The fastest way to get Trustpilot reviews is to use Trustpilot’s built-in invitation tools to ask real customers for feedback after a purchase or service. You can send invitations manually, automate them through your email system, or connect an e-commerce platform that handles the process for you. Every Trustpilot business account, including the free tier, comes with the ability to send review invitations, though the number you can send each month depends on your plan.
How Trustpilot Review Invitations Work
Trustpilot distinguishes between “organic” reviews, where someone visits your profile and writes one on their own, and “invited” reviews, where you send a customer a direct link to leave feedback. Invited reviews are labeled as verified, which adds credibility. Most businesses collect the majority of their reviews through invitations rather than waiting for customers to find them organically.
You can send invitations one at a time from your Trustpilot dashboard, upload a spreadsheet of customer emails in bulk, or set up an automated system that triggers invitations after every transaction. The automated route is where most review volume comes from, because it removes the need to remember to ask.
Setting Up Automatic Invitations
Trustpilot’s Automatic Feedback Service (AFS) connects your existing email system to Trustpilot so that review invitations go out automatically after a customer interaction. The basic idea: when your system sends a transactional email like an order confirmation, delivery notification, or invoice, Trustpilot receives a signal and schedules a review invitation to that customer.
The most common setup method uses the BCC field. You add a unique Trustpilot email address as a blind carbon copy recipient on your transactional emails. When the email sends, the customer never sees the BCC address, but Trustpilot picks up the notification and queues an invitation. If your email system doesn’t support BCC, you can instead send a separate trigger email directly to your Trustpilot address.
For AFS to generate a verified invitation, Trustpilot needs the customer’s email address at minimum. Including a reference number (like an order ID) and the customer’s name is optional but recommended, since it personalizes the invitation and ties the review to a specific transaction. This information can be pulled automatically from your email content or added using a structured data snippet in the email code.
Common trigger emails that work well with AFS include order confirmations, receipts, delivery confirmations, subscription renewals, and service completion messages. Choose the trigger that best represents the moment your customer has enough experience to write a meaningful review. For physical products, a delivery confirmation makes more sense than an order confirmation, since the customer hasn’t received the item yet at the point of purchase.
E-Commerce Platform Integrations
If you run an online store, you may not need to configure AFS manually. Trustpilot offers integrations with major e-commerce platforms including BigCommerce and Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento), along with third-party tools like AfterShip that connect shipment tracking to review collection. These integrations handle the invitation trigger automatically based on order status changes in your store.
Installing a Trustpilot integration through your e-commerce platform typically takes a few minutes. Once connected, the integration pulls order data (customer email, order number, product details) and sends invitations on a schedule you define. Some integrations also support product-level reviews, not just service reviews, which can display star ratings on individual product pages.
Monthly Invitation Limits by Plan
Your Trustpilot plan determines how many review invitations you can send each month. The free account includes 50 invitations per month, which is enough for very small businesses or those just getting started. Paid plans scale up from there:
- Starter: 100 invitations per month
- Plus: 300 invitations per month
- Premium: 1,000 invitations per month
- Enterprise: Unlimited invitations
If you process more orders per month than your plan allows, you’ll need to either upgrade or be selective about which customers receive invitations. Some businesses prioritize inviting repeat customers or those who completed higher-value transactions, since these buyers tend to leave more detailed reviews.
Timing Your Invitation
When you send the invitation matters as much as whether you send one. Ask too early and the customer hasn’t fully experienced your product or service. Ask too late and the purchase is no longer top of mind.
For physical products, sending the invitation three to seven days after delivery gives customers time to unbox and try what they bought. For digital products or SaaS tools, one to three days after signup or purchase is typically enough. Service businesses like plumbers, consultants, or agencies often get the best response rates by sending the invitation the same day the work is completed, while the experience is fresh.
Trustpilot lets you set a delay between the trigger email and the invitation. Adjust this delay based on your product type and delivery timeline. You can also experiment with different intervals and track which timing produces the highest response rate in your Trustpilot dashboard.
Writing an Effective Invitation
Trustpilot sends the invitation email on your behalf, but you have some control over the messaging. Keep the request short and specific. Customers are more likely to respond when the email feels personal and when they understand that the review will take only a minute or two.
Reference the specific product or service they purchased if possible. “How was your experience with [product name]?” performs better than a generic “Tell us what you think.” Including the customer’s first name in the subject line or greeting also increases open rates.
Avoid language that steers the customer toward a positive review. Trustpilot’s fraud detection systems flag patterns that suggest cherry-picking, and customers trust review profiles more when they see a natural mix of ratings.
What You Cannot Do
Trustpilot prohibits incentivized reviews. You cannot offer discounts, promo codes, prize draw entries, refunds, freebies, or any other benefit connected to your business in exchange for leaving a review. This applies to all reviews, not just positive ones. Offering a 10% coupon “for your feedback” violates the policy even if you don’t specify what rating you want.
You also cannot selectively invite only customers you expect to leave positive reviews. Trustpilot’s guidelines require that invitations go out consistently to all customers, or at least to a representative sample. If Trustpilot detects that you’re filtering out unhappy customers before sending invitations, your account can be flagged or penalized.
Posting fake reviews, asking employees to write reviews, or using third-party services that sell reviews are all violations that can result in a consumer alert being placed on your Trustpilot profile, which is a visible warning to anyone who views your page.
Responding to Reviews You Receive
Once reviews start coming in, responding to them publicly signals to future reviewers that someone is actually reading their feedback. Thank customers who leave positive reviews with a brief, genuine reply. For negative reviews, acknowledge the issue, explain what you’re doing about it, and offer to continue the conversation privately. A thoughtful response to a one-star review often matters more to prospective customers reading your profile than the negative review itself.
Responding promptly also encourages more reviews over time. Customers who see that a business engages with its reviewers are more willing to take the time to write one themselves.