The Hellopeter TrustIndex is a way for consumers to determine how credible your business is. It’s calculated by looking at your average review star ratings, time to reply, the Bayesian average and your review depreciation over time.
The TrustIndex formula is calculated by taking the following variables into account: Star Rating Every review on Hellopeter has a star rating chosen by the reviewer. This star rating is between 1 and 5, and assigned a value between 2 and 10, shown below:
1 Star = Value of 2
2 Star = Value of 4
3 Star = Value of 6
4 Star = Value of 8
5 Star = Value of 10
Time to Reply Engaging with your consumers is important, and how long your business takes to reply matters. There are different response time categories, and each is assigned a weighted contribution to your overall TrustIndex.
< 8 Hours = 100%
8h - 18h = 96.5%
18h - 36h = 93.5%
>36h = 90%
No response = 70%
If your business has more than 30 reviews and more than 67% of your replies are within the < 8h category, we apply an upward value adjustment to the final TrustIndex. Simply put, the more reviews you have and the quicker you reply, the better it is for your TrustIndex.
<68% add 0
68% add 0,1
69% add 0,2
70% add 0,3
71% add 0,4
72% add 0,5
73% add 0,6
74% add 0,7
75% or more add 0,8
The Bayesian Average is a way for us to ensure that new businesses starting out on Hellopeter aren’t given an unfairly high or low TrustIndex. This works by automatically including 7 reviews with a TrustIndex score of 4.0 when calculating every business’s TrustIndex.
The Bayesian Average is always included in your TrustIndex calculation; however, it will become less of a factor, the more reviews you collect.
Recent reviews are more relevant for your consumers which is why we only include reviews accumulated over a rolling 12 month period when calculating your TrustIndex. This means we exclude reviews written more than 12 months ago.
Every time a new review is written about your business, we apply the above variables to recalculate your new TrustIndex. Your overall TrustIndex score will always range between 0 and 10.
Your TrustIndex is a score between 0 and 10, where 10 is the highest possible value and is what you should aim towards. It’s a Hellopeter metric that speaks to customer service, and easily communicates this to the Hellopeter community. We use your TrustIndex score to rank your business in your industry. The TrustIndex is calculated to 7 decimal places which means it's extremely unlikely that two businesses will have the same TrustIndex score.
Since you improve your TrustIndex by providing great customer service. Generally speaking, a higher TrustIndex score indicates your business focuses on providing your consumers with great customer service.
No. Businesses need to have at least 10 reviews in the last 12 months before their TrustIndex score is calculated. This minimum requirement, alongside the Bayesian Average, has been put in place to ensure businesses with a low number of reviews are not ranked unfairly high or low in their industry.
Your TrustIndex is calculated according to a number of variables, however it all comes back to great customer service.
If you want to improve your TrustIndex score, focus on providing your consumers with great products and services. Therefore creating positive experiences, and ultimately delivering service that makes your consumers happy.
The backbone to your TrustIndex is great customer service. Here are some of the quickest and easiest ways to Improve your TrustIndex:
Collecting more reviews, and in particular, more positive reviews, is the best way to improve your TrustIndex. Having more reviews not only boosts your business’s credibility, but it also reduces the effects of any negative reviews, by simply counting less towards your total TrustIndex.
The quicker you reply, the better! Each review is assigned a weighted contribution based on how long it has taken your business to reply. Not only will your TrustIndex improve, but your consumers will likely be happier too.