Building Buyer Trust: Review Quality Report 2025
Table of Contents
Executive Foreword

Allyson Havener
CMO, TrustRadius
Buyer trust has to be earned. A lack of confidence in your brand may determine whether a customer chooses you—or your competitor.
When researching a new product, the top three resources B2B technology buyers consult are product demos, their own prior experience, and user reviews. In a world where genuine customer feedback can be a vendor’s biggest differentiator, having a place where buyers can find unbiased, trusted reviews is imperative. That’s where TrustRadius comes in.
The increase in fraudulent, biased, and AI-generated reviews has amplified growing distrust among buyers as well as the need for closer moderation of review publications—something our team prides itself on and has been doing all along.
TrustRadius’ annual review quality report showcases the proprietary ways we:
- Vet reviews from authentic customers
- Enable buyers to make informed and confident purchase decisions
- Help vendors earn buyer trust through customer voice and proper use of intent data
- Support the growth of positive vendor-customer relationships
Category Traffic
In 2024, TrustRadius reinforced its position as a trusted resource for B2B technology buyers while attracting high-intent buyers. The percentage of buying decision-makers visiting TrustRadius is higher than any other platform in the industry, giving vendors looking to maximize marketing ROI a high revenue yield per visitor.
However, aggregate traffic numbers no longer provide the complete picture, making it beneficial to include a focus on category-specific traffic as well.
Primarily software-buying decision-makers sought comprehensive product insights, with 73% of organic traffic visiting reviews, pricing details, and competitive comparisons.
By understanding these visitor activities, we are able to align buyers with a company’s ideal customer profile (ICP) and capture valuable engagement in the form of buyer intent signals. In 2024, TrustRadius downstream intent data showed that 56% of buyers planned to make a purchase within the next three months, illustrating just how serious our visitors are about making a purchase.

Search engine results pages (SERPs)
Google is the top website B2B tech buyers use for research, making search engine results page (SERP) rankings crucial. Fortunately, vendors who keep their TrustRadius product profile up-to-date and continuously generate reviews tend to land top-of-page in Google’s AI Overview.
This is because high-fidelity intent signals continue to differentiate TrustRadius as a trustworthy source of genuine customer feedback—especially important as AI-generated content becomes more prevalent.
In fact, according to third-party research, TrustRadius has the least amount of AI-generated reviews compared to competitors—about 10%—thanks to our rigorous moderation processes.


Jonathan Gillham, Founder and CEO of Originality.ai, said that the decrease of AI-generated reviews on TrustRadius after the introduction of ChatGPT provides a direct contrast to the steep increase found in Originality.AI’s study of Capterra, a similar software-review site.
Having a presence on TrustRadius is just one way vendors can improve their SERPs. The more genuine partnerships and integrations a vendor has with reliable sources, the more their audience will grow—along with their opportunity for higher revenue.
Review stats
Most in-depth
This review for Yubico YubiKeys at 2,875 words.
Most popular
This review for Hootsuite, was read 2,902 times.


2025 reviewers
Over 17,000 reviews were published on TrustRadius in 2024 and were written by over 15,500 individual users in a wide range of industries, including information technology and software, manufacturing, business services and consulting, and social services. Of the reviewers:
- 32% work for large companies with 1,000 or more employees
- 10% are an executive level or higher

Job titles

Company size

Industry
Publishing quality over quantity
At TrustRadius, we prioritize only the highest quality reviews to ensure they are valuable for both buyers making informed decisions and vendors aiming to celebrate and improve their software. However, some reviews may not meet our rigorous publication standards for several reasons:
- Suspicious behavior: The reviewer has demonstrated questionable behaviors like writing reviews for products they do not use or using fake personal information to validate their account.
- Poor quality: These reviews are vague or lack helpful context for our visitors to pull from. This includes reviews edited or written by AI as they are not a reviewer’s own words and experience.
- Conflict of interest: Sometimes company employees try to leave reviews for their company’s product or a competitor’s, which goes against one of our core values: No Ads, No Bias.
- Lack of experience: There is no minimum amount of time required for reviewers to have used a product, but they must be able to share helpful insights about their product usage.
- Plagiarism: Reviews must be original to our platform. This includes self-plagiarism—when a reviewer posts the same review on multiple sites.

On behalf of vendors
In 2024, we published 16,545 reviews on behalf of our customers—93% of all reviews published on TrustRadius for the year. Of those, 40% were sourced through customer channels, including log-in pages, in-product prompts, social media, and customer newsletters.
TrustRadius Event Support also attended 29 events in 2024 on behalf of customers. The customers who leveraged this event service sourced an average of 64% of their reviews for the year from that one channel.

Why drive reviews at events?
- Vendors with TrustRadius on-site at events see at least 5x more reviews collected vs. sourcing reviews themselves
- Vendors we’ve helped during events see a conversion of 5-10% of attendees sharing feedback
- By generating reviews fast, you are creating new content, increasing pageviews, and tracking for our awards

Interested in gathering quality reviews at your next event?
The anatomy of a great review
Reviews must be original—not plagiarized or created using artificial intelligence. So, in order to qualify for publication, we look at a review for specific details about that individual user’s experience.
Reviews that have little to no individual perspective lack context for our community members to use—same with one- to two-word responses. These lackluster reviews give buyers no guidance for purchase decisions, and likewise, give vendors no information for product development.
That’s why we look for specific insights about how a product serves the reviewer’s role—guidance around features, comparisons to alternatives, warnings about limitations and gotchas, and a clear picture of the use case for their company are all helpful. Together, those insights make a great review.
For reviews that do get published, we’ve found that most users spend at least 15 minutes writing them, and on average, contain over 300 words.

Example of a great Apptio, an IBM Company review
Contextual understanding: Man vs. Machine
There is a vast difference between the capabilities of AI compared to a human in understanding the subtleties of language like intent, cultural references, slang, or sarcasm. That’s why, at TrustRadius, we believe in moderating user-generated content (UGC) using a combination of people and computers.
There are a few key issues with relying solely on AI-based moderation systems. Sometimes content may appear problematic, but in reality is harmless or intended humorously. They can also be overzealous in rejecting UGC content, or exhibit bias due to data they were trained on. Our team of moderators understands context and will override a program when necessary, which is crucial for making accurate judgements and preserving user sentiment.
Not surprisingly, research has shown that users are more likely to trust a content platform where human moderators are involved in the decision-making process. The human aspect provides reassurance that final decisions have been thought through and are not based on impersonal algorithms.
Taking action to safeguard consumers
In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released their final ruling on the Trade Regulation Rule (16 CFR Part 465) addressing online reviews, endorsements, and testimonials—and how that advertising impacts buyers. Their goal is to protect consumers from being misled by deceitful or manipulated reviews by ensuring all businesses follow honest practices.
What’s now prohibited? Among other things, fake or AI-authored reviews, undisclosed incentives, and misleading or biased testimonials. This applies to all types of advertising, including digital platforms like TrustRadius, and requires transparency and authenticity in how reviews and endorsements are shared with the public.
The good news is that TrustRadius has always complied with the FTC since it was founded in 2012 (before the FTC ruling on reviews), including this most recent pronouncement.
“Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors,” said FTC Chair, Lina M. Khan. “By strengthening the FTC’s toolkit to fight deceptive advertising, the final rule will protect Americans from getting cheated, put businesses that unlawfully game the system on notice, and promote markets that are fair, honest, and competitive.”
Upholding trust and FTC compliance on TrustRadius
Shortly after their ruling, the FTC started taking action in multiple cases involving incentivized fake reviews, misleading advertisements, and AI-generated reviews.
Fortunately, TrustRadius is dedicated to being a trusted source of information for B2B technology buyers—meaning we are more concerned about the quality of reviews than the quantity. An author needs to write their own review without the aid of AI, as a false perception of their use cases and understanding of a product could be produced, going against the FTC’s endorsement rules.
That being said, we do not allow AI-written reviews to be published on TrustRadius, especially when it comes to incentivized reviews—though people do try to sneak them in. Instead, incentivized reviews must only be written by the author, are publicly labeled as “incentivized,” and are never tied to review sentiment.
Preventing AI misuse and ensuring authentic reviews
Claiming AI-generated content as personal work could lead to legal repercussions for the reviewer, the vendor, and TrustRadius. That’s why it’s thoroughly addressed in our site terms and conditions and our review flow.

Like teachers using AI detectors to check the originality of student work, we use them for reviews. However, to avoid the false positives students are receiving, our review moderation team cross-checks reviews in multiple detectors that are set with a very high threshold to look for telltale signs like generic phrases (“users have reported”) or unusual language.
If flagged as AI-positive, the review will undergo further investigation from our team. Because AI-generated content often lacks specific examples, our team looks deeper for detailed insights into product use and job impact, or different subtleties of language.
While we anticipate future FTC guidelines on AI reviews as technology improves, we are proactively ensuring AI isn’t used to create misleading content for commercial gain.
The role of incentive transparency in building trust
The FTC mandates that when incentives—cash or free goods—are received in exchange for writing a review, they must be disclosed and not used to drive a particular response. Fortunately, incentivized reviews on TrustRadius are never contingent on sentiment, and if an incentive has been received, an “incentivized” badge appears on the review, allowing buyers to keep that in mind during their research.
Both TrustRadius and vendors offer small incentives to reviewers as a thank you for their time in providing genuine feedback. We have found that these incentives increase response rates and participation from a broader range of users and motivate reviewers to spend more time writing detailed responses. This leads to a larger representation of opinions and deeper insights on features, integrations, and specific use cases.

However, sometimes people only care about the incentive and have no interest in giving real product feedback. So much so, we discussed it in a TrustRadius Reviews After Dark episode. Check it out for a few laughs and a deeper dive into our review moderation process.

Introducing the Trusted Seller verification
The Trusted Seller program (formerly TRUE) is a verification that recognizes companies that are dedicated to ethical review sourcing and clear, helpful product information for buyers. The Trusted Seller verification recognizes transparent companies that:
- Disclose review sourcing methodology and use of incentives
- Provide equal opportunity for product users to share honest feedback safely
- Read all published reviews and respond when necessary
- Provide buyers with up-to-date product information to help them make informed purchasing decisions

Why the Trusted Seller verification matters to buyers
The Trusted Seller verification makes it easy for buyers to see which vendors adhere to review generation best practices and that their product profiles are complete and up-to-date. The Trusted Seller verification ensures that buyers can identify vendors who prioritize:
- Building trust. Trusted Sellers will have a verification checkmark at the top of their product listing to show buyers that their brand is trusted by customers and has a vested interest in authentic reviews.
- Standing out. Not every company will qualify for the Trusted Seller program, so the products that do will stand apart. Buyers will know they can trust those reviews and product information over the rest.
- Helping buyers make confident purchase decisions. Trusted Sellers are committed to providing buyers with an accurate picture of customer sentiment through unbiased reviews and up-to-date product information. This helps buyers determine which products are the right (or wrong) fit for their needs.
How to become a Trusted Seller
To become a Trusted Seller, vendors must:
- Apply for the program by submitting their review sourcing methodology
- Source at least 10 unbiased reviews within the 12 months prior to applying for the program
- Provide buyers with comprehensive and up-to-date product information by completing their TrustRadius profile. See profile completeness checklist
These requirements ensure that buyers have access to accurate product information and recent, unbiased user reviews.

Executive Summary

Vinay Bhagat
Founder and CEO
TrustRadius
The Federal Trade Commission’s 2024 ruling on consumer reviews couldn’t come at a better time due to the proliferation of fraudulent, biased, and generative AI-written reviews. The fight against untrustworthy or misleading reviews has been a focus for TrustRadius since its inception in 2012. Buyers deserve the whole truth.
As generative AI becomes more widely accessible, we have shifted our moderation processes to be even more innovative and stringent. As a result of our strict process, less than 11% of reviews published on TrustRadius are AI-generated, far less than our competitors.
Buyers are tired of having to discern between AI-generated or fake reviews and real, authentic customer feedback. This highlights the importance of a credible review generation program and platform. With the launch of our new Trusted Seller verification program, we’ve removed the guesswork from ethical review practices. Vendors who meet our standards will earn a Trusted Seller verification, prominently displayed on their product profiles, to signal credibility at a glance. With 56% of buyers planning to make a purchase decision within three months, there’s no time to lose in building trust.
Through continuous improvement to our moderation and transparency practices, TrustRadius remains a trusted source of information for buyers—with quality, trustworthy reviews at the heart of it all.
About TrustRadius
TrustRadius is a buyer intelligence platform for business technology. Through comprehensive product information, in-depth customer insights, and peer conversations, buyers are enabled to make confident decisions. Meanwhile, TrustRadius empowers technology brands to capture and activate the authentic voice of customers, which improves products, buyer confidence, engagement with in-market buyers, and return on investment. Founded by successful entrepreneurs and headquartered in the technology hub of Austin, Texas, TrustRadius is backed by Mayfield Fund, LiveOak Venture Partners, and Next Coast Ventures.
To learn more about how TrustRadius can help you supercharge your tech marketing efforts, start a conversation with us today.
