The ratings-integrity index

Does our reading match Trustpilot’s own?

Trustpilot publishes its own automated summary of each company’s reviews. Across the 1178 companies where we have both, grouping by the tone of their summary and averaging our independently-computed complaint rate:

The two automated readings track each other closely, which is a check on our classifier as much as on any company. Where they diverge sharply, the company page says so.

Paid features and TrustScore

Trustpilot’s own profile data records whether a company uses its paid features. Among companies with at least 20 classified replies, those using Trustpilot’s paid features average a TrustScore of 4.64 (n=597); those that do not average 3.90 (n=127). This is a correlation, not evidence that paying raises a score — successful companies can afford and want reputation tooling, and Trustpilot’s paid features include review-invitation tools that can raise a score on their own.

First-and-only reviews among 5★ ratings

Trustpilot records how many reviews an account has ever written. Across 1395 companies with at least 50 recent 5★ reviews, the median share of a company’s 5★ reviews that came from an account that had written only that one review when we captured it is 39%. A genuine first-time customer also has one review — a high share here is a signal worth a look, not evidence of fake reviews. The table lists only companies with at least 200 recent 5★ reviews, so that a share reflects the company rather than a small sample.