Comments on: Trustpilot.co.uk – Sorting The Good Companies From The Bad http://indiestartups.com/startups/trustpilotcouk-sorting-the-good-companies-from-bad Covering bootstrapped, independent, self-funded, and ambitious start-ups Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:38:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dave http://indiestartups.com/startups/trustpilotcouk-sorting-the-good-companies-from-bad/comment-page-1#comment-6147 Dave Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:38:38 +0000 http://indiestartups.com/?p=171#comment-6147 I think this idea is brilliant. It's an idea I've been discussing with a lot of friends for almost a year and I really think it can be a multilmillion dollar business. I think trustpilot might be doing it backwards though. Because their reach is small, the information is more valuable to the marketer than it is the consumer. If I were to launch a similar technology, I wouldn't worry about generating feedback, I'd focus on gathering the feedback that's already out on the web, sorting it so it makes sense, and selling that information to the advertisers. I think this idea is brilliant. It’s an idea I’ve been discussing with a lot of friends for almost a year and I really think it can be a multilmillion dollar business. I think trustpilot might be doing it backwards though. Because their reach is small, the information is more valuable to the marketer than it is the consumer. If I were to launch a similar technology, I wouldn’t worry about generating feedback, I’d focus on gathering the feedback that’s already out on the web, sorting it so it makes sense, and selling that information to the advertisers.

]]> By: Jessica http://indiestartups.com/startups/trustpilotcouk-sorting-the-good-companies-from-bad/comment-page-1#comment-2677 Jessica Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:29:54 +0000 http://indiestartups.com/?p=171#comment-2677 Hello to all :) I can Hello to all :) I can

]]> By: Chris http://indiestartups.com/startups/trustpilotcouk-sorting-the-good-companies-from-bad/comment-page-1#comment-1618 Chris Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:42:25 +0000 http://indiestartups.com/?p=171#comment-1618 Interesting comment Jules, I can get to their site but you raise an important point. Quite a few review sites start with good intentions and then start biasing their results / reviews based on financial incentives. I think that this is the very thing startups like Trust Pilot, and many others are trying to address with human voting / ranking. Looking at their proposition at least it looks like the website is free for both users and merchants, and that merchants are displayed in relation to the percentage of good vs bad reviews. Which gives a chance to the smaller players providing better service to shine I would hope. What are your thoughts, do you think better service will emerge from these services? And are the search engines going to take such items into consideration in future SERP rankings? Interesting comment Jules, I can get to their site but you raise an important point. Quite a few review sites start with good intentions and then start biasing their results / reviews based on financial incentives.

I think that this is the very thing startups like Trust Pilot, and many others are trying to address with human voting / ranking. Looking at their proposition at least it looks like the website is free for both users and merchants, and that merchants are displayed in relation to the percentage of good vs bad reviews. Which gives a chance to the smaller players providing better service to shine I would hope.

What are your thoughts, do you think better service will emerge from these services? And are the search engines going to take such items into consideration in future SERP rankings?

]]> By: Jules http://indiestartups.com/startups/trustpilotcouk-sorting-the-good-companies-from-bad/comment-page-1#comment-1610 Jules Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:50:32 +0000 http://indiestartups.com/?p=171#comment-1610 Hmm, the site is currently down. Wonder if their list of reputable companies can point them in the way of reputable hosting? ;) On a more serious note, the general problem with this business model is that it's very easy for the company to end up providing financially driven results. Take a look at most "hosting review" websites and you'll see that the top rated hosts are often the ones who paid for the placement and rating. I wonder of TrustPilot will end up going down the same path? Hmm, the site is currently down. Wonder if their list of reputable companies can point them in the way of reputable hosting? ;)

On a more serious note, the general problem with this business model is that it’s very easy for the company to end up providing financially driven results. Take a look at most “hosting review” websites and you’ll see that the top rated hosts are often the ones who paid for the placement and rating. I wonder of TrustPilot will end up going down the same path?

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