The Total Economic Impact™ Of Trustpilot
Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By Trustpilot
A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study Commissioned By Trustpilot, September 2024
Trusted organizations can build unbreakable bonds with their customers, who want the companies they deal with to have their best interests at heart as well as a clear set of values that they put before profits.1 Trustpilot is a review platform where consumers can make the right choice and share their feedback when buying from businesses. In turn, businesses can create better experiences and build their brand, resulting in a virtuous circle of trust. This analysis found that by using Trustpilot, organizations experience improvements in their brand awareness, trust, and reputation, which ultimately lead to improved customer acquisition, process improvements, and efficiency savings in both analytics and customer service use cases.
Trustpilot is an independent platform that allows consumers and businesses to share their experiences with brands globally. Businesses can leverage Trustpilot to build trust, grow, and improve by offering end-to-end review management capabilities, showcase positive reviews and ratings, and leverage valuable insights derived from customer feedback on the experience they had with a brand.
Trustpilot commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying Trustpilot.2 The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of Trustpilot on their organizations.
Return on investment (ROI)
401%
Net present value (NPV)
$959K
To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed seven representatives at four organizations with experience using Trustpilot and surveyed 221 respondents across the DACH region, Italy, the UK, and the US who are working with online ratings and review platforms to improve their brand trust and reputation. For the purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the interviewees’ experiences and combined the results into a single composite organization that is an industry-agnostic, global organization with $200 million in yearly revenue.
Interviewees said that prior to using Trustpilot, their organizations were not actively leveraging a reviews and ratings solution but did have a presence on popular review platforms. However, before working with Trustpilot and actively leveraging reviews and ratings, the interviewees’ organizations were struggling with building brand equity and gathering customer insights, which was hindering their ability to fully leverage the power of online ratings and reviews.
After the investment in Trustpilot, the interviewees’ organizations could proactively leverage reviews and ratings, build brand equity and trust and scale customer acquisition. Key results from the investment include improved customer acquisition with increased trust, improved processes, improved customer service, and time and cost savings because of insights gained. As shown in Figure 1 below, 89% of the 221 leaders that we interviewed believed online reviews and ratings accurately reflect the quality of a business.
Figure 1
“In your opinion, how
accurately do online reviews and ratings reflect the true quality of a
business?”
Very accurately
Somewhat
accurately
Neutral
Somewhat
inaccurately
Base:
221 B2C marketers with responsibility for managing brand trust, brand awareness,
and customer experience working with online ratings and review platform(s) in
the DACH region, Italy, the UK, and the US
Source:
A
commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Trustpilot,
June 2024
Key Findings
Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) quantified benefits for the composite organization include:
- Improved customer acquisition worth $1.0 million. By working with Trustpilot, the composite organization improves its trust and reputation. This is achieved through inviting customers to leave reviews and improving the composite’s overall positioning in the market as a trusted brand. As a result, the composite attracts more customers and increases its revenue as customers trust the composite’s brand more thanks to Trustpilot reviews, and their TrustScore. The composite also leverages the reviews in their marketing campaigns.
- Process improvement efficiencies based on Trustpilot insights worth $87,000. The composite uses Trustpilot as a magnifying lens to uncover its customers’ experiences and spots trends and issues thanks to the Trustpilot reviews. These insights are then turned into action to realize process improvements.
- Improved customer service operations from reduced number of escalations worth $73,000. By offering its customers the ability to leave reviews on Trustpilot and actively engaging with negative reviews, the composite realizes improvements in its customer service operations. Without Trustpilot, the composite would have needed to dedicate more customer service effort in escalations. This effort can now be avoided by having Trustpilot as a platform to collect feedback from customers.
- Time savings in report management worth $29,000. The composite has access to insights based on its customers’ reviews as well as competitive intelligence statistics that help benchmark it in its industry. These reports are easily accessible and used by the composite for different business purposes. The composite realizes time savings as these reports are automatically generated by Trustpilot without the composite needing to dedicate resources for this task.
Unquantified benefits. Benefits that provide value for the interviewees’ organizations but are not quantified for this study include:
- Improved employee experience (EX). By working with Trustpilot and embracing a culture that revolves around trust and customer service, the interviewees called out how the positive reviews about their businesses contributed to lifting morale across the workplace and creating a supportive and positive culture.
- Enhanced brand awareness. Interviewees noted that Trustpilot provided a third-party validation and approval for their organizations’ business. The interviewees called out how their brand awareness significantly improved due to being linked with Trustpilot and having a strong positive presence on the Trustpilot platform.
- Richer insight into customer sentiment due to the uniqueness of the data collected. Trustpilot enabled the interviewees’ organizations’ brands to gather unique and extensive customer feedback that they would not have had access to otherwise. This data provided valuable analytics and insights, including location-based information, which enhanced decision-making, improved both employee and customer experiences, and helped the interviewees’ organizations manage operations more effectively.
- Improved customer satisfaction. Interviewees reported that Trustpilot allowed their brands to engage directly with their customers. They could promptly address negative reviews and resolve issues, showing customers that their time and feedback were valued. This quick reaction helped build trust and loyalty and boosted customers satisfaction, as customers appreciated businesses that addressed their needs swiftly.
Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for the composite organization include:
- Subscription costs of $109,000. Trustpilot offers different business plans. The composite organization adopts an enterprise-level plan, incurring a cost of $40,000 per year.
- Incremental operational costs of $130,000. Additional operational costs for the composite organization include time needed for platform management, end-to-end review management, and integrations.
The representative interviews and financial analysis found that a composite organization experiences benefits of $1.20 million over three years versus costs of $239,000 adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $959,000 and an ROI of 401%.
Key Statistics
-
Return on investment (ROI):
401%
-
Benefits PV:
$1.20M
-
Net present value (NPV):
$959K
-
Payback:
<6 months
Benefits (Three-Year)
Improved customer acquisition with improved trust Process improvement efficiencies based on trustpilot insights Improved customer service operations from reduced number of escalations Time savings in report management
TEI Framework And Methodology
From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment in Trustpilot.
The objective of the framework is to identify the cost, benefit, flexibility, and risk factors that affect the investment decision. Forrester took a multistep approach to evaluate the impact that Trustpilot can have on an organization.
-
Due Diligence
Interviewed Trustpilot stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to Trustpilot.
-
Interviews And Survey
Interviewed seven representatives at four firms using Trustpilot and surveyed 221 respondents who are working with online ratings and review platforms to obtain data about costs, benefits, and risks.
-
Composite Organization
Designed a composite organization based on characteristics of the interviewees’ and survey respondents’ organizations.
-
Financial Model Framework
Constructed a financial model representative of the interviews and survey using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewees and survey respondents.
-
Case Study
Employed four fundamental elements of TEI in modeling the investment impact: benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks. Given the increasing sophistication of ROI analyses related to IT investments, Forrester’s TEI methodology provides a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions. Please see Appendix A for additional information on the TEI methodology.
Disclosures
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Trustpilot and delivered by Forrester Consulting. It is not meant to be used as a competitive analysis.
Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other organizations will receive. Forrester strongly advises that readers use their own estimates within the framework provided in the study to determine the appropriateness of an investment in Trustpilot.
Trustpilot reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintains editorial control over the study and its findings and does not accept changes to the study that contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of the study.
Trustpilot provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate in the interviews.
Forrester fielded the double-blind survey using a third-party survey partner.
Consulting Team:
Elia Gollini
Emilie Beaud
Drivers leading to the Trustpilot investment
Key Challenges
Forrester interviewed seven representatives at four organizations using Trustpilot and surveyed 221 respondents with experience using Trustpilot at their organizations. For more details on these individuals and the organizations they represent, see Appendix B.
Interviewees said that prior to using Trustpilot, their organizations were not actively leveraging reviews and ratings solutions but they were present on popular online reviews and ratings platforms. Interviewees’ organizations were not actively gathering and acting on reviews and ratings and, as a result, they were unaware of customer feedback, whether positive or negative. Most of the interviewees’ organizations had low ratings on various public online platforms including Trustpilot, which was negatively impacting their reputation. By claiming their Trustpilot page on the platform and becoming an active, paying, Trustpilot customer, interviewees’ organizations took control of their business presence online and started to actively monitor and act on feedback.
Both interviewees and survey respondents noted how their organizations struggled with common challenges, including:
- Building brand equity. Interviewees mentioned that they needed support from a well-known and trusted brand like Trustpilot to enhance their brand equity and relevance in the market. Trustpilot offered their organizations a third-party endorsement, which they leveraged in their marketing efforts. The VP of sales and marketing at an e-commerce said, “I see TV commercials and ads with the Trustpilot logo, and this gives me confidence that Trustpilot helps my organization build brand equity.”
- Addressing customer issues and complaints. Interviewees called out how they were often struggling to properly address customer issues and complaints. Trustpilot equipped them to handle complaints efficiently. The founder of MyES — My English School said, “If you don’t rely on Trustpilot, you have no control over fake reviews coming from other channels.”
According to survey respondents, the top three challenges in managing online reviews and rating platforms included ensuring review authenticity and preventing fake reviews (51%), balancing honest customer feedback with reputation management (45%), and encouraging customers to leave positive, meaningful reviews (39%) (see Figure 2). Interviewees also highlighted ensuring the authenticity of reviews and preventing fake ones as a top challenge, underscoring the significant difficulties organizations face in maintaining the authenticity of their online ratings and reviews. Trustpilot ensured 24/7 identification and removal of fake reviews.
Figure 2
What are the most
significant challenges your organization faces when managing online reviews and
rating platforms?”
Base: 221 B2C marketers with responsibility
for managing brand trust, brand awareness, and customer experience working
with online ratings and review platform(s) in the DACH region, Italy, the
UK, and the US
Source: A
commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of
Trustpilot, June 2024
Solution Requirements
The interviewees and survey respondents searched for a solution that could:
- Offer brand recognition that they could associate with and leverage for marketing use cases.
- Embody the values of honesty, transparency, and respect.
- Give them confidence that the platform has measures in place to identify and remove fake reviews automatically.
- Be an independent and trusted brand.
- Integrate with different solutions and tools.
- Have an easy UX and minimal day-to-day management.
As shown in Figure 3, the survey respondents also believed that reviews and ratings helped their organizations improve brand reputation (98%), acquire new customers (95%), improve customers lifetime value (95%), and improve sales (94%). This emphasized that the market perceives the importance of reviews and ratings and associates them not only with brand reputation improvements but also with tangible business outcomes.
Figure 3
“How much do you agree with
the following statements for your organization?”
(Showing “Strongly agree” and ”Agree”)
Reviews and ratings help my organization improve brand reputation. Reviews and ratings help my organization acquire new customers. Reviews and ratings help my organization improve customer lifetime value. Reviews and ratings help improve my organization's sales. Reviews and ratings help my organization increase conversion rates. Reviews and ratings help my organization's paid search conversion and SEO.
Base:
221 B2C marketers with responsibility for managing brand trust, brand awareness,
and customer experience working with online ratings and review platform(s) in
the DACH region, Italy, the UK, and the US
Source:
A
commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Trustpilot,
June 2024
Composite Organization
Based on the interviews, Forrester constructed a TEI framework, a composite organization, and an ROI analysis that illustrates the areas financially affected. The composite organization is representative of the seven interviewees from four organizations, and it is used to present the aggregate financial analysis in the next section. The composite organization has the following characteristics:
Description of composite. The composite organization is a global organization that generates $200 million in annual revenue with 1,500 employees. Before working with Trustpilot, it was not leveraging reviews and ratings solutions actively but did have a presence on popular online ratings and reviews platforms.
Deployment characteristics. The composite deploys Trustpilot on one domain and starts inviting customers to leverage reviews from the beginning of Year 1. The composite leverages Trustpilot mainly to collect customer feedback and insights, enhance marketing campaigns (including socials, email, and out-of-home), and raise brand awareness and trust. The number of reviews gathered through Trustpilot increases from 20,000 in Year 1 to 50,000 in Year 2 and 100,000 in Year 3. The composite TrustScore improves from 4.0 stars in Year 1 to 4.3 in Year 2 and 4.6 in Year 3.
Quantified benefit data as applied to the composite
Total Benefits
| Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atr | Improved customer acquisition | $341,719 | $410,063 | $478,406 | $1,230,188 | $1,008,982 |
| Btr | Process improvement efficiencies based on Trustpilot insights | $18,000 | $36,000 | $54,000 | $108,000 | $86,687 |
| Ctr | Improved customer service operations from reduced number of escalations | $21,600 | $40,500 | $27,000 | $89,100 | $73,393 |
| Dtr | Time savings in report management | $11,713 | $11,713 | $11,713 | $35,139 | $29,128 |
| Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $393,032 | $498,275 | $571,119 | $1,462,426 | $1,198,190 | |
Improved Customer Acquisition
Evidence and data. Interviewees said the impact on brand awareness and reputation was the largest benefit of Trustpilot. The interviewees’ organizations invited customers to leave reviews, improving their overall positioning in the market as a trusted brand. As a result, they attracted more customers, traffic grew, and revenue increased. These improvements were led by various factors, including using the Trustpilot logo on the interviewees’ organizations’ websites, gaining an active and positive presence on Trustpilot.com, leveraging marketing campaigns with positive TrustScore and reviews, and improving SEO.
- Survey respondents noted the most important business objectives for organizations working with online ratings and review platforms revolved around building brand trust (94%), getting a more complete picture of the business (92%) and maximizing brand visibility (92%) (see Figure 4). This illustrated how brand trust and visibility were top of mind for online ratings and review platforms’ users to drive business outcomes.
- The VP of sales and marketing at an e-commerce mentioned, “A certain percentage of our conversion rate is driven by new customers coming to the site because of Trustpilot.”
- The corporate communications manager at AO told us: “You find that new customers, who have never heard of us before, can just at a glance see that we've got over 600,000 reviews and 4.8 stars. They then know that we are a reputable company.”
- The VP of sales and marketing at an e-commerce said, “Sixty percent of our new customers are influenced by our positive Trustpilot ratings and reviews.”
- The founder of MyES — My English School said, “People arrive in our location and they tell us, ‘I am here because I read the reviews on Trustpilot.’”
Figure 4
“What are the most
critical
business objectives for your organization when it comes to investing in an
online reviews and ratings platform?”
(Showing “Critical” and ”Important”)
Base: 221 B2C marketers with responsibility
for managing brand trust, brand awareness, and customer experience working
with online ratings and review platform(s) in the DACH region, Italy, the
UK, and the US
Source: A
commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of
Trustpilot, June 2024
Modeling and assumptions. Forrester assumes the following for the composite organization:
- It has 16.2 million site visits before using Trustpilot.
- With Trustpilot, the composite increases traffic by 25% in Year 1, 30% in Year 2, and 35% in Year 3.
- The composite converts 3% of visitors into customers.
- The attribution to Trustpilot is 50% as other parameters, such as product, price, user experience, etc., are influencing customers.
- The average order value (AOV) is $75.
- A 10% operating profit margin as per Forrester standard practice.
Risks. This benefit may vary for organizations based on the company size, industry, and location, which impact the amount of traffic, conversion, AOV, and profit margin.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 25%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.0 million.
Improved Customer Acquisition
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | New customer site visits prior to Trustpilot | Interviews | 16,200,000 | 16,200,000 | 16,200,000 |
| A2 | Increase in traffic volume with Trustpilot | Interviews | 25% | 30% | 35% |
| A3 | New customer site visits with Trustpilot | A1*(1+A2) | 20,250,000 | 21,060,000 | 21,870,000 |
| A4 | Conversion rate | Composite | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| A5 | Attribution to Trustpilot | Interviews | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| A6 | Average order value | Composite | $75 | $75 | $75 |
| A7 | Operating profit margin | TEI standard | 10% | 10% | 10% |
| At | Improved customer acquisition | A1*A2*A4*A5*A6*A7 | $455,625 | $546,750 | $637,875 |
| Risk adjustment | ↓25% | ||||
| Atr | Improved customer acquisition (risk-adjusted) | $341,719 | $410,063 | $478,406 | |
| Three-year total: $1,230,188 | Three-year present value: $1,008,982 | ||||
Process Improvement Efficiencies Based On Trustpilot Insights
Evidence and data. Interviewees reported that they improved several processes within their organizations using Trustpilot insights. Reviews on Trustpilot helped them uncover true customer sentiments and feedback and allowed them to identify issues faster. This led to improved operations and process improvements.
- The group marketing and operations director at AO explained: “One of the biggest advantages to us is that we take all complaints, categorize them into issues, and use it for business change and decisions. If we see a complaint on a regular basis, let’s fix the root cause of the problem rather than just respond to the issue and drive better business as a result.”
- The founder of MyES — My English School told us, “All people in our company, from top to bottom, are really engaged with Trustpilot, especially in the details of the reviews.”
Modeling and assumptions. Forrester assumes the following for the composite organization:
- The first process is improved at the end of Year 1 as the composite starts to gather data. In Year 2, another process is impacted, increasing to three in total in Year 3.
- Each process improvement is estimated to bring to the composite an average of $100,000 in savings.
- The attribution to Trustpilot is 20% as it serves as the identifier of the insight, but the composite then must take several different actions based on the insight to realize a tangible improvement.
Risks. This benefit may vary for organizations based on:
- Whether process improvements do or do not generate costs for the organizations enforcing them before saving them money.
- The size and type of organization and the number of processes improved.
- The average savings realized per process, which can change from one company to another.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $87,000.
Process Improvement Efficiencies Based On Trustpilot Insights
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Number of processes improved due to Trustpilot insights | Composite | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| B2 | Average saving per process improvement | Interviews | $100,000 | $100,000 | $100,000 |
| B3 | Attribution to Trustpilot | Assumption | 20% | 20% | 20% |
| Bt | Process improvement efficiencies based on Trustpilot insights | B1*B2*B3 | $20,000 | $40,000 | $60,000 |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | ||||
| Btr | Process improvement efficiencies based on Trustpilot insights (risk-adjusted) | $18,000 | $36,000 | $54,000 | |
| Three-year total: $108,000 | Three-year present value: $86,687 | ||||
Improved Customer Service Operations From Reduced Number Of Escalations
Evidence and data. Several interviewees noted their organizations saved time solving issues within customer services thanks to their investment in Trustpilot. Interviewees actively engaged with negative reviews and realized improvements in their customer service operations. This benefit quantified the additional effort interviewees would need to dedicate to manage escalations resulting from customer complaints. These complaints could be avoided by having customers directed to Trustpilot as a central feedback platform where customers could share their experiences with a company.
- The VP of sales and marketing of an e-commerce organization mentioned: “We can address 10 Trustpilot negative reviews in 1 hour. Without Trustpilot, if these people writing the negative reviews had to call in or email into the regular customer service channels, we would probably solve only two customer service issues in 1 hour due to needing to take more steps to address the issues. This has a financial impact, I would either have to hire more customer service people or take longer to respond to customers.”
- The group marketing and operations director at AO said, “Giving a response with Trustpilot is quicker and easier than dealing with the traditional email channel.”
Modeling and assumptions. Forrester assumes the following for the composite organization:
- The composite receives 20,000 reviews in Year 1, 50,000 in Year 2, and 100,000 in Year 3.
- Without Trustpilot, 50% of the one-star reviews would result in an escalation.
- A customer service specialist needs an average of 1 hour to solve an escalation.
- The fully loaded hourly rate for a customer service specialist is $24.
-
A productivity capture rate of 50% is applied as a TEI standard
as it can be assumed that only a certain part of the time saved is
reallocated to productive work by users.
Risks. This benefit may vary for organizations based on:
- The size of the organization, which impacts the volume of negative reviews.
- The average salary of the employees, which can vary depending on skills, industry, and location.
- Whether or not the actual productivity conversion rate is 50%.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $73,000.
Improved Customer Service Operations From Reduced Number Of Escalations
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Total number of reviews | Composite | 20,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 |
| C2 | Percentage of reviews that require action (one-star) | Interviews | 20% | 15% | 5% |
| C3 | Percentage of one-star reviews that result in an escalation | Assumption | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| C4 | Volume of escalations avoided | C1*C2*C3 | 2,000 | 3,750 | 2,500 |
| C5 | Average time needed to solve escalation (hours) | Assumption | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| C6 | Fully burdened hourly rate for a customer service specialist | TEI standard | $24 | $24 | $24 |
| C7 | Productivity realization factor | TEI standard | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| Ct | Improved customer service operations from reduced number of escalations | C4*C5*C6*C7 | $24,000 | $45,000 | $30,000 |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | ||||
| Ctr | Improved customer service operations from reduced number of escalations (risk-adjusted) | $21,600 | $40,500 | $27,000 | |
| Three-year total: $89,100 | Three-year present value: $73,393 | ||||
Time Savings In Report Management
Evidence and data. Each interviewee highlighted the time they saved generating reports. With Trustpilot, the interviewees’ organizations generated reporting on insights collected from ratings and reviews in one click.
- The VP of sales and marketing at an e-commerce told us: “From a reporting perspective, I can easily create a great summary report myself with Trustpilot; otherwise, I have to go ask an analyst. The analyst would probably take a couple of days. We save a couple days’ worth of work from an analyst perspective.”
- The VP of sales and marketing at an e-commerce mentioned, “Trustpilot allows us to have a glance at the data, be able to figure out where there are issues, and then we can go dig into our own data if we need to.”
- The brand manager at AO said: “Trustpilot’s analytics are used by our customer insight team. Given the length of time it takes to manually create reports, I believe this saves us at least 0.5 FTEs in the insight team.”
- Survey respondents also expressed which key performance indicators (KPIs) they expected to change in their organizations due to the use of online ratings and review platforms in the next 12 months (see Figure 5). Respondents expected an improvement in brand awareness (75%), customer satisfaction (73%), brand reputation (71%), brand consideration (71%), and customer retention (70%). These KPIs clearly summed up the value that respondents saw in using online ratings and review platforms and how it could positively impact their organizations financially.
Figure 5
“To what extent would
you
expect the following key performance indicators (KPIs) for your organization to
change due to the use of online reviews and rating platforms in the next 12
months?”
(Showing “Good,” “Strong,” and ”Critical”)
Base: 221 B2C marketers with responsibility
for managing brand trust, brand awareness, and customer experience working
with online ratings and review platform(s) in the DACH region, Italy, the
UK, and the US
Source: A
commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of
Trustpilot, June 2024
Modeling and assumptions. Forrester assumes the following for the composite organization:
- Prior to Trustpilot, one FTE uses three days per month to generate a similar type of reporting using customers’ insights from different sources.
- The composite organization can save 80% of that time with Trustpilot.
- The fully loaded hourly rate for a business analyst is $49.
- As standard TEI practice Forrester applied a 50% productivity conversion rate because not all saved time is put back to productive use.
Risks. This benefit may vary for organizations based on:
- The size of the organization, since larger organizations can use more than one FTE to generate reports.
- The average salary of the employees, which can vary depending on skills, industry, and location.
- Whether or not the actual productivity conversion rate is 50%.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $29,000.
Time Savings In Report Management
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Number of FTEs needed for report management without Trustpilot | Interviews | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| D2 | Time needed to generate reports (hours) | Interviews | 664 | 664 | 664 |
| D3 | Percentage of time saved on report management due to Trustpilot | Interviews | 80% | 80% | 80% |
| D4 | Fully burdened hourly rate for a business analyst | TEI standard | $49 | $49 | $49 |
| D5 | Productivity realization factor | TEI standard | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| Dt | Time savings in report management | D1*D2*D3*D4*D5 | $13,014 | $13,014 | $13,014 |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | ||||
| Dtr | Time savings in report management (risk-adjusted) | $11,713 | $11,713 | $11,713 | |
| Three-year total: $35,139 | Three-year present value: $29,128 | ||||
Unquantified Benefits
Interviewees and survey respondents mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:
- Improved employee experience (EX). Working with Trustpilot helped their employees to work in an environment that was centered around trust and customer service. Interviewees highlighted how positive reviews about their businesses boosted workplace morale and cultivate a supportive, positive environment. The VP of sales and marketing at an e-commerce organization said: “The positive reviews are great. Without Trustpilot, we would not have as much visibility into the positive aspects of our work. People call in and say: ‘Hey, I love your service. Thank you so much for the work you do.’”
- Enhanced brand awareness. Trustpilot helped the interviewees’ enterprises enhance their brand awareness. By encouraging customers to share their experiences, the interviewees’ businesses built trust and credibility. Interviewees noted that Trustpilot played the role of third-party validation and approval. They also highlighted that their brand awareness improved significantly due to being linked with Trustpilot and having a strong positive presence on the Trustpilot platform. The executive consultant at MyES — My English School mentioned: “We are doing research at the moment around brand awareness, and it is great to see our brand value linked to our reputation thanks to Trustpilot.”
-
Richer insight into customer sentiment due to
the uniqueness of the data collected. Trustpilot
supported the interviewees’ organizations to collect large amounts of
feedback about their brands that they would not have otherwise. The brand
manager at AO underlined: “For us, it is important to be able to respond to
the customers and also obtain the details. We want to sort things out for
the customer, and the analytics and the insight that you get access to off
the back of Trustpilot is great.”
Trustpilot also provided the interviewees’ organizations with location-based insights to aid decision-making and enhance both employee and customer experiences at specific locations. This feature enabled the interviewees’ organizations to manage local operations more effectively. The founder of MyES — My English School noted, “We noticed that the locations that don’t have enough reviews or have some bad reviews also don’t have a healthy number of leads to develop our business.”
- Improved customer satisfaction. Most of the interviewees said they were able to answer negative reviews within 24 hours, which positively impacted customer satisfaction. Quick reactions from the interviewees’ companies showed that they valued customer time and feedback, which significantly boosted satisfaction. It helped build trust and loyalty as customers appreciated businesses that address their needs promptly. The group marketing and ops director at a retail company told us, “We will answer to Trustpilot negative reviews within maximum 24 hours, and we will often be there quicker than that.”
Flexibility
The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Trustpilot and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:
-
Adopting additional Trustpilot features.
Trustpilot recently released a new generative AI (genAI)
feature that streamlined review management processes. The VP of sales and
marketing at an e-commerce organization said, “That is definitely an
opportunity for us to look into and to try.” By leveraging this feature in
the future, interviewees will potentially be able to further improve the
end-to-end review management processes.
Additionally, 50% of the TEI survey respondents mentioned that they saw a key opportunity in reviews and ratings platforms providing automated review monitoring and alerts for timely response. This data point suggests how the customer service improvements could be further enhanced in the future. - Expanding the reach of Trustpilot across different channels. The VP of sales and marketing at an e-commerce organization said: “We want to put more emphasis on integrating Trustpilot into more places. Starting with persistent integration in our email messaging and looking at what we can do off-site like the search area. I feel like there’s a lot that we haven’t started to even scratch the surface on just yet. So definitely finding more of those customer touch points where we can integrate it.” Interviewees noted Trustpilot allowed them to leverage the Trustpilot logo and TrustScore associated with their company’s brand. The interviewees also reported that, in the future, their organizations could further enhance their advertising use cases to keep improving brand reputation and recognition and, in turn, attract more customers with co-branded marketing campaigns.
- Scaling the use of Trustpilot to different markets. One of the interviewees whose organization operates globally noted they owned one domain per country. They mentioned, “My objective is to scale the usage of Trustpilot across all our domains globally.” By doing so, Trustpilot could help the interviewees’ organizations gather granular insight with a location-based approach. This would allow these organizations to spot issues by specific location based on customer feedback as well as best practices or positive changes made in a specific location that could be leveraged in other locations.
Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Appendix A).
Quantified cost data as applied to the composite
Total Costs
| Ref. | Cost | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etr | Subscription costs | $0 | $44,000 | $44,000 | $44,000 | $132,000 | $109,421 |
| Ftr | Incremental operational costs | $8,211 | $29,302 | $57,236 | $63,112 | $157,861 | $129,568 |
| Total costs (risk-adjusted) | $8,211 | $73,302 | $101,236 | $107,112 | $289,861 | $238,989 | |
Subscription Costs
Evidence and data. Interviewees noted Trustpilot´s subscription fees were dependent on the business plan that their organizations decided to use. The four plans depended on the number of users, widgets, invitations, and other features that could be added to the platform.
Modeling and assumptions. The composite organization has an enterprise plan and has one domain. The composite pays $40,000 annually.
Risks. This cost changes depending on the business plan that is selected as well as the number of domains.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $109,000.
Subscription Costs
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Subscription costs | Interviews | $0 | $40,000 | $40,000 | $40,000 | |
| Et | Subscription costs | E1 | $0 | $40,000 | $40,000 | $40,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | ||||||
| Etr | Subscription costs (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $44,000 | $44,000 | $44,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $132,000 | Three-year present value: $109,421 | ||||||
Incremental Operational Costs
Evidence and data. All interviewees mentioned that the Trustpilot implementation was straightforward and did not require any or minimal implementation or training time. Some resources had to be allocated for the management of the platform and the end-to-end reviews as well as the integrations to other platforms.
- The senior VP of global operations at Groupon said, “The integration with other platforms is quite straightforward.”
- The VP of sales and marketing at an e-commerce company mentioned: “When we integrate Trustpilot to our other platforms there are development costs. For example, when we added Trustpilot review widgets onto our website.”
Modeling and assumptions. Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The composite organization integrates Trustpilot with its customer service software during the initial phase. The integration takes 140 hours to complete.
- In Year 2, the composite organization integrates Trustpilot with its marketing automation platform. The integration takes 140 hours to complete.
- The ongoing management of the platform takes the team 10 hours per month every year.
- The end-to-end review management, including answering one- to three-star reviews and sending invitations takes 400 hours in Year 1 and increases to 1,000 hours in Year 3 as the number of invitations and reviews increases.
- The fully loaded hourly rate for a developer is $51 and the fully loaded hourly rate for a business analyst is $49.
Risks. This cost can vary across organizations due to:
- The size and industry of the organization.
- The amount of integration the organization handles.
- The salary rates of the employees which varies depending on the level of skills and the distribution of the team by location.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $130,000.
Incremental Operational Costs
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Time needed for platform management (hours) | Interviews | 120 | 120 | 120 | |
| F2 | Time needed for end-to-end review management (hours) | Interviews | 400 | 750 | 1,000 | |
| F3 | Development time for integrations (hours) | Interviews | 140 | 0 | 140 | 0 |
| F4 | Fully burdened hourly rate for a business analyst | TEI standard | $49 | $49 | $49 | |
| F5 | Fully burdened hourly rate for a developer | TEI standard | $51 | $51 | ||
| Ft | Incremental operational costs | (F3*F5)+((F1+F2)*F4) | $7,140 | $25,480 | $49,770 | $54,880 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑15% | |||||
| Ftr | Incremental operational costs (risk-adjusted) | $8,211 | $29,302 | $57,236 | $63,112 | |
| Three-year total: $157,861 | Three-year present value: $129,568 | |||||
Consolidated Three-Year, Risk-Adjusted Metrics
Cash Flow Chart (Risk-Adjusted)
Total costs Total benefits Cumulative net benefits Initial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3-
The financial results calculated in the Benefits and Costs sections can be used to determine the ROI, NPV, and payback period for the composite organization’s investment. Forrester assumes a yearly discount rate of 10% for this analysis.
These risk-adjusted ROI, NPV, and payback period values are determined by applying risk-adjustment factors to the unadjusted results in each Benefit and Cost section.
Cash Flow Analysis (Risk-Adjusted Estimates)
| Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs | ($8,211) | ($73,302) | ($101,236) | ($107,112) | ($289,861) | ($238,989) |
| Total benefits | $0 | $393,032 | $498,275 | $571,119 | $1,462,426 | $1,198,190 |
| Net benefits | ($8,211) | $319,730 | $397,040 | $464,007 | $1,172,566 | $959,201 |
| ROI | 401% | |||||
| Payback | <6 months | |||||
Appendix A: Total Economic Impact
Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
Total Economic Impact Approach
-
Benefits represent the value delivered to the business by the product. The TEI methodology places equal weight on the measure of benefits and the measure of costs, allowing for a full examination of the effect of the technology on the entire organization.
-
Costs consider all expenses necessary to deliver the proposed value, or benefits, of the product. The cost category within TEI captures incremental costs over the existing environment for ongoing costs associated with the solution.
-
Flexibility represents the strategic value that can be obtained for some future additional investment building on top of the initial investment already made. Having the ability to capture that benefit has a PV that can be estimated.
-
Risks measure the uncertainty of benefit and cost estimates given: 1) the likelihood that estimates will meet original projections and 2) the likelihood that estimates will be tracked over time. TEI risk factors are based on “triangular distribution.”
The initial investment column contains costs incurred at “time 0” or at the beginning of Year 1 that are not discounted. All other cash flows are discounted using the discount rate at the end of the year. PV calculations are calculated for each total cost and benefit estimate. NPV calculations in the summary tables are the sum of the initial investment and the discounted cash flows in each year. Sums and present value calculations of the Total Benefits, Total Costs, and Cash Flow tables may not exactly add up, as some rounding may occur.
APpendix B: Interview And Survey Demographics
Interviews
| Role | Company | Industry | HQ location | TrustScore (August 2024) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VP of sales and marketing | Preferred not to disclose | E-commerce | North
America Operates globally |
4.7 |
| Corporate
communications manager Group marketing and ops director Brand manager |
AO | Retail | UK | 4.8 |
| Senior VP of global operations | Groupon | E-commerce |
UK Operates globally |
4.0 |
|
Founder Executive consultant |
MyES – My English School | Education |
Italy Operates in Europe |
4.9 |
Survey Demographics
Country
United States DACH United Kingdom ItalyEmployees
51 to 499 employees 500 to 999 employees 1,000 to 4,999 employees 5,000 to 19,999 employees 20,000 or more employees
Revenue
$1 million to $99 million $100 million to $199 million $200 million to $299 million $300 million to $399 million $400 million to $499 million $500 million to $999 million $1 billion to $5 billion >$5 billion
Industry
Travel and hospitality Education and/or nonprofit Retail Financial services and/or insurance
Position
C-level executive (e.g., CEO, CMO) Vice president (in charge of one/several large departments) Director (manage a team of managers and high-level contributors) Manager (manage a team of functional practitioners)
Department
Marketing/ advertising Executive team Customer service
Responsibility
I am the final decision-maker for online ratings and review platforms. I am part of the team that makes decisions about online ratings and review platforms. I influence decisions related to online ratings and review platforms.
Base:
221 B2C marketers with responsibility for managing brand trust, brand
awareness,
and customer experience working with online ratings and review platform(s)
in
the DACH region, Italy, the UK, and the US
Source: A
commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of
Trustpilot,
June 2024
Note:
Percentages may not total 100 due to
rounding.
Appendix C: Supplemental Material
Related Forrester Research
The Trust Imperative, Forrester Research, Inc., May 12, 2021.
Appendix D: Endnotes
1 Source: The Trust Imperative, Forrester Research, Inc., May 12, 2021.
2 Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
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