Trust as a launchpad: How Flooring Supplies UK uses Trustpilot to grow

Ahh, the modern purchase pathway. Today’s prospective buyers have it hard.

Like that old cartoon, The Wacky Races, our purchase pathways are busy, distracting, and (when it comes to fake or cherry-picked reviews) can be known to include bad actors.

No matter the context of consumption — whether you’re buying for yourself or your business, it’s incredibly easy to be paralyzed by choice. And without convincing social proof to confirm our instinct, it’s near-impossible to actually pull the trigger.

So what gives? The key to confident purchasing lies with verified reviews. They don’t just cut through the noise for buyers. They unlock proven advantages for sellers too. This is the trust-powered purchase journey, a virtuous cycle where:

Good business gets good reviews > consumers make confident purchases (and leave verified feedback) > that feedback leads to better decisions and better relationships > the business improves and gets more good reviews.

For businesses that recognize the value of creating (and partaking in) confident purchase journeys, an entire dimension of opportunity opens up. Take, for example, the story of Flooring Supplies UK.

Conviction in credibility

Flooring Supplies UK are no walkovers: but their buyers operate in a competitive market. It’s also a long and high-stakes one. Companies buy flooring infrequently, so big purchases can mean big pressure. In a typical buying journey, research to installation takes around three months…and includes plenty of tricky choices.

Those experiences are just as relevant to our personal lives, even if they don’t always take as long. Shazney Radley, the company’s digital marketing assistant, describes being buried in choices when searching for a major purchase online for a family gift.

“We didn’t want to rush into it given the price, so took our time building a shortlist and weighing up the best possible option for our needs. But there were so many options, I felt like my head might explode. It really slowed us down to be honest. Throw in the lack of legit-seeming reviews and the whole thing just put us off buying.”

Both in and outside of work, it took Trustpilot’s reputation for verified, third-party reviews to stop all that choice from grinding any final decision to a halt.

Using Trustpilot to charge a full-funnel approach

Flooring Supplies UK have earned their status as true experts. They stock premium brand partners, and rely on this heritage instead of discount selling. So they turned to Trustpilot to highlight their quality service.

They leant on the voice of the customer to inform their entire, test-centric marketing strategy. Through all stages of the funnel (and beyond), all relevant channels were put to work. Here’s what that looked like:

Top of the funnel

• Introduced Trustpilot reviews into email prospecting cadences.

• Relaunched PPC ads with Trustpilot branded-terms.

• Kickstarted social media sharing initiative.

Middle of the funnel

• Included Trustpilot reviews/requests in site-wide merchandising (for all product-image testing and on-site widgets).

• Adding widgets to their onsite checkout page drove a 5% increase in conversion rate.

Bottom of the funnel

• Sales teams introduced Trustpilot reviews in outreach, and actively pushed prospects to read them.

Post-sales

• Personalized requests for feedback on Trustpilot (via email and SMS) improved conversion rate by 0.05%. That may not sound like much, but makes an explosive difference to end-sales figures.

• Year-over-year, the marketing team also saw a 10x increase in traffic to the company’s Trustpilot business profile page.

Long-term vision

For Flooring Supplies UK, working with Trustpilot paid off handsomely; so much so that it’s become a core tenet of winning new business going forward.

The company quickly realized just how much raw insight they could gain on their own business, simply by reading about experiences in their customers’ own words. Even better, they now make better decisions when iterating on products solds and the services they provide as a result.

Beforehand, any reviews or feedback were dealt with in an ad-hoc format by people in the marketing team. They’ve since restructured their approach to fielding reviews, using their dedicated customer services team to respond directly to reviews. This makes it easier to thank clients who take the time to leave positive feedback…and follow up with negative reviewers to resolve any issues.

Partnering with Trustpilot has made it even easier for Flooring Supplies UK stay true to their six-core values manifesto (“customers must be at the heart of everything we do” remains value #1).

"Our customer success manager, Behzad, makes everything Trustpilot-related a breeze. He always keeps us informed about upcoming beta tests, as he knows we always want to be a part of these. I know that any question I have, I can drop him an email or book a call in and it will get actioned. His bright and cheery persona is a bonus and makes him a pleasure to work alongside," says Shazney.

Finally, response rates for the company’s product reviews doubled after making the switch. The team also uses Trustpilot’s analytics tool to benchmark company performance and assess the competition.

Whether in work or life, the impact of trust is universal

A landscape marked by rampant choice makes buying more difficult. But it elevates trust as a key influence in getting things right. Liz Haigh, Head of Marketing at Flooring Supplies, relies on verified third-party reviews in her private life just as much as her company’s clients.

For her and millions of others like her, access to the “hive mind” eases pressure to find the best option among many. Trustpilot not only breeds clearer buying decisions — it leaves her feeling confident enough to act on them.

“Trustpilot isn’t just a great work thing, I love the fact that the reviews are verified because it helps with whatever I’m doing at home, too. Like recently, I was looking to buy a new TV. The reviews gave me trust in both whoever left the reviews and the products they’ve discussed. That’s an invaluable asset when you consider all the fake reviews out there.”

Results at a glance:

• Personalized requests for feedback on Trustpilot (via email and SMS) improved conversion rate by 0.05%.

• 10x traffic increase to the Trustpilot business profile page.

• 5% increase in conversions when added widget to checkout on-site.

The right choice for trust-driven growth

Choice overload blindsides our buying journeys; and trust has never been more important in helping us as a result. To find out how your company can drive growth at key points for your customers, just like Flooring Supplies UK have, get in touch below.