How new funding will fuel our mission of transparency

At Trustpilot, we’re on a mission to create ever-improving experiences for everyone. That mission has been the same since Trustpilot was founded a decade ago. But what’s significantly different today is the two societal transformations impacting every consumer and company.

Today, consumers demand a powerful voice. In fact, they expect it — and rightfully so. The smartest companies around understood this early on, adapted and innovated. The rest are still trying to catch up.

But we’re not just living in the age of the consumer. We’re also living in the era of distrust. Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed a steep fall in trust in all institutions: government, companies and media. Everyone is being impacted and the consequences of the ‘fake news’ zeitgeist are clear. We’ve begun to question the information we consume, as well as the sources that generate that information.

At Trustpilot, we’re on a mission to create ever-improving experiences for everyone. That mission has been the same since Trustpilot was founded a decade ago. But what’s significantly different today is the two societal transformations impacting every consumer and company.

Today, consumers demand a powerful voice. In fact, they expect it — and rightfully so. The smartest companies around understood this early on, adapted and innovated. The rest are still trying to catch up.

But we’re not just living in the age of the consumer. We’re also living in the era of distrust. Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed a steep fall in trust in all institutions: government, companies and media. Everyone is being impacted and the consequences of the ‘fake news’ zeitgeist are clear. We’ve begun to question the information we consume, as well as the sources that generate that information.

Digital platforms — like Trustpilot — are at the heart of both of these societal transformations and what’s clear, now more than ever, is that our model is right.

Helping consumers and companies successfully navigate these new territories requires fresh thinking, strong values and total conviction. With the new funding we just secured, we’ll be doubling down on openness, collaboration and transparency.

At times, it feels like there's been an arms race in the business sphere to get to the perfect score on review platforms. But when everyone on your platform has five stars and consumers wake up and say ‘hey, that can't be right can it?’, where do you go from there?

What we know — and will continue to invest in — is that it's not how many stars you have but the journey you take to get those stars that matters most. Others haven't realized this yet and by the time they do it may be too late.

The shift we've been making is from incentivizing and rewarding good reviews to incentivizing and rewarding good behavior. We’re not trying to catch anyone out, especially not the businesses who are genuinely looking to improve and do the right thing by their customers. We're showing them that the benefits of transparency are greater and longer lasting.

We’ve already introduced new transparency tools like Transparent Flagging and there’s much more to come. Our mission made us one of the top 1% of websites worldwide with more than 58 million reviews of over 270,000 company domains.

We’ve got plenty of work ahead of us. We’re by no means perfect. And yes, now and then you’ll find someone who’s trying to game the system and manages to publish a fake review on our platform. But with the very best processes, people and technology we have in place everyone can use Trustpilot with confidence. And with the new funding, we’ll continue to work towards our mission to upgrade the world.

If you'd like to find out more about Trustpilot, download a free copy of our Complete Guide to Reviews below.