seminar on trust online – input from trustpilot by peter holten mühlmann, founder and ceo of...
TRANSCRIPT
Seminar on Trust Online – Input from Trustpilot
By Peter Holten Mühlmann, Founder and CEO of Trustpilot
Agenda
Intro to Trustpilot Use of reviews Manipulation Efforts to secure genuine reviews Requests to the European Commission
Trustpilot
Worlds third largest company review site (after Yelp and Tripadvisor)
200 employees in New York, London and Copenhagen
7,000,000 reviews
Currently 400,000 new reviews per month
80,000 companies reviewed
3
Business Model
Free open review site
Free for merchants to respond to reviews and use basic services
Paid automation, insights, integration
Transparency
No possibility to buy positive ratings and reviews!
Activity is key!
S01E17.720p.HDTV.X264-DIMENSION
Help consumers make better choices
Help companies to get good customer service and to be rewarded for having good customer service.
Mission:
Reviews are only valuable if trusted
Mission statement without any value unless we can secure and maintain the credibility of the reviews
Trustpilot business model depend on trustworthy information = credibility is extremely important
It is in Trustpilot’s pure interest that users (both companies and reviewers) can have faith in reviews; no faith no use
Examples of manipulation
Fake reviews
Cherry picking (only inviting happy customers, incentives)
Gaming guidelines
Legal pressure
Highest Standard in Reviews
Authenticity Auto-Detect
Guidelinesfor use
EmailInvitation Audit
Report for Investigation
Special Agent ‘Bob’
In summary
- Reviews are adding tremendous value to the marketplace
- Manipulation of reviews will happen and cannot be avoided entirely
- “97% who made a purchase based on an online review found the review to be accurate”
(The Kelsey Group)
Request
EU regulation and harmonization
Stronger legal sanctions against cheaters
General guidelines to prevent fake reviews
Responsibility for content in accordance with the E-commerce directive
The most important thing is to ensure that reviews are expressing a correct overall image of a business
Objective criteria for inviting reviewers
Who reviews and why?
Sharing positive experiences is reviewers main motivation*
74% state that they write reviews because they want to share a good experience with other travellers
78% state that they write reviews because they feel good about sharing useful information with other travelers
* Tripadvisor
Further Reading
Title and Media Link
”In a Race to Out-Rave, 5-Star Web Reviews Go for $5” The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/technology/finding-fake-reviews-online.html
”The Best Reviews Money Can Buy” The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?smid=pl-share
“Give Yourself 5 Stars? Online, It Might Cost You” The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/technology/give-yourself-4-stars-online-it-might-cost-you.html?smid=pl-share
”How Aunt Ammy Gets Her Free Lunch: A Study of the Top-Thousand Customer Reviewers at Amazon.com”Freelunch.me
http://www.freelunch.me/filecabinet
”Fake reviews plague consumer websites”The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/jan/26/fake-reviews-plague-consumer-websites
”Online reviews – a guide for business & review platforms”Australian Competition & Consumer Commission
http://www.accc.gov.au/publications/online-reviews-a-guide-for-business-review-platforms
Quality Assurance
• IP addresses• IP geography v. user country v. domain• Patterns in email addresses• Browser information• Social network patterns• Fingerprinting• ... new components and parameters are
continously tested and added.
Automatic analysis and detection of suspicious reviews
Analysis Component:
Trustpilot’s support & compliance organisation
- Handling reported reviews from users and customers
- Documentation regarding actual transactions (”proof of purchase”)
- Assessing wording in review invitations from customers to secure compliance with (i) company guidelines and (ii) instructions from public authorities.
Tasks
15 % of Trustpilot’s employees is dedicated to support and compliance to secure the quality of the reveiws