Google and Trustpilot reviews in your store: showing them and asking for them properly

You have dozens of good reviews on your Google profile or on Trustpilot. The customer hesitating on a product page does not see them, because to do so they would have to leave your store and look for them. Bringing them to the website is simple; doing it properly and asking for more without breaking the rules is more nuanced.

This article focuses on external platforms. If you are interested in getting and showing product reviews in general, we have another dedicated guide.

Why external reviews carry more weight

• A third party controls them. Customers know you cannot delete them at will, and that gives them credibility.
• They talk about the store, not the product. They answer a new buyer's question: “is this store trustworthy, does it ship on time, does it help when there is a problem?”.
• You already have them. There is no need to start from scratch.

How to bring them to the store

Google

There are two routes. The Places API, with an API key, returns a small number of reviews per query (those Google considers most relevant). The Google Business Profile API, with your owner account connected, gives access to all your reviews and your replies. The first is easier to set up; the second is the complete one.

Trustpilot and others

Trustpilot offers its own widgets and an API. Facebook lets you read your page's recommendations with the right permissions.

Where to show them

• Home page and footer: a badge with the average rating and the number of reviews.
• Product page: a block close to the buy button, where the doubt is resolved.
• Checkout: sparingly; a discreet reminder of the rating helps at the last step.

Asking for reviews without review gating

Review gating consists of first asking customers whether they are happy and sending only the satisfied ones to leave a public review, while the dissatisfied ones go to an internal form. It seems clever, but:

• Google expressly prohibits it in its review content policies: you cannot discourage negative reviews or selectively solicit positive ones.
• Trustpilot also requires invitations to be sent without filtering by satisfaction.
• The consequences range from reviews being removed to public warnings on your profile.

What you can do:

1. Ask all customers for a review, at the same point in the cycle.
2. Choose the moment well: when the order has arrived, not when it has been paid. Asking for a rating of something not yet received generates “it hasn't arrived yet” reviews.
3. Asking for the rating first is acceptable if you then show everyone, whatever they put, the link to the public review.
4. Provide a direct link to leave the review, with no intermediate steps.
5. Do not offer incentives in exchange for positive reviews. Google does not allow incentives for reviews on its platform.

Stars in Google results

Many merchants expect that, by showing their Google reviews on their website, stars will appear next to their store in the results. That is not the case:

• Since 2019, Google does not show stars in results for reviews that a business publishes about itself (so-called self-serving reviews, marked up as LocalBusiness or Organization) on its own website.
• Copying Google reviews onto your website and marking them up with structured data to get stars goes against its guidelines.
• Product stars can appear if the reviews are about the product, are visible on the page and are collected on your own website or on a product review platform.

The stars you see in Google Shopping or in ads come from Google's own programmes and authorised aggregators, not from what you put in your HTML.

Replying to reviews

Replying, including to negative reviews, is the part that builds the most trust. A polite reply that acknowledges the problem and explains what was done convinces a new buyer more than ten five-star reviews. If you show the reviews on your website, show your replies too.

Checklist

1. Your external reviews appear on the product page and the home page.
2. A line explains where they come from and whether they are verified.
3. You ask all customers for a review when the order is delivered.
4. Nobody is left without the public link for having given a low rating.
5. You do not mark up Google reviews with structured data to get stars.
6. You reply to reviews, especially negative ones.

How to handle it in PrestaShop

RKR Google & Trustpilot Reviews connects Google (with a Places API key, which returns 5 reviews per sync, or with Google Business Profile, which brings in all of them and your replies), Trustpilot and Facebook, and lets you import reviews from CSV or JSON. It shows them with four widget types (carousel, grid, list and rating badge) on the home page, header, footer and columns, and in a tab on the product page, with 23 design themes and filters by source and minimum stars. When an order reaches the status you choose, for example Delivered, it sends the customer an email to rate their purchase; if they are first asked for a rating from 1 to 5 stars, everyone then sees the link to the public review. It works on PrestaShop 1.7.8 to 9.2.