Getting started on Trustpilot takes less time than most people expect. Here's the complete process — from creating your business account to collecting your first reviews — written specifically for UK businesses.
Step 1: Check Whether a Profile Already Exists
Trustpilot is an open platform, which means customers can leave reviews for any business whether or not the business has claimed its profile. Before creating an account, search for your business at trustpilot.com.
If a profile exists with reviews you weren't aware of, don't panic — that's actually a good starting point. You'll claim this profile rather than creating one from scratch.
Step 2: Create a Business Account
Go to business.trustpilot.com and select Get started for free.
You'll be asked for:
- Your business domain (e.g.
yourbusiness.co.uk) - Your business name and address
- Your email address (use a business email, not Gmail)
Trustpilot has a free plan that gives you access to the core features: claiming your profile, responding to reviews, and sharing your review link. Paid plans add features like review invitation automation, widgets, and analytics — but you don't need them on day one.
Step 3: Verify Domain Ownership
After creating your account, Trustpilot will ask you to verify that you own the domain.
There are two methods:
HTML tag: Add a <meta> tag to the <head> of your website's homepage. If you're on WordPress, a plugin like Insert Headers and Footers makes this straightforward.
DNS TXT record: Add a TXT record via your domain registrar or hosting control panel. If you're on Plesk, go to Domains → [your domain] → DNS Settings and add the TXT record Trustpilot provides.
Once added, click Verify in your Trustpilot dashboard. It may take a few minutes for DNS changes to propagate.
Step 4: Complete Your Profile
A complete profile ranks better in Trustpilot's own search and looks more credible to visitors.
Fill in:
- Business description (2–3 sentences, plain English)
- Business category (choose the most relevant one)
- Website URL
- Contact email
- Logo (at least 200x200px)
Avoid keyword-stuffing your description. Trustpilot profiles that read naturally convert better than ones that look optimised for search.
Step 5: Get Your Review Link
In your Trustpilot Business dashboard, go to Get Reviews → Share your review link.
Your link will follow this format: https://uk.trustpilot.com/evaluate/yourdomain.co.uk
This is the link you'll include in every review invitation email. Bookmark it, and paste it into your email templates, your post-purchase confirmation emails, and anywhere else customer-facing.
Step 6: Import Existing Reviews (Optional)
If you have previous customer email addresses, Trustpilot allows you to send a one-time bulk invitation to past customers when you first set up your account. This can help you build an initial base of reviews quickly.
To do this, go to Get Reviews → Invite customers and upload a CSV of email addresses. Trustpilot will send the invitations on your behalf.
Note: you can only do this import once, and the emails must be from genuine past customers.
Step 7: Set Up Your Ongoing Review Collection Process
This is where most businesses either succeed or fail on Trustpilot.
Getting 20 reviews in your first month is achievable. Maintaining a flow of 10–20 new reviews per month going forward requires a process — not a manual effort.
The most reliable approach: send a review invitation email to every customer within 24–72 hours of their purchase or service completion. This doesn't need to be manual. Tools like Revumate connect to your customer list and send these emails automatically, so every customer gets asked without you having to think about it.
Step 8: Add Trustpilot Widgets to Your Website
Once you have 10+ reviews, add a Trustpilot widget to your website to show your rating to visitors. This is a meaningful conversion rate improvement for most businesses — particularly on pricing pages and checkout.
Trustpilot provides widget code in your Business dashboard under Promote your profile → Get widgets.
For UK businesses, the widget with your TrustScore and star rating displayed works best in the header, footer, or on product/service pages.
Step 9: Start Responding to Reviews
Set up Trustpilot email notifications so you're alerted when new reviews come in. Respond to every review — positive and negative — within 48 hours.
For positive reviews, a brief, warm thank-you is enough. For negative reviews, follow the guidance in our full guide to responding to negative Trustpilot reviews.
Common Setup Mistakes to Avoid
Using a personal email to sign up — use a business email address. This affects how Trustpilot treats your account and how you appear to reviewers.
Leaving the profile unclaimed — if you don't claim your profile, you can't respond to reviews or control the information shown. Any business operating in the UK should claim theirs.
Only setting up and then forgetting it — Trustpilot profiles that sit without new reviews for months look stale. Build the collection process into your standard post-purchase workflow from day one.
Asking friends or family for reviews — Trustpilot has fraud detection that can remove reviews from non-customers and flag accounts that receive suspicious review patterns.
Once your profile is live and your first reviews start coming in, the next step is keeping the momentum going. Revumate automates review collection for UK small businesses — try it free for 14 days.