Reviews + Reputation

Most clients add their first 10 to 20 new Google reviews inside the first 30 days of going live. The exact number depends on weekly transaction or booking volume, the channel mix (SMS converts roughly 4x better than email), and whether you have a backlog of recent customers to politely re-engage. By month three, review velocity typically lands at 4 to 8 new reviews per 100 transactions, with star averages climbing 0.2 to 0.4 because newer reviews skew above the long-term mean.

Yes, when built correctly. The April 2025 CMA fake review rules ban incentivising reviews, gating negative ones, and posting fake or commissioned reviews. Automated requests are explicitly fine if they go to verified customers, do not condition rewards on a positive review, and accept negative feedback the same way as positive. We do not run review gating, we do not pay reviewers, and we keep an audit log every UK regulator now expects. If anyone offers you "5-star review packages" walk away.

Yes. The system escalates one and two star reviews to a human within 60 minutes of posting, with a draft response written in your tone. We follow a four-step framework: acknowledge specifically, take responsibility where due, offer an off-platform path to resolution, and keep it under 75 words. Done well, a thoughtful reply lifts trust with future buyers more than a five star review does. Done poorly, it locks the bad review on page one for years. The escalation flow is the single most valuable line item in the engagement.

For most UK SMBs, no. Google reviews dominate local discovery, are surfaced inside the Map Pack, and feed AI search citations. Trustpilot earns its keep for ecommerce and B2B SaaS where the buyer skews to research a brand before purchase, and where Trustpilot widgets on your site lift conversion measurably. For trades, hospitality, beauty and clinics, concentrate review velocity on Google first. Add Trustpilot only when you can sustain 4 to 6 new reviews a month there without robbing Google.