pdfs/adobe_analytics-digital-economy-index-2020.pdf) for the period of March to June 2020, an extra $77 billion dollars have been spent online.

Image courtesy of the Adobe Digital Economy Index

Online Retail Spend Actual vs Expected via Adobe Digital Economy Index

Online Retail Spend Actual vs Expected Adobe Analytics

Whether consumers are tightening their purse strings or trying to forget the last six months by immersing themselves in holiday cheer, it’s safe to say that shoppers’ expectations will be higher, and businesses will be under the microscope.

And with recent action around the [Black Lives Matter movement](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/business/media/companies-marketing-black-lives-matter-george-floyd.html) placing an even stronger emphasis on corporate social responsibility and belief-driven buying (particularly in big gifting categories like fashion retail and health and beauty) this is the year to make sure your brand is trusted leading up to the winter holidays — and always.

To that end, we took a deep dive into more than 30 million consumer reviews on Trustpilot posted from August 2018 to August 2020 to uncover consumer behavior trends leading up to peak shopping season, and formulate some helpful tips to make sure your business is primed and ready to turn more browsers into buyers on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and beyond.

## Here are 8 tips to help your customers buy with confidence this holiday season.

### Tip 1: Timing is everything, so start building your online presence with third-party reviews by the end of October.

Collecting reviews for your business is always a good idea, but know this: in the world of eCommerce, not all reviews are created equal. Most major eCommerce platforms offer native review solutions, which can offer business owners perhaps too much control over the review process — and provide consumers little transparency into the origins and authenticity of the reviews.

[Social proof](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/why-social-proof-marketing-essential-business-growth) works best when consumers genuinely trust that the sentiments are authentic, and unlike native review solutions, third-party review platforms tend to have the proper [checks and balances](https://www.trustpilot.com/trust/combating-fake-reviews) in place to reassure shoppers that the reviews they encounter haven’t been curated or fraudulently sourced by unscrupulous business owners.

And that’s exactly why so many consumers consult the business profile pages on Trustpilot to research their purchases, especially leading up to the [holiday season](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/holiday-playbook-5-ways-to-win-over-wary-holiday-shoppers).


Consumers search for reviews more often leading up to the holiday rush

Traffic to Trustpilot Profile Pages by Industry

Our Trustpilot platform data from the past two years consistently shows a swift uptick in traffic to Trustpilot’s business profile pages in the month of October, as shoppers begin planning their holiday shopping hauls and researching the best businesses to buy from. Traffic increases have been significant year over year — especially in major holiday shopping categories like fashion apparel, electronics, health and beauty, and home and garden.

It’s no mystery why traffic across all categories has reached a new high watermark in April 2020. As consumers had to adjust their shopping behaviors in accordance with the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdown, they turned to [reviews to reduce uncertainty](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/the-importance-of-trust-in-uncertain-times) around potential purchases.

While we don’t have a crystal ball, it stands to reason that between the return of cold and flu season and a projected second wave of coronavirus, shoppers will not only carry out their entire customer journey online during peak shopping season, but rely even more heavily on third-party reviews to make sure their holiday season goes off without a hitch.

And if the past two years are any indication, it’s in your business’ best interest to have third-party reviews in place by the end of October. With that in mind, below are some helpful resources for getting a jump start on your [review strategy](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/learn-from-customers/the-complete-guide-to-reviews):

- [Intro to Automatic Feedback Services](https://support.trustpilot.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012437420-Introduction-to-Automatic-Feedback-Service-AFS-)
- [How are reviews collected?](https://support.trustpilot.com/hc/en-us/articles/223402468--How-are-reviews-collected-)
- [Send a basic review invitation](https://support.trustpilot.com/hc/en-us/articles/115008302187--Send-a-Basic-Invitation)
- [More is better: why review quantity matters](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/more-is-better-why-review-quantity-matters)

### Tip 2: Be ready to reply to reviews as they roll in, and don’t be afraid to reply retroactively — a late reply is better than no reply.

According to our platform data from the last two years, customers leave far more reviews beginning in November and lasting all the way through New Years. Sure enough, more transactions leading up to the holidays leads to more feedback from customers — and that’s a good thing.

Customers leave more reviews on Trustpilot during the holiday shopping rush

Customer Reviews Left on Trustpilot by Industry

More public customer feedback means more opportunities to show off what shoppers love about your [customer experience](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/5-reasons-why-customer-experience-is-the-pulse-of-every-business), ultimately building more trust in your brand. But more feedback can also highlight areas of improvement, and potential customers are just as interested in [how brands respond](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/dos-and-donts-best-practices-for-responding-to-reviews) and resolve any issues raised in their reviews.

The charts below show that most companies, regardless of industry, are mostly responding to reviews during peak shopping season — and responding to positive reviews far more often than they reply to negative ones.

This presents a unique opportunity to differentiate yourself by becoming the business that replies all year round to negative and positive reviews alike. This is an especially valuable opportunity in more saturated categories like fashion, home and garden, and health and beauty.

most companies, regardless of industry, are mostly responding to reviews during peak shopping season

Reviews with Replies by Industry

Companies mostly reply to positive reviews, even though negative reviews are more deserving of a response

Reviews with Replies by Star Rating

Taking time to respond, no matter the season or sentiment, will show potential customers that your business has integrity, cares deeply about its customers, and is therefore safe to buy from.

And if you’re lucky enough to have plenty of reviews from last year’s peak shopping season, don’t miss the opportunity to start replying retroactively. Believe it or not, shoppers understand that no one’s perfect, so a late reply is better than no reply. Going back to respond to unresolved reviews will show this year’s shoppers that you’re human, and help you earn their trust.

Below are some helpful resources for replying to reviews:

- [6 Ways to make trust your essential brand differentiator](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/6-ways-to-make-trust-your-essential-brand-differentiator)
- [Bad reviews: why people write them and what they expect](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/learn-from-customers/bad-reviews-why-people-write-them-and-what-they-expect)
- [How to respond to negative reviews](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/how-to-respond-to-negative-reviews)

### Tip 3: Show off your customer reviews on key shopping pages and landing pages.

Collecting reviews on a third-party platform is the crucial first step to building a trusted brand leading up to the holidays. When it comes to converting more site visitors into paying customers, however, [embedding third-party reviews](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/browsers-to-buyers/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-trustboxes-but-were-too-afraid-to) right on your site is the way to go.


Trustpilot data shows that impressions on TrustBoxes always see a spike around peak shopping season

TrustBox Impressions by Industry

Our data shows that [impressions](https://www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerce-answers/impressions-digital-marketing/#:~:text=Definition%3A%20Impressions%20are%20when%20an,intent%20on%20spreading%20brand%20awareness.) on [TrustBoxes](https://business.trustpilot.com/features/trustbox-widgets) always see a spike around peak shopping season, but they have also skyrocketed since lockdown began in categories like fashion and home and garden.

Displaying reviews right on site is a surefire way to improve conversions, increase basket size or order value, and even reduce cart abandonment. To level up with competitors in saturated categories and win the lion’s share of conversions this year, make sure you’re displaying reviews not only on product pages, but any landing page a potential customer might encounter along the buying journey.  

Here are some additional resources for how to best apply social proof on your website:

- [7 Tried and true conversion strategies: a guide](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/browsers-to-buyers/7-tried-and-tested-conversion-strategies-guide)
- [How luxury brands can use social proof to ignite high-ticket conversions](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/browsers-to-buyers/how-luxury-brands-can-use-social-proof-to-ignite-high-ticket-conversions)
- [5 Tactics to increase your eCommerce conversion rate](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/browsers-to-buyers/5-tactics-to-increase-your-ecommerce-conversion-rate)

### Tip 4: Double down on customer service and fulfillment leading up to — and throughout — the holiday shopping season

To get to the heart of what this year’s shoppers will care about most during the holiday season, we analyzed the most common 2-word phrases in both positive and negative reviews published between October and January from 2018–2020.  


For positive reviews left during peak shopping season, “Excellent Service” and “Customer Service” were among the most common phrases, showing up in about 5.5% of all English-language reviews from the time period.

Sentiments from Positive Reviews

For positive reviews left during peak shopping season, “Excellent Service” and “Customer Service” were among the most common phrases, showing up in about 5.5% of all English-language reviews from the time period.

Not far behind in popularity were “Highly Recommend”, and “Fast Delivery”, which were mentioned in about 4% and 3.5% respectively in favorable reviews left during peak shopping season over the past two years.

When it came to negative reviews, “Customer Service” was mentioned in about 20% of negative reviews left during peak shopping season between 2018 and 2020. “Money Back” and “Phone Call” were also mentioned in about 3% of negative reviews.



Sentiments from Negative Reviews

When it came to negative reviews, “Customer Service” was mentioned in about 20% of negative reviews left during peak shopping season between 2018 and 2020. “Money Back” and “Phone Call” were also mentioned in about 3% of negative reviews.

So, what can businesses take away from these trends in customer feedback?

According to holiday shoppers leaving positive reviews over the last two years, attentive customer service and quick delivery have meant the most. While it might be difficult to guarantee fast shipping with supply chains still reeling from the global pandemic, your customers will appreciate detailed shipping information and updated fulfillment times on your website so they can know what to expect.

And if you’re able, it’s a great idea to invest in customer service resources before and during peak shopping season. Even if it’s a short-term investment, having more hands on deck to help resolve issues and make customers feel heard will likely pay off in dividends — and even help you retain customers for life.

Here are some additional readings on how to tune up your customer service and customer experience leading up to the holidays:

- [6 Types of online customer service you can implement on your website today](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/6-types-of-online-customer-service-you-can-implement-today)
- [7 Ways to improve customer experience on your website](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/how-to-improve-customer-experience-on-your-website)

### Tip 5: Showcase your company's rating in Google Shopping listings

If you’re not familiar with how Google Shopping works yet, it enables users to view and buy products from merchants directly through Google. Merchants are usually charged a fee every time a shopper clicks on a listing and buys from a website. However, this has now changed in the US market.

In April 2020, Google announced that it’s now [free to sell on Google](https://blog.google/products/shopping/its-now-free-to-sell-on-google/) in the US, making it easier for retailers to gain visibility and sell on Google Shopping. Following their first April announcement, in July 2020, they also revealed that [‘Buy on Google’ is now commission-free](https://blog.google/products/shopping/buy-on-google-is-zero-commission/) in the US. According to Google, these changes will be made global by the end of the year.

They also announced two new integrations with Shopify and Paypal, which allow businesses to integrate tools they might already be using, whilst letting consumers checkout directly in Google, without having to go through their website at all.

This is great news for merchants wanting to get more exposure on Google. But how can you guarantee more sales this holiday season whilst trying to stand out from the new competition in Google Shopping’s free listings?

A recent Trustpilot and Canvas8 study found that, today, [89% of global consumers check online reviews](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/the-critical-role-of-reviews-in-internet-trust) as part of their online buying journey, and 49% of global consumers consider positive reviews one of their top 3 purchase influences.

Collecting reviews with a Google Review Partner can help you qualify for Seller Ratings, which you can then display in your product listings in Google Shopping.

Adding trust signals such as ratings and reviews to your listings can make a big difference when it comes to building trust and credibility earlier on in the customer buying journey — especially now that consumers can buy products on Google Shopping without having to go through the retailer’s website at all.

Being as transparent as possible by showcasing consumer trust in Google Shopping can help you stand out from the crowd, especially at the busiest time of year.

[This article](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/get-seen-in-search/what-the-new-google-shopping-updates-mean-for-reviews) might be of interest if you’d like to learn more about the new Google Shopping updates.

### Tip 6: Use product reviews to earn Review Snippets and improve organic search performance

Organic SEO is a prime channel for product discovery, especially during the holiday season, and businesses who are looking to improve their SEO performance might be interested to hear more about reviews and Review Snippets...

If you’ve ever typed into Google’s search bar, you’ve seen Review Snippets in action. Yet not many people have heard of that term.

Review Snippets is the markup of your content with ‘structured data’ that allows search engines to better understand and index this information. This markup helps businesses stand out by displaying their star ratings in organic listings on Search Engine Results Pages. Showcasing trust signals so early in the funnel can help attract more attention, and can therefore help brands increase their click-through and conversion rates.


Example of review snippets in action

So, how can businesses obtain Review Snippets in time for Q4?

Review Snippets can be earned by collecting product reviews through a Google Review Partner, and adding a simple code to your product pages. If you meet [Google’s guidelines](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/data-types/review-snippet), you will then qualify for Review Snippets in organic search results.

But that’s not all. Product reviews can also help you rank better for long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are usually a group of 3 or 4 keywords that are a lot more specific than normal keywords. They tend to have lower search volumes, but convert a lot more as they are so specific and are usually used by people on the lower-end of the funnel. Long-tail keywords can be anything from “best running shoes for women” to “Christmas trees with built-in lights”.

With customer product reviews, you’re essentially getting fresh content every month. Because reviews tend to be written in a familiar, more ‘human’ way, they’ll likely contain a lot more long-tail keywords than any other type of content. And with the rise of voice search, longer-tail keywords are a great opportunity for smaller businesses to stand out from the crowd.

Long-tail keywords from product reviews can be a great opportunity for businesses to start engaging with prospective customers who are already at the bottom of the funnel and looking to buy soon.

These articles might be of interest if you’d like to learn more about Review Snippets, and the importance of long-tail keywords for organic search performance:

- [The powerful SEO hack you probably haven't tried: Review Snippets](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/get-seen-in-search/rich-snippets-stars-for-product-reviews-can-boost-seo)
- [The complete guide to reviews](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/learn-from-customers/the-complete-guide-to-reviews)
- [The new face of SEO: Answer Engine Optimisation](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/get-seen-in-search/the-new-face-of-seo-answer-engine-optimization)

### Tip 7: Use customer reviews to earn Google Seller Ratings and improve paid search performance

With shopping continuing to move almost entirely online, paid search is getting more and more competitive by the day.

Many businesses choose to spend a large amount of their digital budget on paid search, but don’t always see the results they’d hoped for.

So how can brands stand out in paid search during the holiday season?

If you’re not familiar with Google Seller Ratings, they are an automatic Google Ads extension that is displayed globally to customers to help them find businesses that offer quality services. The extension allows businesses to display their star rating underneath the URL on their Google Ads, like this:

Trustpilot profile pages often show up at the top of results and get thousands of search impressions per month

complete-guide-to-reviews-img6

example of Google Seller Ratings

Google Seller Ratings were created to demonstrate consumer trust in businesses. They can help brands stand out from the competition, and build trust earlier in the customer journey. Why? Simply because consumers are more likely to click on an ad with star snippets, than an ad without.

So how can you get Google Seller Ratings in time for the holiday season?

Well, Google displays Seller Ratings on a per-country basis, and requires at least 100 reviews per country in the last 12 months, and a rating of 3.5/5, to showcase the star snippets on ads. Collecting reviews through a Google Review Partner is a great way to start your Google Seller Ratings journey.

Showcasing consumer ratings directly on Google Ads can help businesses increase their click-through rates, and improve their overall search performance during the busiest time of year.

If you’d like to find out more about Google Seller Ratings and how they can help your paid search performance, here are some articles that might interest you:

- [Google’s new Seller Ratings threshold lowered to 100](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/get-seen-in-search/google-new-seller-ratings-threshold-100)
- [How to land great reviews and boost your Google Seller Rating](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/get-seen-in-search/how-to-land-great-reviews-and-boost-your-google-seller-rating)
- [How to calculate Google Seller Ratings’ effect on CTR for Google Ads](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/get-seen-in-search/how-to-calculate-google-seller-ratings-effect-on-adwords)

### Tip 8: Turn more browsers into buyers with a trustworthy presence online and offline

Today’s consumers no longer base their purchasing decisions on what they hear or read from brands. Instead, they turn to their peers for third-party validation and trustworthy information.

There’s no doubt social proof is now one of the most powerful tools available for businesses out there. In fact, Trustpilot research found that [66% of customers](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/why-and-how-social-proof-influences-consumers) said the presence of social proof increased their likelihood to purchase a product, and 82% said positive star ratings and reviews made them more likely to make a purchase.

A lot of brands already [display their customer reviews](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/what-is-social-proof-and-why-is-it-important-for-marketing) online — from their website and emails, to their social channels and paid ads. But what about showcasing reviews offline? 

A London Research survey found that [only 8% of businesses](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/ratings-and-reviews-in-above-the-line-advertising) using Trustpilot are harnessing their trustworthiness offline, compared to 84% online. 

An omnichannel presence is essential to ensure there is no disconnect in the customer experience — both online and offline – to create a seamless buying journey for consumers.

It’s all about creating as few barriers as possible, so that a customer would never notice a difference in their experience with your brand, whether they shop on your website, app, or in-store. And that works with trust signals too. 

Consider displaying and mentioning your reviews in-store, at the till or in the fitting rooms, in your TV ads, on the radio, on your packaging, and even on billboards. 

Those are all great places where you can showcase customer reviews to build confidence and trust outside of your online channels. Remember, many shoppers still like to browse in-store before they buy online, or vice-versa, and brands are missing an opportunity to harness their trustworthiness offline, especially during the holiday season.

## This year, showcase the trust in your brand

With so many choices when it comes to gifts, the best way to differentiate yourself and win customers this year is to cultivate a trustworthy brand presence online and offline. In the wake of the global pandemic and human rights movements this year, consumers are rightfully more skeptical than ever. This year shoppers will want to support the businesses who lived by their values, spoke up about important issues, and did right by customers when times were tough. 

So as we head into the peak shopping season of a high stakes year, why not align your business with a universal symbol of trust? Collecting reviews on Trustpilot will show customers that your business is not only a safe bet for a smooth holiday season, but also a brand they can feel good about supporting at a time when each transaction means more to everyone. 


### Methodology

We analyzed more than 30 million global reviews on Trustpilot within relevant online retail categories written between August 2018 to August 2020 to look at trends in review activity month over month, and uncover commonly used words and phrases in positive and negative reviews. The keyword analysis was carried out on an English-language subset of the reviews published within the peak shopping season of October to January between 2018 and 2020.  


Trustpilot Consumer Insights: 2020 Holiday Readiness Guide

the importance of social proof in fintech trustpilot report 2019

The challenge is not just a technological one. They need to convince customers to switch from the wellknown names they are familiar with, by soliciting, and then displaying, positive ratings and reviews.

When London Research and Trustpilot surveyed start-ups and scale-ups, the conclusion was very clear. __Customer experience is seen as the most important differentiator for emerging brands, ahead of product innovation.__

This is because good ratings create a virtuous circle through which delighted customers encourage new users to sign up. This makes the fintech more investable, which then funds feature improvements which encourage more customers to sign up and rate the service highly.

The survey of 143 start-ups and scale-ups found that:

- More than a third (35%) find ratings and reviews ‘critical’ for converting prospects into new customers, and a further 57% said they are ‘important’ or ‘quite important’.
- Nearly a third (31%) believe that positive reviews and social proof are critical for generating interest from investors, and a further 52% said they were important.
- Around a fifth (21%) of those surveyed have been asked by investors to provide customer centricity proof points such as ratings and reviews, and a further 43% have proactively provided this information.
- More than half (52%) advertise their customer ratings on their websites, while 46% take to social media and nearly a third (31%) use email to display ratings.
- Around two-thirds (65%) of those surveyed strongly agree that they have built their business around an understanding of what customers really need.

The key for start-ups and scale-ups is to engage with and manage the review process, to make sure the resulting rating accurately reflects customers’ opinion of the business. This doesn’t mean removing bad reviews from view, since occasional criticisms reassure users that the good reviews are genuine.

As noted above, they also provide crucial feedback for improvement. Companies should be actively soliciting reviews from their customers, and use them to their advantage by funnelling that information back into the business to improve processes, products and services. The opportunity for a five-star rating is too important to be left to chance.

## Introduction

According to [KPMG](https://home.kpmg/uk/en/home/media/press-releases/2019/02/uk-remain-leader-in-fintech-investment-but-loses-global-crown.html), fintech investment across the world doubled to $111.8 billion in 2018, with the US, China and the UK leading the way. In the UK alone, total investment in fintechs in 2018 was almost four times higher than 2017 levels ($20.7 billion versus $5.6 billion).

These record-setting levels of investment show there is a clear appetite to try new services and fund them, but it means standing out in a crowded marketplace is a major challenge.

The ultimate aim of fintech start-ups and scale-ups is to repeat the success of a company like TransferWise. It has signed up more than five million users since launching in 2011 and, through its latest round of funding, saw its [market valuation double to $3.5bn](https://www.ft.com/content/812966e4-7bb2-11e9-81d2-f785092ab560) in May 2019.

A key element of TransferWise’s strategy was to use the ratings from its customers to demonstrate to potential investors it was meeting an unfulfilled need. This report is based on research conducted for Trustpilot by London Research, which shows that this type of social proof is increasingly used by fast-growing businesses, including those in the fintech sector, to show investors that they are highly investable, as well as to gain traction among customers.

The research also shows that __companies are using ratings and reviews to improve their customer experience, and innovate on their products and services.__

## Section 1: Building customer trust through social proof

Every disruptive start-up or scale-up needs to leverage consumer dissatisfaction with the way things are traditionally done in their sector, and channel it into engagement with their own challenger service.

These relatively small but ambitious companies are at an obvious disadvantage compared to globally known brands with huge advertising budgets. They are also competing against all the other start-ups in their sector, some of which will be spending their VC investments launching expensive marketing campaigns.

Persuading a prospect that a new market entrant is trustworthy is a challenge, particularly in the financial services sector where customers’ savings and future financial health can be at stake. Although fintechs can point out that they operate in a highly regulated industry, many say that their most effective message is the reassurance offered by existing customers giving their service a high rating or a good review.

Such is the importance of the customer experience that it outweighs innovation in the eyes of start-ups and scale-ups. 

According to the London Research survey, almost half (46%) felt the most important differentiator for their business was the quality of the customer
experience it offered, compared to 38% for ‘product / innovation’, traditionally seen as a startup’s raison d’être. Customer experience is also seen as significantly more important than brand awareness (7%), online reputation (5%) and price (4%).

Start-ups and scale-ups need to capitalise on the quality of their customer experience for marketing purposes. __The research also showed that more than a third (35%) of the companies surveyed view positive ratings as ‘critical’ for turning prospects into customers, and a further 47% regard them as ‘important’.__

### Ratings are crucial for establishing trust

Smart Currency Exchange helps people transfer money between different countries and currencies. The company’s Digital Marketing Manager, Ricky Bean, is all too aware how nervous customers can be when they are asked to hand over their life savings to a third party to help them buy their dream property in the sun.

The company, like any other currency exchange in the UK, is highly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This provides reassurance for potential
users. However, Bean believes ratings are still incredibly important for its prospective customers.


Digital Marketing Manager of Smart Currency Exchange

“When we onboard somebody, we ask them to consider rating us and when we’ve made a transfer, we send them another email, from the person who helped them, asking for a rating and a review.

“Then when we talk to, or email, our next prospect, we always mention our five-star Trustpilot rating. For people to know we’re highly rated is crucial when it comes to such an emotional purchase using their life savings. It’s why we have our score front and centre on our home page.”

### Using ratings to improve customer service

Abba Newbery, CMO at mortgage broker Habito, agrees ratings and reviews are crucial. The company, which has already raised more than £27m in investment, uses ratings to reward staff for providing great customer care which, in turn, encourages better reviews to help persuade more new customers to sign up.

Habito aims to make getting a mortgage a lot simpler and quicker by matching customers with the best package and providing them with a customer care
assistant to hold their hand throughout the process. Customers can rate both the service and the assistant who helped them. 

CMO of Habito

“Broking has always been a part of financial services that relies heavily on word of mouth, and so we encourage our customers to rate us to show we make one part of buying a house a lot easier. Our customers build a close relationship with their advisers, who ask them to rate the service they receive.

“We value this Trustpilot score so highly we not only put in on our home page, but we also use it for members of staff in our employee reviews process.”

### How fintechs encourage reviews

The London Research/Trustpilot survey shows that 55% of start-ups and scale-ups actively encourage consumers to leave reviews. The most common method is by email (75%), followed by verbal requests for a rating (64%). One in three companies surveyed are also taking to social media to secure ratings from
their – hopefully – happy customers.

Once a fintech has secured some positive ratings, the next step is to ensure prospects know about them. The most common channel for displaying positive ratings is the brand’s website, used by just over half (52%) of scale-ups and start-ups. Social media channels are harnessed for this purpose by nearly half of those surveyed (46%), with email being used by one in three (31%).

## Section 2: The importance of customer ratings to investors

Ask any investor what they look for in a business asking for funding and there will be some common answers. A start-up or scale-up needs to have a great team behind it. Financiers ultimately invest in people they trust to turn a business plan into a thriving company that will offer good returns and, one day, a valuable exit route.

It must also answer a customer need. The London Research survey shows investors are now also looking for social proof to establish if a company
offers a good service which people rate highly.

Nearly a third (31%) of the start-ups and scale-ups surveyed deemed positive reviews and social proof to be ‘critical’ for generating interest from investors, and a further 52% said they were important.

### Ratings tell investors the real story

Every VC wants to find the next big thing. At techfocused VC Draper Esprit, Investment Director Vinoth Jayakumar explains that his firm, which takes a
longer-term view than many, looks for people who can break the mould. To judge how well a service is going down with consumers, he looks beyond the
metrics over which the company may have control to focus on what the public thinks.

For this, Jayakumar goes beyond the ‘organised sanity’ of Net Promoter Score (NPS) and marketing questionnaires, and delves into the live environment
of ratings. 


Investment Director at VC Draper Espit

“It’s important that you know these are genuine people, who aren’t being paid in any way. They let you see the direction of travel is correct.

 “We know that a five-star rating is better than four-star but exactly how many new customers that attracts, we don’t know for sure. We invest in
companies for the long term. We know their score may change, hopefully for the better, and so we look for a rating to show that someone has built a
proposition that people want.”

Our research shows that not all investment companies are as tuned in to the importance of positive consumer sentiment as Draper Esprit. Around a fifth (21%) of start-ups and scale-ups surveyed have been asked by investors to provide customer centricity proof points such as ratings and reviews, but a further 43% have proactively quoted social proof such as ratings when dealing with investors.

Peer to peer lending company Funding Circle certainly understands the link between how investable a company is and its Trustpilot score. It has successfully helped more than 49,000 businesses access finance. It’s the job of Bernard De Barbeyrac, Head of Decision Science, to assess how suitable a
company is for investment and band them based on potential risk.

“In the first instance we take a quantitative approach to build up the risk profile of a business wishing to go onto our investment platform,” he says. “After this, the underwriting team take more of a holistic approach to assess creditworthiness. They also look at external facing proof points such as Trustpilot and customer reviews to see if there are any potential reputational problems for future investors.”

### When your users are your investors

Just as fintechs are changing the way the public interacts with financial services, technology has also disrupted traditional investment models by allowing the public to crowdfund businesses they believe in.

That means some of the brightest ideas in financial services have many individual investors looking for a public-facing scorecard to gauge how well the business is doing in serving existing customers and, hence, attracting new ones.

Online Community Manager at Monzo Bank

“We’ve now got 36,000 investors and our Trustpilot ratings and reviews are something that crops up on our forums all the time,” he says.

“People who have backed us want to talk about our latest scores and what we are doing to move them in the right direction because they understand new customers want a good reason to sign up to a challenger bank. They don’t come better than positive ratings and reviews.”

### Ratings reach an investment and marketing sweet spot

Crowdfunding also provides another huge benefit for fintech start-ups. As a growing company reaches out to the public for backing, they are also raising
awareness of their new service.

Hence, according to Roberto Napolitano, Marketing Director at Seedrs equity crowd funding platform, there is a virtuous circle developing. Platforms such as his are used by start-ups to raise awareness of their new service, attract new sign-ups, solicit positive ratings so they not only secure additional users, but also encourage members of the public to invest.

“We certainly see a lot of start-ups use the platform to help build awareness about themselves and get people to try them out so they can rate it,” he says.

 “These ratings show potential investors that a company is interested in engaging with customers and improving on what they have to say; that they’re not solely about raising revenue." 

Marketing Director at Seedrs

“It’s also useful for allowing start-ups and scale-ups to see how other companies are doing, what scores they’re getting, where they’re doing well, and where they’re getting tips on how they could improve.”

## Section 3: Harnessing consumer feedback for improved CX and innovation

Start-ups and scale-ups are finding that developing a great solution to a nagging problem in financial services is a great start, but it is only a start. Moving beyond a great idea to build scale by listening to customers, and being seen to do this, are top priorities.

We found that two-thirds __(66%) of companies strongly agree that a reputation for openness and transparency is crucial for their brand__ and, encouragingly, a similar percentage (65%) strongly agree that they have built their business around an understanding of what customers really need.

To achieve this, they need to take control of their ratings, listen to feedback, act on it, improve their offering and then, crucially, encourage users to rate them so their scores evolve and more new customers sign up.

### The need to take control

Fintechs are going to be rated whether they have engaged with the process or not. It’s only by being proactive with review collection that you can get an
accurate picture of your customers’ views.

When Monzo’s Cook decided to explore the use of Trustpilot ratings, for example, he found that they were lower than he expected. The bank looked like it was providing an inferior service, which other evidence suggested was not the case.

“Trustpilot always came up first on a Google search for our reviews and we were shocked to see we were only a three out of five,” Cook recalls.

“We knew our customers generally thought we were doing a good job and that we were much better than a three-star rating. When we drilled down, we
were getting some bad reviews from people whose accounts we had to freeze. We’re a licensed bank and so we have to apply the law and that sometimes
means freezing accounts.

“That’s when we decided to really get to work on our ratings and we now regularly ask our members to review us, so the good reviews far outnumber the bad ones. We’re very nearly at a five-star rating and, when we are, we intend to use the stars in our advertising.”

### Listen and improve

The business side of banking shares many of the frustrations that consumers experience with traditional banking brands. Laborious form-filling and lengthy decision-making processes, combined with nontransparent fee structures, prompted Capital on Tap to launch a service that is upfront about fees and can let a company know if they qualify for a loan within two
minutes.

The business lender’s Head of Growth, Alex Miles, reveals that it is only by listening to customers that the company can take the initial discontent with the banks and turn it into repeat business from customers who are happy to spread the word about what they have found to be a better alternative.

Head of Growth at Capital on Tap

“We’ve made many improvements but the biggest we were getting asked about, in our Trustpilot rating reviews, was integration with accountancy packages, such as Xero. So that’s something we’ve done, and we’ve encouraged our users to try out the better service and rate us, so we create a virtuous circle of
better features leading to higher Trustpilot scores, which encourages more people to try out the service.”

### A barometer for business success

It may seem obvious that user ratings are a useful barometer for how a company is serving its clients, and that more people will sign up for a new service if existing customers have expressed their delight.

An interesting question, though, is what happens when the opposite occurs, and ratings dip? The mortgage broker, Habito, found that it could use its
Trustpilot score as a guide not just to how well it was performing, but how well other parts of the business were impacting that performance.

“We had a major marketing drive to get more people on the platform, which worked really well,” Habito’s Newbery says.

__“The problem was it probably worked too well, and we found that we had more customers than we could serve to our usual very high standard. We noticed our Trustpilot scores started to drop off a little, and so we knew we had to take immediate action and scaled down the marketing activity.__

“Our Trustpilot rating is too valuable to us in the longer term to allow it to go down and risk discouraging people to sign up and try us out.”

## Conclusion: Ratings help create unicorns

It is no secret that every fintech start-up and scaleup is trying to follow in the footsteps of the likes of TransferWise and Revolut to become the next billionpound ‘unicorn’.

This research shows that to do so, they are concentrating more on the customer experience they provide than on innovation (46% vs. 38%). Despite
the sector being crowded with emerging tech-driven companies that have a new approach to how legacy financial services are handled, providing customers with the best experience possible is the top priority.

It is clear that this is because they realise that focusing on the customer builds a virtuous circle, based on ratings and reviews. These are considered
as ‘important’ or ‘critical’ by a majority (82%) of start-ups and scale-ups. This is because praise from delighted users is fundamental in convincing
prospects to sign up. 

It helps grow the user base and provides compelling evidence that the company is answering a consumer need with a popular service that, in turn, helps it stand out as highly investable.

It comes as little surprise, then, that nearly two in three of the fintech companies surveyed revealed they had been asked to provide ratings scores or they proactively decided to include them in presentations when seeking funding.

The research shows that a great customer experience rates above innovation, brand awareness and price when it comes to winning new customers. This
means that ratings are a crucial tool in achieving fintech companies’ top-line strategy of both attracting new users and accessing the necessary investment to deliver on their vision of becoming the next unicorn.

__*Please note that this report was written in August 2019 and optimised in August 2022.*__

### Methodology

As well as conducting the interviews for this research, London Research also carried out a survey of 56 start-up and 87 scale-up businesses across all major business sectors, including fintech companies. The survey was promoted via email and social media channels by both London Research and its sister company Digital Doughnut in May 2019. The vast majority of responding companies were in the USA (43%) and the UK (35%). The breakdown by region was as follows: North America (45%), Europe (43%), Asia Pacific (5%), Other (7%).

### Acknowledgements

London Research and Trustpilot would like to thank the following people for their insights.

- Ricky Bean, Digital Marketing Manager, Smart Currency Exchange
- Richard Cook, Online Community Manager, Monzo Bank
- Vinoth Jayakumar, Investment Director, Draper Esprit
- Alex Miles, Head of Growth, Capital on Tap
- Roberto Napolitano, Marketing Director, Seedrs
- Bernard De Barbeyrac, Head of Decision Science, Funding Circle
- Abba Newbery, Chief Marketing Officer, Habito.

The importance of social proof in FinTech

Honest Marketing report image 

Honest Marketing report - image

### Thank you for entering your details! 

Your copy of __*Brands that take a stand: Marketers who match consumers’ desire for purpose and honesty come out on top*__ will be sent to the email address provided now :)  


Your copy of __*Brands that take a stand: Marketers who match consumers’ desire for purpose and honesty come out on top*__ will be sent to the email address provided now :)  

Thank you for entering your details! 

Honest Marketing report download form

Honest marketing report download form

Our new report explores what approaches CMOs take in relation to brand purpose, and what consumers look for in brands. Taken together, we hope this research will help marketers better resonate with customers through their purpose driven initiatives. 

Read our report to better understand:

- How much a brand’s purpose matters to consumers today
- The top social, political and environmental stances consumers consider when making a purchase, compared to the stances CMOs adopt
- The top motivations and barriers for CMOs when adopting purpose
- Six practices for brands to follow in order to successfully use brand purpose

Brands that take a stand: Marketers who match consumers’ desire for purpose and honesty come out on top

How trust-based marketing
and insights can help brands
reconnect with customers

How trust-based marketing and insights can help brands reconnect with customers

In this report, we take a look at how trust-based marketing and insights can help brands reconnect with customers.

If you're interested in sharing this report with others, why not download the free PDF version? It's quick and easy, just click the link below.

Turning transactions into trusted relationships

the new face of seo is aeo

Users are seeking a solution to a problem or the answer to a question. That has always been the case. Search engines have provided a list of options from which to choose but they have struggled to provide one single solution or answer. That’s starting to change.

- Both Google and Bing are increasingly capable of offering the correct answer.
- The devices that provide the answer are becoming increasingly ubiquitous (mobile phones, voice assistants, watches, in-car assistants...).
- As Google and Bing improve, their users are increasingly comfortable accepting the unique solution they propose. 

These changes present new challenges - but also offer phenomenal opportunities for companies.

### Converting Google and Bing’s users into your clients

Your aim, as a company, is to make sure that Google and Bing understand when you can offer the correct answer for a user for a given need at a given time and that they consider your answer to be the best. If you can do that, search engines will send their users to your site and those users can become your clients.

__How can you ensure the interactions between users and search engines turn out positively for you?__

### Optimising for Answer Engines - The Two Pillar Strategy

__Google is looking for:__

- Understanding
- Credibility

__So you need to:__

- Communicate
- Convince

You need to communicate to Google that you have the solution or answer for a given problem or question and prove that your solution or answer is better than your competitors.

This guide will provide an 8-point checklist on how to communicate and convince answer engines through understanding and credibility.

## Communicate to create Understanding

Communication provides understanding to Google and Bing so they know who you are and what you do. If you can communicate that, and provide sufficient corroborated information, these search engines will give you a place in their knowledge graphs and the opportunity to be provided as a definitive answer. There are four steps in communication to ensure your company is ready for the answer engines of tomorrow.

### 1. Leverage structured data

[Schema.org](http://schema.org) markup provides a way to present the information in your webpages to Google and Bing in a format they can easily and reliably understand. Use
basic information such as Corporation, Product, Offer, and more to explain who you are and what you do, then expand on this by giving details about you and your offers using attributes such as address, brand, price, etc. You can explain pretty much anything in this manner, and we recommend that you use schema.org markup extensively. 

### 2. Use semantic HTML5

Semantic HTML5 is an additional way to present information to Google and Bing in an easily digestible manner. By using semantic HTML5 tags such as article and navigation, you can identify parts of the page so Google can better understand and concentrate on the content that is central to the message your page is providing to the user. 

You can also give the content of the page structure using HTML tables and special HTML5 tags. Find out more [here](https://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_intro.asp).

### 3. Maintain owned and third-party channels

Multiple sources corroborating and confirming the information you provided in steps 1 and 2 will reinforce Google and Bing’s understanding. Owned and
semi-controlled channels are easy to manage and include your company’s website, EV SSL certificates, your social accounts, review sites like Trustpilot, and other relevant third-party channels that you can affect. Sources you have no control over send stronger signals and include
news sites, Wikipedia, and government sites. The more signals you can generate through various pertinent and trusted channels, the better. This is very much an ongoing task as new channels emerge and existing ones
shift in value.

### 4. Keep your company’s identity consistent

Ensure that all the information about you, wherever it appears, is accurate and up to date. The better you can manage to be consistent across the web, the more confidence Google and Bing will have in the veracity of the information you provided in steps 1, 2, and 3. Start with your social accounts, business accounts, government sites build a qualitative and quantitative review platform portfolio, and then move onto asking third party sites to update information about you (they often oblige). This is another ongoing undertaking, but is absolutely essential.

## Convince using Credibility

Your aim is to convince Google that you are the most credible available
solution. If you provide more powerful positive credibility signals than your competition, these search engines will consider you to be the best solution in your market and offer you as the best (objective) answer. This is the second pillar necessary for the answer engines of tomorrow - and consists of four steps.

### 1. Get reviews and ratings

Customer feedback, and therefore reviews, are an incredibly strong credibility signal. Reach out to happy customers post-sale by email or SMS and make it easy for them to give you a review on a third party platform.

Reviews you collect yourself have little value for AEO. Choose 3 or 4 platforms to begin with. There are two main questions to think about when choosing the right review platforms:

- Which review platforms do your prospects use and trust?
- Is the review platform credible?

The credibility of the platform that publishes a customer review carries significant weight in Google’s measure of that review’s importance. Everyone gets negative reviews. For brands with over 80% positive feedback, it is sheer quantity that makes the difference. 

__Google will prefer a brand that has 10,000 reviews giving an average of 80% over a brand that has 100 reviews with an average of 85%.__

### 2. Engage in and encourage social feedback

Get positive social buzz and chatter to generate a very strong credibility signal. To generate buzz, keep a constant flow of content on social channels:

- Engage with your clients
- Reach out to prospects
- Get your content out there
- Share other people’s great content

The sheer quantity of social chatter makes it impossible for Google to crawl and index everything in this field. Some estimates suggest that it manages to crawl 35% of Facebook. If that is true, social chatter needs to be three times more voluminous than any review or press activity in order to have the same effect. So, although much of it goes unseen, a constant low-level buzz is vital for this channel. Should your brand go viral, you will become a focal point that Google will remember.

### 3. Obtain quality third-party mentions via press and thought leaders

Links remain important, but an intelligent machine understands, and gives credit to, brand mentions (so-called linkless links). So, reach out and get quality mentions from relevant thought leaders. Although we often think of thought leaders as individuals, brands and sites can be considered thought leaders.

Mentions and (better still) reviews from thought leaders are very powerful. Getting a thought leader, whether it’s a brand, site, or person, to talk about your brand in a relevant, positive context will send an incredibly powerful credibility signal to Google - well worth pursuing.

### 4. Optimise user experience

Identifying a user’s “moment of satisfaction” is the most difficult to pin down, but potentially the most important. Google is looking to identify the moment when its user has found the solution to their problem or the answer to their question. Google is not there yet, but is rapidly developing the capacity to identify this moment and base its results accordingly. 

You need to make sure that user behaviour on your site reflects the fact that you have provided that user with the correct solution or answer at the right time. 

Make landing pages fast, attractive, pertinent, and intuitive. Use the same vocabulary as your users and make sure you address their problem or question and clearly indicate that you have the answer for them.

To see how well you are doing, track such metrics as: page load speed, bounce rate, dwell time, visit depth and conversion rate. To help improve user experience on your landing pages, you can use one of the many A/B testing and user session analysis solutions.

__Understanding and credibility are the two deciding factors in a future where Google and Bing deliver definitive answers to their users with increasing accuracy. If you want to be leading the field in the years to come, you must seek to communicate and convince. Starting today.__

__If you'd like to learn how reviews can help you improve your AEO, request a free demo below.__

The new face of SEO: Answer Engine Optimisation 

The beginner's guide to site speed for SEO 

Site speed is one of the factors Google considers in their ranking algorithm. So if your site has slow loading times, it could affect your SEO.

[53% of mobile users](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/data-measurement/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks/) won’t wait more than 3 seconds for a site to load and every second that shoppers have to wait after the 3 second loading mark costs them 7% in conversion. 

And this problem can start before visitors even have a chance to reach conversion or your website. Site speed is one of the factors Google considers in their ranking algorithm. So if your site has slow loading times, fewer people will even reach your website. Potential customers coming from search could end up visiting one of your competitors instead and it may just be the competitor who decided to pay attention to site speed. 

Never forget — the average mobile site takes [15 seconds to load](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/data-measurement/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks/). So, chances are, your site speed has probably already been negatively affecting your business in terms of SEO and conversion. 

To help you clean this up, we’ve rounded up some factors to consider that can help you improve your site speed.

## Diagnosing your site speed

First things first. If you aren’t sure of your current speed, [Page Speed Insights](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-pagespeed-insights/edbkhhpodjkbgenodomhfoldapghpddk?hl=en) by Google is a great way to test your site speed and see where you are currently. Once you do this, you can figure out where to make changes to get that load time even shorter. 

In short, it’s a Google Chrome extension that will quickly give you your PageSpeed score. You’ll also be directed to some insights with further stats to help you understand the score.

## How can you improve your site speed?

### Minimize and simplify redirects

Redirects on your website are a great thing if you’ve ever had to de-index pages on your site. They help you guide your visitors where you need them to be, to find the information they want. 

But if you have too many redirects, this can [significantly impact your site speed](https://moz.com/learn/seo/page-speed). Look into your redirects and make the number of steps to the correct URL as short as you can, while still guiding your visitor where they need to be. 

### Resize your images

Are your images compressed for the web? Size and format can both affect site speed so make sure they are as small as they can be. If you have .png images you may be able to switch them to compressed .jpg images to help speed up your site. 

Image sprites in CSS may also be able to help. If you have a lot of different image files on your site (and each need to load individually) it may be easier to use a sprite to send them all to your site as a single image. There are quite a few [free tools](https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/resize-images-for-web) to help you easily do this. 

### Look into using Content Delivery Networks, also known as CDNs

[Content delivery networks (CDNs)](https://mashable.com/roundup/best-content-delivery-networks/) make data load faster because they use a group of servers that are located in different geographical locations. Wherever a user is, their pages will load from the server that is physically closest to where they are. This helps your load times decrease significantly. If your load times are higher than you want them to be and the other fixes aren’t working for you, this might be worth exploring for your site. 

### Make sure your third party apps aren't slowing you down

There are a large number of eCommerce technologies that you can use on your site to make the experience easier, and more efficient for your customers. The problem is that these sites often need to fetch a lot of data, which can significantly decrease your site speed. 

This isn’t dependent on your eCommerce platform, either. If a third party has a negative impact on site speed, it will do so regardless of which platform you’re on. 

That’s why it’s important to look into which third parties you’re working with and check how they’re ranked on site speed performance. [Yottaa](https://www.yottaa.com/), an optimization tool for eCommerce sites, puts together [this report](https://www.yottaa.com/resources/2019-ecommerce-3rd-party-index/) each year, which lets you look at the top players in eCommerce and see how working with them will affect your site. 

It’s great to have handy when you’re looking for a new eCommerce solution and you want to check their speed performance. 

## Do reviews affect site speed? 

Because customer reviews tend to be part of such a large scale database, they can be pretty bad offenders in terms of slowing down site speed. As you can see, most of the review platforms available have either an inconsistent negative performance impact (yellow) or a consistent negative impact on performance (red). 

Third Party Review Software Site Speed Competitive Analysis

Fortunately, collecting and [displaying reviews with Trustpilot](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/trustbox-widgets-the-truth-about-website-performance-and-loading-speed) has little to no negative impact on your site speed. 

In fact, this year we were the only customer review platform ranked as having little or no performance impact (green) on your site speed in Yottaa’s roundup.

Trustpilot reviews do not affect site speed

## When you improve your site speed, your SEO is sure to thank you

Let’s flashback to that stat from the beginning for a second: Every second that site visitors have to wait after the 3 second loading mark can cost you 7% in conversions. This means that, chances are, your current load time is high enough that it’s causing you to lose out on would-be customers. 

The bright side is that some of these changes are really easy to implement on your site. 

Go ahead and look into your site speed today so you can start seeing the benefits of higher conversion rates on your site. And while you’re at it, if you’re looking to [increase conversions](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/get-seen-in-search/what-is-conversion-rate-optimisation) on your site, displaying Trustpilot reviews is a great way to boost conversions without dinging your site speed. 

So if you aren’t already collecting reviews with us, why not start today? 

To learn more about everything you can do with reviews, get your free copy of The Complete Guide to Reviews below. 

The beginner’s guide to site speed for SEO

A guide to SEO and reputation

In this guide, we give you four advanced eCommerce SEO strategies that you can use to crowd the search results in your niche and for your branded queries to build your brand and traffic so that you can accomplish your goal of building your business.

If you’re an eCommerce business, then digital marketing is paramount to your business’s success. You need the right products and the right platform, of course, but without great marketing, your products won’t get seen and you won’t make any sales.

Fortunately, there are many tried and true ways to grow your audience that you can leverage such as SEO, Facebook/Instagram advertising, content marketing, display advertising, sponsorships, influencer marketing, and many more.

The challenge lies in the fact that there are so many different channels and if you’re not a marketing expert, then it‘s hard, if not impossible, to know where to start or how to take your marketing to the next level.

If you’ve done the SEO basics on your site and are investing in content marketing and a link strategy with the goal of ranking better, there are ways that you can expedite that process to see results even quicker.

Today, I want to share with you four advanced eCommerce SEO strategies that you can use to crowd the search results in your niche and for your branded queries to build your brand and traffic so that you can accomplish your goal of building your business.

These four strategies are:

- Branded profiles;
- Barnacle SEO;
- Autosuggest and the information net;
- Content funnels (NBED)

### How to use branded profiles for SEO and conversions

If you’re an eCommerce business, you should absolutely own your own platform and brand. Without your own website, you will forever be paying other platforms a percentage of your sales in exchange for their audience, and eventually, you may reach a ceiling on growth because their business doesn’t completely mesh with yours.

But I’m also not arguing that you should only sell your products on your own site! Platforms like eBay and Amazon do well for a reason, mostly because they have huge capital resources and have created a place where others can easily sell their own products. So, as is usually the case, a balanced approach is needed.

If you perform a search for a brand like GoPro, you’ll see that they have crowded their branded search results with profiles on other websites such as:

- Twitter
- YouTube
- Amazon
- Instagram
- Facebook

If you are a small store, then you can leverage profiles just like these to lend your site more credibility when someone searches for your brand. You can even do this as a person:

Screenshot+2017-11-15+14.09.57

Example 1

This is also known as reputation management when an undesired article or site appears in your branded search results as a few have done for GoPro, but it can be a very strong way to show those searching for your brand that you are a legitimate business.

Of course, if you’re trying to rank 10 profiles for your branded terms, it takes dedicated effort to pull this off effectively.

When you’re trying to crowd your own branded search results, you need to:

- Vary the sites and profiles that you link to with branded anchor text when guest posting or listing your site in directories.
- Link to your important profiles from your main website to pass them link equity.
- Prioritize strong websites (use Moz’s MozBar to see their Domain Authority, an indicator of strength) and make sure your profiles there are complete and robust with unique content and whatever else you are able to have (video, etc).

The final strategy here, of course, is to find websites that allow you to also have reviews posted so that searchers trust you because of independent, positive ratings.

Screenshot+2017-11-15+14.24.22

Example 2

### Barnacle SEO for e-commerce websites

Every niche has a few main players that have most of the market share. These businesses, though, are not always the most well-loved so people often search for competitors or alternatives. One great strategy to capitalize on this, is to have your site listed when a potential customer is disenchanted with your large competitors and searches for their brand name with a “competitors” or “alternatives” modifier.

For example, let’s say that you run a tree seed eCommerce site. You sell seeds for a tree that is often seen as an alternative to maple trees, because some people don’t like maple trees.

You type "maple tree alternatives" into Google and see the following results.

Screenshot+2017-11-15+14.31.59

Example 3

There are at least five sites there that you can reach out to in order to either get them to add in another type of tree (and link to you) or add your link as a resource for their site visitors.

This strategy is similar to using Google’s autosuggest to find new keywords to target.

### Autosuggest and the information net

When thinking about SEO for your eCommerce website, you should consider the wider group of questions and modifiers that people search while they are conducting research before they ultimately make a purchase (and hopefully from you!).

Ecommerce businesses can’t just worry about your product and category page rankings. Yes, these are your most important keywords to rank for of course, as they directly drive traffic to you that you know will convert. And if they convert, then they’re great for ranking as well as for driving paid traffic to via SEO, Google Ads, and Facebook/Instagram.

But they are only a piece, albeit a large piece, of the larger SEO puzzle for your eCommerce site. Further up the conversion funnel, your potential customers are doing research before they buy.

This is where a bit of research on your end can pay big dividends by creating the content that answers your potential customer’s questions so that they learn about your brand and are more likely to buy from you in the future. If you build your strategy well, you can also use this to gather email addresses so that you can continue to market to them with a well-optimized email marketing strategy.

Here’s how the autosuggest SEO strategy works so that you can expand your net of keywords.

First, use any or all of the following tools to understand the autosuggested search terms from Google and which ones could drive traffic to your site:

- Soovle
- UberSuggest
- Longtail Pro
- Keywords Everywhere

When I use UberSuggest to search “nike vs” combined with Keywords Everywhere, I get a list of the brands that people are comparing Nike to. If you run a shoes ecommerce site, then this can be a great way to educate your users as well as funnel them to buy from you:

Screenshot+2017-11-16+10.37.13

Example 4

Imagine if you could get your eCommerce website ranking among these publishers. The competition is small and the traffic is high. What more could you want?

The goal is to identify all of these buckets of keyword phrases that your potential customers use when they are in the discovery phase of their search so that when they are ready to buy, they know and recognize your brand and are more likely to buy from you.

### Leveraging reviews on other sites to grow your own organic traffic

Finally, what post on Trustpilot would be complete without talking about reviews?

As an eCommerce site, you need reviews not only of your company but also of your products. If you are a product manufacturer as well as a seller, then you’re probably using other platforms to sell your products.

Let’s take the outdoors industry as an example. The North Face is not only a seller, but they actually manufacture the products as well.

Perform a search for a product of theirs, such as their Thermoball hooded jacket. My query is "the north face men’s thermoball" and I come up with the following sites:

- TheNorthFace.com
- Amazon
- Moosejaw
- Dicks Sporting Good
- REI
- Backcountry.com
- Youtube
- SteepAndCheap.com

All of these results except for Moosejaw have star results showing in the search results. Here's a screenshot of the first four results.

Notice what The North Face has done.

Screenshot+2017-11-16+15.53.39

Example 5

They have built their own property to allow it to have reviews that are then shown in the search results. So they own their own platform, which is absolutely necessary for the longevity of the brand.

They also, however, sell through all of the major providers and both rely on them to get reviews as well as probably actively solicit reviews on those platforms. If everyone rates the jacket well, as is the case with the Thermoball, they are building trust with their potential customers that the product is quality and people are happy.

So what’s the takeaway here?

If you are selling your own product, you should also be using the platforms available to you to tap into their audience and sell more of your products. Own your own platform and optimize your website properly, but this can be another great way to grow your business if the economics make sense.

The same works for your brand since customers might buy a product, but they ultimately buy from a brand. In today’s social media and values driven world, the work you do on your brand influences your customers, builds loyalty with them, and gains repeat buyers. Investing your brand by getting feedback from your customers is one of the best ways to improve your business, regardless of your search rankings. And the best part is that reviews also help your search rankings and clickthrough rates when review stars show in the search results.

What about you? What strategies have you used to build your brand through SEO that don’t involve your own website?

If you'd like to discuss this further, why not chat to one of our experts? It's quick and easy, just click the link below.

How to use SEO to build your eCommerce reputation — a quick guide

Online shopping for the holiday season

In this report, we’ve compiled our list of seven ways to get ready for the 2021 holiday shopping season, and asked some industry leaders and Trustpilot customers to weigh in about another atypical festive period, and how you can best prepare for it.

Consumers would shop and – apart from how much growth we would see year on year – there weren’t too many changes outside of that.

But the pandemic changed all of that. Last year, because of economic uncertainty and varying levels of personal comfort shopping in person, as well as brick-and-mortar retailers being completely dependent on local guidelines, the holiday season brought a large amount of uncertainty for all of us. 

Unfortunately, this year is equally unclear. Is the shift to online shopping here to stay if brick-and-mortar stores remain open this shopping season? And how will the holiday season be affected as the pandemic worsens again? 

In this report, we’ve compiled our list of seven ways to get ready for the 2021 holiday shopping season, and asked some industry leaders and Trustpilot customers to weigh in about another atypical festive period, and how you can best prepare for it.

## Here are 7 Takeaways to remember this 2021 holiday season

### 1. Prepare for eCommerce growth and hybrid retail

The period of self-isolation we went through last year changed the way consumers search and shop, while businesses have had to adapt to new channels of communication and [new consumer behavior](https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/how%20covid%2019%20is%20changing%20consumer%20behavior%20now%20and%20forever/how-covid-19-is-changing-consumer-behaviornow-and-forever.pdf). In fact, last year, the online retail sales growth [hit a thirteen-year high](https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2021/01/online-retail-sales-growth-hit-13-year-high-in-2020/). 

Now that most restrictions have been lifted, we can expect some customers to do more brick-and-mortar shopping this year than they did last year. However, one study found that [38% of consumers](https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-e-commerce-fits-into-retails-post-pandemic-future) still intend to do their holiday shopping online, and only visit stores when they provide outstanding experiences.

“With the pandemic, most offline traffic switched to online traffic, meaning a substantially higher customer base was acquired for eCommerce retail. The challenge with the reopening of brick-and-mortar is to maintain the value-added your business provides as an eCommerce retailer by focusing on the elements that make it easy for customers to trust your store,” explains Gary A. President of [FragranceBuy Canada](https://fragrancebuy.ca/).

For retailers that have brick-and-mortar stores, focusing on improving your in-store experience could be essential to succeed this holiday season, while businesses that sell both online and offline are likely to be in the best position possible to convert consumers.

We asked Melissa Dixon, Director of Content Marketing at [BigCommerce](https://www.bigcommerce.com/), to share her thoughts on the upcoming festive season: 

“During Cyber Week 2020, BigCommerce [recorded a 74% increase in GMV year-over-year](https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/cyber-week). While we’ve continuously seen YoY Cyber Week growth over the years, the pandemic had a significant impact on last year’s shopping habits, which makes it difficult to predict if that same level of growth will happen again this year. 

However, we do know from a [recent survey that BigCommerce conducted with PayPal](https://www.bigcommerce.com/resources/guides/consumer-spending-trends-cdl-report/) that since the beginning of the pandemic, 62.5% of shoppers have reported spending more online than in person. 

The best advice for merchants is to check your supply chain and prepare your inventory for both online and in-store holiday shoppers. Also, make sure you’re accounting for newer shopping behaviors, like [buy online pickup in store (BOPIS)](https://www.bigcommerce.com/articles/offline-to-online/bopis/), that have really grown in popularity over the past year and a half.”

Whether consumers choose to shop online, offline, or use BOPIS or [curbside pickup](https://blogs.oracle.com/marketingcloud/post/improving-all-5-steps-of-a-curbside-pickup), many consumers could try and get their holiday shopping out of the way earlier than usual, to avoid delayed deliveries like last year.

Jordan Brannon, President & COO of [Coalition Technologies](https://coalitiontechnologies.com/), explains:

“Q4 2021 will continue the decentralization trend of consumer shopping behavior. As with 2020, and 2019 before it, consumers will begin shopping earlier in Q4 than in years prior.

Merchants should focus more effort on getting their consumers checked out sooner in November, or even late in October. They'll also need to ensure they have solid plans for unique engagement strategies to avoid promotion exhaustion from consumers who will be inundated with a heavy sales cadence for months. 

Merchants can succeed in these challenging holiday conditions by ensuring their marketing calendars feature a diversity of promotional events, clearly communicated, and designed to get more competitive product category sales closed out earlier in the season.”

Whether you’re an online or offline retailer (or both), here are three things to keep in mind for the next few months.

3 things to keep in mind this holiday season

### 2. Omni-channel experiences are on the rise

Today, an omni-channel experience should approach customer service, marketing and customer experience in a cohesive, connected manner, wherever and whenever a customer reaches out. 

This means connecting multiple communication channels, tools and platforms to create a seamless shopping experience. 

Recently, it’s become clear that multi-channel strategies no longer match consumers’ needs, as they create separate and independent shopping ecosystems, rather than one holistic experience.

This holiday season, offering seamless experiences from store to mobile or desktop is more likely to convert consumers as shoppers’ needs to navigate through different channels before making a purchase continue to increase.

Freshworks quote

Exploring new channels and creating a holistic customer experience from one channel to the other will be key to success this festive shopping season. 

In their [2020 report](https://www.pwc.com/us/en/retail-consumer/publications/assets/pwc-retailing-2020.pdf), PwC found that the number of companies investing in omni-channel experiences has jumped from 20% to more than 80% in just a year. And as this year’s mobile sales could make up for [72% of this year’s total sales](https://www.statista.com/chart/13139/estimated-worldwide-mobile-e-commerce-sales/), you could be missing out without an omni-channel strategy in place.

“One of the biggest tips we can give for this holiday is to expand your reach through additional channels and marketplaces. Over the past year, BigCommerce has launched new integrations, including [Instagram Checkout](https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/instagram-checkout-tips/) and [Walmart Marketplace](https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/selling-on-walmart-marketplace/), and many of our merchants are embracing these new channels to boost sales. 

This also emphasizes that the way shoppers discover products has evolved. For instance, in our [2021 Consumer Spending Trends survey](https://www.bigcommerce.com/resources/guides/consumer-spending-trends-cdl-report/), we found that 54.8% of respondents said that they were using social media to discover new products. 

Our advice is to find out which channels your customers are using, and start selling there. And if you’re unsure or don’t have the data, start experimenting by listing some of your inventory on places like Amazon or Instagram,” reports Melissa Dixon, Director of Content Marketing at BigCommerce.


3 steps to creating a successful omni-channel experience

### 3. Cross-border selling is growing in popularity 

Cross-border selling has become one of the main ways that merchants can grow their businesses and increase their bottom lines. And it makes sense. If you’re selling a great product or service, why limit your market size? 

“Another trend we are seeing with our merchants is the growth in cross-border sales — last holiday season, we saw orders spike in November and December,” says Melissa Dixon. 


BigCommerce quote

But cross-border selling comes with a lot of potential issues as well, and it’s really important to [take them into account](https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/cross-border-selling-issues) and make sure you’re in a position to benefit from cross-border selling instead of doing a poor job at it and giving any of your customers a frustrating or negative experience. 

“We’ve written a blog on [how to successfully sell cross-border](https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/cross-border-selling-issues), and some of the top tips include localizing content, selling on marketplaces like [Mercado Libre](https://www.bigcommerce.com/essentials/mercado-libre/), offering local payment methods and planning for shipping,” concludes Melissa.

If you’re ready to invest in cross-border selling this holiday season, here are four takeaways to keep in mind.

4 tips for cross-border selling

### 4. Great shipping and return policies are still essential 

As consumers move to do more and more of their shopping online, parts of the shipping experience that used to be an added bonus are starting to become expected from retailers. 

90% of consumers say free shipping is their [biggest incentive to continue shopping online](https://martech.org/e-commerce-report-9-10-consumers-say-free-shipping-no-1-incentive-shop-online/). And because customers can’t see or feel a product in their hands before purchasing, some of your online sales are always going to end up being returned. Consumers want a free and simple way to return the items they don’t end up wanting and failing to give it to them could mean losing their business in the future. 

As free shipping and returns become more standard, two new shipping offerings have started appearing as a great way to gain an edge over your competitors. Package tracking and shipping insurance. 

“Between the growth in eCommerce and the rise of lost and stolen packages, we’ve seen more and more of our merchants prioritize package tracking and shipping insurance with apps like [Route](https://route.com/merchants). And since the holidays are typically the time of year when package theft is more likely to occur, merchants can improve their customer experience by offering these options to their customers,” says Melissa Dixon, Director of Content Marketing at BigCommerce.

Offering these makes your brand look great, keeps your customers happy, and helps you beat the competition. 

3 ways to keep customers happy this holiday season

### 5. Use reviews to build trust and deliver great experiences

Today, [91% of people](https://www.vieodesign.com/blog/new-data-why-people-hate-ads) say ads are more intrusive than they were 3 years ago. One of the best forms of marketing a business can partake in is trustworthy [social proof and third-party validation](/reviews/build-trusted-brand/what-is-social-proof-and-why-is-it-important-for-marketing), because your customers’ opinions are more likely to be heard and considered by their peers than your own.

“It’s important to ensure your customers trust you when buying online, especially at this time of year. The best way to do this is to have honest and genuine reviews on your site. Today’s buyers are savvy – they’re looking for companies that have a mix of good reviews and not-so-good ones, to check how the company responds to, and improves, any bad experience a customer might have had. Doing your very best to offer your customers a great experience and service, and encouraging all buyers to leave a review, will help you build the trust needed to sell online this festive season,” reveals Jan Jivmark, our Head of Global Marketing.


eyeglasses.com quote

Consumers also love to compare businesses online to make sure they’re getting exactly what they’re looking for, especially during the holiday season. This only makes it more difficult for brands to stand out in a crowded space – that’s why offering great customer service and customer experiences can be a real differentiator. 

“In this highly competitive environment, the shift to digital-first delivery models has managed to keep both shoppers and customer service agents happy. The mainstreaming of AI bots has eased the load on query volumes and enabled agents to focus on delivering contextual and empathetic service. Messaging apps like WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, or Facebook Messenger, that have high customer dwell time, have redefined convenience for shoppers.  Brands that will continue to win have unlocked the key to delighting customers with easy, fast, and intuitive digital-first customer service,” remarks [Freshworks](https://www.freshworks.com/?utm_source=ISV_Trustpilot&utm_campaign=Blog)’s Director of Growth Marketing, Abhishek GP. 

But providing great customer service means understanding your customers and your audience, their needs, and their wants. Reviews can help you collect [fresh consumer insights](/reviews/learn-from-customers/what-are-consumer-insights-and-how-do-i-use-them) and highlight areas of development, as well as identify opportunities to improve your existing customer experience and customer service, and grow consumer trust in your brand.

Rhiannon Williams, Partner Marketing Manager at [AmericanEagle](https://www.americaneagle.com/), concludes:

“During the holiday season, being able to provide a beneficial experience will go a long way in turning that browser into a long-time buyer. Customer service is a critical aspect of the overall customer experience; you can’t have a good customer experience if great customer service isn’t part of it. The holiday season means an abundance of pre-Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday sales. With the expected influx of traffic, it’s imperative to provide great online experiences.”


your holiday review strategy checklist

### 6. Purpose-driven businesses will thrive

There’s been a lot of talk about mission driven brands and ethical gifting lately, and it’s not going to be slowing down any time soon. 

“The trend toward making ethical purchases will continue to grow, despite other economic factors. Consumers feel good when they help others and help the planet,” confirms Mark Agnew, CEO & Founder [eyeglasses.com](https://www.eyeglasses.com/).

Believe it or not, there are so many ways for your brand to be a part of this, regardless of what you’re selling. 

Why not try partnering with charities or nonprofits this holiday season and giving a percentage of proceeds to that charity? If you’re a local business, you can take it a step further by partnering with local charities that will help right in the community you operate in. 

Alan Duncan, our VP of Brand and Consumer Marketing, points out that “The climate change conference COP26 takes place at the start of November and will put the environment at the top of the news agenda just as the holiday season reaches its peak. When you give a gift it also says something about you, so smart marketers from brands with a green agenda should be able to capitalise on this to shift purchasing behavior towards more ethical gifting.” 

Does your brand operate ethically and sustainably? If so, this is something you should be shouting from the rooftops about. Especially during the holiday season. The environment really matters to people and getting them a gift that they not only love but also reaffirms this to them is a great way to show you support the causes they care about. 

3 ways to start giving back this holiday season

### 7. Plan for increased consumer spending

Economies have started to [bounce back](https://www.wsj.com/articles/turbocharged-u-s-economy-attracts-foreign-investors-11624263520) and for most people out there, it feels like we’ve settled back into some sort of normality. And it’s not just consumers that have their [spending back on the rise again](https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-economy-grows-by-48-in-second-quarter-as-post-lockdown-reopening-drives-spending-spree-12379320). 

“With consumer confidence on the rise and ad spend from major brands bouncing back strongly I would expect to see luxury brands do particularly well this holiday period. People will be looking to have a much needed celebration with family and friends this year with the gifts to match. Another strong category is likely to be experience-based gifting. One member of a recent focus group said the daily Amazon delivery was pretty much all his family had to look forward to during lockdown and, like many others, may now have a house full of gadgets. Gifting the real life experiences they dreamt of during those dark times may now be a priority for gifting,” says Alan Duncan, our VP of Brand and Consumer Marketing.

Ad spend is carefully measured and planned, and major brands wouldn’t be investing their money here if they didn’t think it was going to pay off.

With all factors pointing to higher sales and spending this holiday season, make sure you’re focusing on providing an excellent customer experience overall. When products are running out, shipping delays are long, and customers are burnt out from shopping, those are usually the moments that a good – or bad – customer experience speaks the loudest. 


3 trends to be mindful of during the festive period

## ‘Tis the season for great customer experiences

In the last few months, the [global shift to online shopping](/guides-reports/learn-from-customers/understanding-covid-19s-impact-on-business-imagining-a-post-pandemic-world) has meant that customer service and customer experience have become a real necessity – not just a nice-to-have – for businesses who wish to stand out from the crowd.

So whether you’re an eCommerce business or a brick-and-mortar retailer, providing seamless shopping experiences will be crucial to your success this holiday season. 

But with the risk of the pandemic resurging, brands should be ready to welcome more changes over the next few months. 

“Many brands have learned to pivot their businesses at lightning speed over the past eighteen months. Keeping this agility over the coming months will be just as crucial. We may be hopeful that the pandemic will slowly but surely recede, but consumer behavior is likely to be even less predictable as new habits and old fight it out post-COVID,” says Alan Duncan, our VP of Brand and Consumer Marketing.

So as we head into another unusual festive season, the ability to understand your consumers and build trust with your audience will be more important than ever before. Investing in a review strategy can help you do just that, alongside our seven strategic tips.

__[Book your free Trustpilot demo now](/request-demo)__


Holiday Shopping: Trustpilot Holiday Report 2021

Trustpilot Consumer Insights: 7 Must-knows for this holiday season

Consumer Insights from the pandemic and what this means for businesses

This year, we took a deep dive into global consumer review data on our platform to uncover some of the trends and challenges from 2020, look at some of the most impacted industries and imagine what the future could look like.

Download our free executive summary 2-pager to share

In the last eighteen months, our daily lives adapted in ways that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

The period of self-isolation we all went through [changed the way consumers now search and shop](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/consumer-behavior-in-the-age-of-coronavirus-global-review-trends-by-industry), while businesses have had to continuously adapt and innovate to survive.

While some industries saw unprecedented sales during the peak of the pandemic, many brands out there have had to face some of the toughest challenges ever in the last few months.

And while many of these changes are temporary, some of them could last in the post-pandemic world.

This year, we took a deep dive into global consumer review data on our platform to uncover some of the trends and challenges from 2020, look at some of the most impacted industries and imagine what the future could look like. In this report, we’ll explore our data and deliver some actionable tips to survive and recover from times of crisis.

## 1. A look back at consumer behavior in 2020: trends & challenges

We started in January 2021 and looked into [consumer activity](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/consumer-behaviors-that-changed-in-2020-and-what-businesses-can-expect-in-2021) on Trustpilot.com to get a better understanding of the 2020 shift in consumer behavior. The data we analyzed showed that the Shopping & Fashion sector was the most researched industry for customer reviews, even throughout the pandemic. It’s highly possible that people started purchasing more athleisure while being stuck at home or were, perhaps, stocking up on outfits for a post-pandemic world. 


The most researched businesses on Trustpilot.com in the second half of 2020

Interestingly, some of the most reviewed industries of 2020 were B2B businesses, Shopping & Fashion, and Home & Garden. While the B2B industry comes as a bit of a surprise, it’s only natural to see that the Home & Garden industry was doing so well in 2020, as most people started investing more time and money into their daily environment during the early lockdown.

### Conscientious shoppers set a new bar for customer expectations

However, data shows that while [consumers shifted to online shopping](https://www.statista.com/topics/871/online-shopping/#dossierSummary), people also started favouring local and purpose-driven businesses as the world started facing even more racial injustice, economic instability, and political uncertainty. A Deloitte Digital study found that, in the UK, [3 in 5 consumers purposely chose local businesses](https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/press-releases/articles/three-in-five-consumers-have-used-more-local-stores-and-services-to-support-them-during-lockdown.html) to help out. In the US, [a Zeno group survey](https://www.zenogroup.com/insights/2020-zeno-strength-purpose) showed that consumers are now 4 to 6 times more likely to support purpose-driven businesses as they were before the pandemic.

Our review data also highlighted that two of the most mentioned keywords in 5-star reviews throughout 2020 were “delivery” and “customer service”. This proves that customer expectations are just as high in times of crisis, and that customer service is still one of the best assets a business can have to build trust and combat uncertainty.

Overall, businesses have really had to adapt to a new reality in 2020; and as consumer purchasing behaviors changed, brands were left with the challenge of constantly trying to keep their head above water. 

In this section, we discussed some of the behavioral changes that we witnessed in 2020. We also identified the most researched and reviewed industries on Trustpilot.com – but what about other industries? Industries who may have been greatly impacted by Coronavirus? In the next section, we’ll review the Health & Wellness sector, as well as the Travel & Tourism industry.

## 2. The industries most impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak

In an effort to better understand the true impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, our team also looked at consumer trends around mental Health & Wellness. With the pandemic hitting and many people losing their jobs and feeling isolated, we wanted to get an understanding of just how much Coronavirus was impacting this industry. 

### The Health & Wellness industry saw significant growth during the pandemic

Perhaps unsurprisingly, consumer demand for mental health and wellness services skyrocketed in 2020:

- Ginger, a teletherapy and mental healthcare app, [saw utilization rates reach their highest ever](https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/demand-for-virtual-mental-health-soaring-here-are-notable-trends-who-using-it-and-why) last September, right in the middle of the pandemic. __Usage of their text-based mental health coaching was up 159%__ compared to their pre-covid averages, and __usage of virtual therapy and psychiatry were up 309%__ compared to their pre-covid averages.
- Doctor On Demand [saw massive increases in new patients](https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/demand-for-virtual-mental-health-soaring-here-are-notable-trends-who-using-it-and-why) seeking teletherapy up over 50% throughout October and even higher than the initial spikes when the pandemic hit last spring.

We also looked into our review data to identify trends on our own platform, and uncovered  how often reviews included the phrases *mental health*, *wellness*, and *well-being* on Trustpilot.com.

Number of reviews with keywords mental health, wellness, and well-being on Trustpilot.com from  February to August 2020, and August to February 2021.

Number of reviews with keywords mental health, wellness, and well-being on Trustpilot.com from 
February to August 2020, and August to February 2021.

Number of reviews with keywords mental health, wellness, and well-being on Trustpilot.com from  August to November 2020, and November to February 2021.

Number of reviews with keywords mental health, wellness, and well-being on Trustpilot.com from 
August to November 2020, and November to February 2021.

Number of reviews with keywords mental health, wellness, and well-being on Trustpilot.com from  February 2019 to February 2020, and February 2020 to February 2021.

Number of reviews with keywords mental health, wellness, and well-being on Trustpilot.com from 
February 2019 to February 2020, and February 2020 to February 2021.

When you look at the data trends for these phrases in the first year of the pandemic compared with the year prior, mental health and wellness terms are being mentioned quite a bit more, which isn’t too surprising. 

What’s more interesting is that when you look at more recent periods such as the 6 month and 3 month comparisons, the numbers are still jumping pretty significantly — even though you might assume that things would have been their worst around when the pandemic hit and so much of our lives was up in the air. 

This suggests that although the pandemic has certainly quickened the growth trends for mental health, these stats aren’t solely because of that. The focus on mental health and wellness for consumers will only keep growing after the pandemic, and companies should keep this in mind. 

We also looked into how all companies – regardless of their industry – can help look after the mental health of both their customers and employees and stay relevant with these trends, so make sure you [check out the full report](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/consumer-behaviors-around-mental-health-and-wellness). 

Overall, there’s no doubt that the growth of the Health & Wellness industry was accelerated by the rise of COVID-19. And although this industry is continuing to trend today, other sectors have been brought to a complete standstill. The Travel & Tourism industry is one of them. 

### The Travel & Tourism industry stagnated during lockdown

The Coronavirus crisis has been one of the biggest challenges the Travel & Tourism industry has had to face so far. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) found that popular travel destinations welcomed [900 million fewer international tourists](https://www.unwto.org/taxonomy/term/347) between January and October 2020, compared with the same period of 2019. During the same period of time, international arrivals also dropped by over 74%.

In March of 2021, we looked at [global travel consumer activity on our platform](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/consumer-insights-how-covid-19-hit-the-travel-industry) to comprehend just how much the tourism sector was hit by the virus.

Sadly, it came as no surprise when we found that the average number of travel service reviews collected during the pandemic was 39.7% lower than the year before. Similarly, the average number of global travel product reviews left during the pandemic was 81.8% lower than in 2019.


Travel service reviews on Trustpilot.com from January 1st 2019 to February 29th 2020.

Guides and reports

Liars, fakers and cheats: how we protect businesses against review fraud

Get Seen in Search

The new face of SEO: Answer Engine Optimisation

The beginner’s guide to site speed for SEO

How to use SEO to build your eCommerce reputation — a quick guide

Build a Trusted Brand

Brands that take a stand: Marketers who match consumers’ desire for purpose and honesty come out on top

Turning transactions into trusted relationships

Turn Browsers Into Buyers

The antidote to purchase paralysis

The complete guide to marketing with customer reviews

Trustpilot Consumer Insights: 2020 Holiday Readiness Guide

Learn From Your Customers

Trustpilot Consumer Insights: 7 Must-knows for this holiday season

Understanding COVID-19’s impact on business + imagining a post-pandemic world

Consumer finance report: How Covid-19 is impacting banking and payments