TrustRadius Removes Selection Bias in B2B Technology Reviews

New trScore and vendor review verification program levels playing field for business technology vendors

Austin, TX – December 8, 2015 /Marketwired/TrustRadius, the trusted research platform for business technology buyers based upon in-depth user reviews, today announced the release of the TrustRadius trScore™ – a weighted average for aggregate ratings designed to ensure that reviews, ratings and product comparisons on TrustRadius are representative of legitimate and accurate customer sentiment.

Today’s announcement and introduction of the trScore™ marks an industry first for business technology review sites. The trScore™ removes selection bias introduced by vendors who only ask known positive customers to review them. While these reviews represent valid customer opinions, they are not in aggregate reflective of average customer sentiment. Selection bias is a disservice to both to buyers and other vendors when ratings from reviews are used for product comparisons and purchasing decisions.

According to TrustRadius CEO Vinay Bhagat, “There continues to be lively communication and debate around the authenticity and trustworthiness of consumer reviews on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Amazon and others. We believe this discussion is also very relevant to the B2B arena – perhaps more so given that the stakes for a technology selection are so high. As an industry leader, we are implementing a number of strategic measures to raise the bar for trusted technology reviews and ratings. The trScore™ is our latest move.”

The trScore™ is a weighted average that accounts for three key factors: review date, review source and rating type. More weight is given to trusted reviews and ratings that are either sourced independently or sourced in collaboration with a business technology vendor where TrustRadius is given complete or representative client access. The trScore™ also weights recent reviews and ratings more heavily to give buyers the most current sense of customer sentiment.

Bob Thompson, CEO of CustomerThink and Author of Hooked On Customers, commented: “If vendors are cherry picking their best customers and motivating them to post reviews, business technology buyers cannot fully trust the reviews. Review sites have a responsibility to manage the integrity of their data -- especially the comparative information buyers use to make important purchasing decisions. I commend TrustRadius’ efforts to improve transparency and discourage vendor manipulation.”

Free review verification program for vendors

To encourage and reward vendors who are committed to authenticity and transparency by inviting reviews from substantially all or a representative sample of their customers, TrustRadius offers a free Review Verification Program. Verified vendor sourced reviews get equal trScore™ weighting, whereby they count the same as reviews that TrustRadius independently sources from its community and outreach efforts.

More info on TrustRadius Review Verification Program can be found HERE: https://www.trustradius.com/static/content-integrity-question7

About TrustRadius™

TrustRadius is the trusted research platform for business technology based upon in-depth user reviews. We help technology buyers make better product selection, implementation and usage decisions. Every reviewer is authenticated and every review vetted by a member of our Research team before publication. Unlike software directories and simple rating sites, TrustRadius reviews are structured and substantive, averaging more than 400 words each. Reviewers are encouraged to update their reviews to keep them current. Founded by successful entrepreneurs and backed by the Mayfield Fund, TrustRadius is bringing transparency and efficiency to the $3.7 trillion business technology market.

learn more, visit www.trustradius.com

Media Contacts
Kristine Szarkowitz
kristine@trustradius.com
Director, Corporate Communications
TrustRadius
206-310-5323