A comparison of 3 commonly used review platforms to help you understand how each can affect your business.

Where do potential clients search for reviews about my company? If you can confidently answer this, then you know which review platform is most relevant for your customer base, and thus, your company.  

As a review expert in the moving industry, I’ve compiled a list of pros and cons of 3 review platforms commonly used in our business: Trustpilot, Sirelo and Google.

Trustpilot was founded in Denmark, in 2007. Trustpilot’s mission is, “to bring people and companies together to create ever improving experiences for everyone”.[1]  It provides a platform for consumers to read reviews on more than 250,000 businesses, free of charge. It also offers a free service for businesses to create a review page and showcase reviews; and charges money for its more premium options. In addition, Trustpilot has an agreement with Google, which allows reviews from Trustpilot to become “Google Seller Ratings” or in more simple terms, the stars you notice below the Google search results. [2]

• Trust Pilot has a large customer based, which allows for worldwide brand awareness;
• The free package includes a widget[3], 100 invitations per month, review notifications and the ability to reply to reviews;
• Advanced premium options are available, which include Facebook plugin to showcase your best reviews first, review invitation reminders and automatic invitation functionality;
• Trustpilot strives to actively combat fraud, they check and remove reviews that are not in line with their policy.

• Premium options come at a cost. On a yearly basis, you can choose for plans between 9 and 9 per month;
• The platform is not moving specific and therefore misses certain categories to differentiate moving companies from one another.

Sirelo was created in 2016 by TriGlobal in the Netherlands. Their mission is to make the moving industry more transparent through the form of reviews, and to help online customers access moving related information such as blogs, tips and guides, plus tools that help calculate the price of a move.  Currently, there are 78 countries active on Sirelo, featuring reviews related to 11,369 movers. If a company is not yet listed on the site, this can be requested and a profile will be created.

• Specifically created for the moving industry, this platform helps differentiate companies based on their respective moving associations, qualifications and available services.
• Reviews are checked on vulgar language or personal names and these words are automatically deleted;
• All features are free including unlimited customer invitations, replies, reviews, locations, widgets and users;
• Find companies not only based on name but also on services.
• Sirelo strives to actively combat fraud, they check and remove reviews that are not in line with their policy.

• The platform doesn’t support all languages;
• The Sirelo brand is not as widely known as Google and Trust Pilot;
• Searching for moving companies can be complicated, as moving companies are only found in the city in which they are physically located.

Google was founded in the United States in 1998. Its mission is, “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful”.[5] The company provides services and products related to the internet and is one of the four biggest companies worldwide. Google’s search engine is their core product, but they also created Google Maps, Google Translate, and Gmail. They also developed a review platform for consumers to leave and read reviews about all companies.

• Worldwide brand awareness - reviews appear when you Google a company’s name;
• Google strives to keep reviews in line with their review policy;
• Users can flag any review they deem inappropriate;
• Reviews are not their core business; hence they are independent in their approach to the industry;
• All review functionalities are free to use.

• Quite difficult to install some functionalities (eg. widget) due to complex jargon, making hard to find the right information;
• It can take between 2-7 days before Google processes your new reviews and score;[6]
• You need to have a Google account to leave and reply to a review;
• Reviews aren’t their core focus so it can be hard to differentiate yourself as a mover.

It goes without saying that each review platform has benefits and downsides. Prioritize the platform that benefits your business the most before you look to other platforms. If a moving specific platform is important to you, then Sirelo is a solid option. If your service or product serves various industries and you need to get your business out there, Google or Trustpilot are logical options. Once you’re comfortable with your preferred platform, consider widening your reach. The more review platforms you appear on, the more your business is being promoted to potential customers. Use this to your advantage.

We provide free coaching sessions in 6 languages by our review experts. If you would like to have a review coaching session, you can reach out to us by emailing to mail@triglobal.org or by calling +31 (0) 88 - 2 300 600. Don’t be afraid to showcase your business.

Melissa Vermeer

Business Development

[1]Trustpilot. (2019). Retrieved from: Trustpilot: About Trustpilot  [2] Trustpilot. (2019). Retrieved from: Trustpilot: Google and Trustpilot FAQ [3] Widget: An element of a graphical user interface that displays information like your customer reviews and score which may have a link to the specific review page that hosts those reviews. [4] Murphy, Rosie. (2018). Consumer Review Survey. Retrieved from: Bright Local. [5] Thompson, Andrew. (2019). Google’s Mission Statement and Vision Statement (An Analysis). Retrieved from: Panmore Institute [6] Locke, John. (2016). What You Might Not Know About Google Review Stars. Retrieved from: Lockedown Design [7] Branke, Ellena (2019). Negative reviews; the new positive. Retrieved from: TriGlobal.