Enhancing Online Review Platform Performance: Factors Influencing Ratings and Number of Reviews

Abstract

The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of the relationship between online review platforms (ORPs), a company's ratings, and its reviews, and to clarify how companies can make the best use of these platforms. In our study, we investigate whether and how the online review platform influences companies' review performance, as well as identify the specific factors that are associated with this influence. Our study uses Trustpilot as a case to investigate the factors that influence ORP performance, which is measured through the TrustScore and the number of reviews. A web-data analysis with 1,191 companies within the shopping and fashion category on the Danish Trustpilot website and a survey-data analysis with 142 respondents was conducted to answer our research question.
Our findings indicate that utilizing paid subscriptions, incorporating ORP onto a company's website, and employing ORP for SEO and conversion pages can positively impact the business performance of ORP. Furthermore, negative review responses and flagging activity were found to have an impact on review ratings, with only flagging activity affecting the number of reviews. In contrast, other internal ORP management strategies, such as providing verified company information or inviting customers to post reviews transparently, exhibit a more significant correlation with review ratings than the number of reviews. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights for companies seeking to improve their business performance on ORP.
The insight of this study filled the gap in the literature by 1) investigating online reviews from the perspective of companies, 2) providing a comprehensive view of online review platforms, 3) separating the rating and the number of reviews, and exploring how those two are influenced by various factors of ORP management strategies. We also suggest with our findings to optimize the ORP by paying attention to factors that influence their ORP performance, while utilizing their ORP performance results to create a repetitive loop of ORP performance to influence the firm’s future star rating and reviews to be added by customers.