By now, everyone knows that customer feedback is essential for gaining the trust of future customers and building social proof that is necessary for boosting sales. Consumers are placing more trust in online reviews than ever before. 97% of online customers look at reviews before finalizing a purchase, and 73% report that it has an impact on their confidence with a purchase.
This is just one of the many reasons that customer feedback software is necessary for building an honest and reliable bank of reviews. These software tools can help your team manage online reviews by not only making it easier for customers to leave honest feedback but also for your brand to use them strategically.
When it comes to customer review management, two of the top names are Trustpilot and Feefo, both of which promise to help you increase sales, website traffic, and gather important customer sentiment insight.
So, which program is better for you and your business?
Let’s dive in.
Features
Feefo’s program helps brands connect with their customers by strategically using feedback to drive traffic. Some of their key features include machine learning-powered integration tools and SEO auditing reports to boost review visibility and increase sales. You can also customize review invite campaigns and create a portfolio of feedback from verified customers.
Feefo also includes in-depth analytical reporting to keep track of important data sets, such as overall sentiment, changes in website traffic, and customer insight to see how your review gathering strategies are influencing your sales.
Just as the name implies, Trustpilot is highly focused on building trust between a business and its customers. It has fraud detection software to eliminate fakes and does not allow businesses to change any reviews (though you can contact the compliance team to review posts that may be spam).
You can also create customizable review invites to email customers and boost your review numbers while making it easy for them to leave feedback. From there, Trustpilot offers collection analytics to help keep track of the results.
Trustpilot also includes Trustbox widgets that can be integrated on your website to display reviews, along with overall ratings to make it easy for customers to research before their purchase decision.
Plans Available
Feefo’s plans are customized for each business. Prices vary based on a number of factors and you must contact their sales team for an estimate. However, their site offers four basic categories for plan sizes, all of which offer analytic software support to keep track of important customer review data. The first is a Starter plan that is designed for new businesses that are looking for a system to gather customer reviews and get the ball rolling. The Growth, Professional, and Enterprise packages all offer support for multiple websites, along with account management and automated quarterly reviews.
One unique benefit Feefo offers is a free demo for each package, which allows businesses to get a feel for the program before buying and helps them decide which plan works best for them.
Trustpilot also offers four plans, including a free basic plan – a great starting point for startups. It allows for 100 customer review invites to be sent out. This package also allows you to create a TrustBox widget for your website that displays your overall review averages. This free program also includes social media review sharing, analytical reports, and customer support.
The next size up is the Lite plan which starts at $299 a month and includes all the features from the Free package, along with 300 review invites and a customizable TrustBox that displays specific reviews instead of just mean averages.
The Pro plan costs $549 per month. This includes 1,000 invite emails, along with more customization options for these invites. This plan also offers in-depth analytical reports with helpful statistics and data.
The Enterprise is the most comprehensive plan. The price varies based on your business’s needs. Of course, this package has all of Trustpilot’s best features, along with additional bonuses like integration with popular e-commerce platforms such as Shopify and better insight tools.
Besides the free package, Trustpilot offers free demos for their Lite and Pro packages.
Winner – Trustpilot
While both services offer free demo options, there is no denying that an entirely free plan is great for new businesses and startups, which is why Trustpilot takes the cake here.
Multiple User Access
Unless you’re a small or new business, there are several teams within your company that will want access to customer review data. Sales teams, marketing departments, and customer service representatives will certainly benefit from these tools; so having multiple user accounts with a customer review management software is important.
Trustpilot allows the admin account to add multiple users on the Pro and Enterprise packages, which allows your entire team access to the system.
Feefo also allows multiple accounts to be created, but the admin controls what changes these users can make and which files they can access.
Winner – It’s a Tie
It’s important to understand the reason why this feature is so important. Not all customer review management platforms offer this, which could cause issues. Thankfully, both Trustpilot and Feefo offer this incredibly essential feature to allow teams to have complete access to the information they need for their campaigns.
Open or Invite Only
Allowing any customer to leave feedback can be a bit of a risk, especially with the influx of spammy reviews. In fact, 48% of US consumers find it hard to spot fake reviews or tell whether or not businesses have altered the feedback for their benefit – something that can negatively affect customer trust.
Although having an open system may result in more negative reviews, it can actually help build trust in your company. 68% of customers appreciate when businesses display both the bad and the good, as it makes them more trustworthy and honest.
Trustpilot is committed to being an open platform that will not allow businesses to alter or delete customer reviews. Again, it does include smart fraud detection to eliminate any spam and allows admin to flag comments for review if they seem to be fraudulent or include false information.
Feefo instead only allows for reviews if the customer is invited to leave one. While this does ensure that feedback is only left by verified customers, it gives companies more control over who they reach out to, which could lead to cherry picking only the best customers.
Winner – Trustpilot
In the end, it is better to be honest, even if that means displaying some negative sentiment. Although Feefo’s invite-only platform may help you gather more relevant feedback, customers will appreciate the transparency of an open platform like Trustpilot.
Photo and Video Review
Visuals are not just great for marketing material; it can also be quite helpful for customer reviews, too. Seeing a picture of how a product really looks, feels, and works can be just what an on-the-fence customer needs to make a confident purchase.
Feefo allows customers to easily drag and drop their own pictures and videos on the review page, and according to their own research, 85% of customers would be more likely to buy a product after viewing a video uploaded by another customer.
Unfortunately, Trustpilot does not offer the option for customers to upload personal pictures or videos to their reviews.
Winner – Feefo
This feature is definitely a nice added bonus that can increase conversions and traffic. Since Feefo allows your brand to build up a library of user-generated content for both review pages and marketing purposes, it’s the clear winner in this category.
Conclusion
Both of these platforms offer excellent features that are necessary to building consumer trust. Both Feefo and Trustpilot have multiple plans to fit every business’s needs, including free demo options to help you decide which package is most ideal. Feefo’s video and photo review option is great for UGC, but its invite-only review rule does limit the authenticity of the feedback. However, with a totally free package plan and the commitment to open reviews in which everyone is free to leave their honest opinions, Trustpilot has many features that outshine Feefo.
Of course, both of these tools are great and one many be a better fit for your business depending on what you need. Be sure to do your research and reach out to their sales departments for further information (or sign up for a free demo from either platform) to help you find the best customer review management tool for your business.