How Trustpilot calculates TrustScore

The three factors

All of this comes from Trustpilot's article TrustScore and star rating explained.

Time span. Newer reviews hold more weight than older ones. Trustpilot calls recent reviews a good sign of current customer satisfaction.

Frequency. Because recent reviews weigh more, the score is most stable when reviews come in regularly. Trustpilot adds that whether or not a company asks for reviews can affect the score.

Average. To give every company a balanced start, the weighted average includes 7 neutral reviews worth 3.5 stars. Their effect shrinks as more real reviews arrive.

What the 7 neutral reviews do

This part explains most of the odd scores on small profiles.

Here is a simplified illustration that ignores time weighting. It is our arithmetic, not Trustpilot's formula.

Two lessons follow. On a small profile, the built-in reviews pull the score toward 3.5 in both directions, so a handful of real reviews, good or bad, moves it a long way. On a large profile they stop mattering.

This is why many small supplement and clinic profiles sit between 2.0 and 3.0. A few unhappy customers found the profile, and nobody else was invited. See the supplements page.

What does not count

Trustpilot lists two things that have no effect:

• Review source. The calculation does not distinguish between verified, invited and unprompted reviews.
• Business type. It is the same for every industry, and the same whether or not the business has a paid subscription.

Three more rules affect what is counted:

• Only the latest review per customer. A customer can review you more than once. All the reviews stay visible, but only the most recent one feeds the score.
• Offline reviews. Reviews that Trustpilot takes offline do not count toward the score or the star rating.
• Recalculation. Under 10,000 reviews, the score updates immediately after a new review. Over 10,000, once per day.

Scores also move when reviews go offline without a flag from you. Our guide on why Trustpilot reviews disappear lists the six causes.

From score to stars

The star rating is the TrustScore drawn as stars, rounded to the nearest half star by standard rounding. With a score shown to one decimal, the steps fall at 3.8 for 4 stars, 4.3 for 4.5 stars and 4.8 for 5 stars. That table is our calculation from Trustpilot's rounding rule. Our guide to TrustScore and conversion covers why those steps matter more than the decimal.

What moves a TrustScore, in order of effect

1. A steady flow of new reviews from all customers. New reviews carry the most weight, and regular arrival keeps the score stable. Trustpilot requires invitations to be fair and neutral. See Trustpilot's invitation rules.
2. Fixing the cause of a repeating complaint. Fewer new 1-star reviews arrive, and the recent mix improves month by month.
3. Removing recent reviews that break the rules. Recent reviews weigh the most, so taking out recent rule-breaking 1-star reviews has more effect than taking out old ones.
4. Customers who update their view. If a customer posts a new review after their problem is fixed, only the newer one counts. You can never ask for this in exchange for anything, and Trustpilot says you should never pressure a reviewer to edit.

Removing old reviews from a large profile is at the bottom of the list. It may still be worth doing for other reasons, such as a review that exposes a staff member's phone number.

What this means for a removal project

We do not forecast a score. Trustpilot does not publish the weights, so any forecast would be a guess. What the audit can tell you is how many of your reviews break a rule, how recent they are, and how many real reviews your profile has. Those three facts tell you whether removal will show in the score or whether invitations should come first.

The labels on your reviews matter too. Our guide to invited and organic reviews explains which flagging routes each label leaves open.

See the main Trustpilot review removal page for the process, or request a free audit.

For help with your own profile, start with our Trustpilot review removal service. Our review removal pricing is per confirmed removal, with nothing up front.