Google, Tripadvisor or Trustpilot Review Card: Which One?

Choose the platform your customers already use. Local shops and services mostly need Google. Hotels, restaurants and attractions usually need Tripadvisor as well as Google. Online shops and service companies often use Trustpilot. If you need several, a multi-review card opens one page listing them — offered to everyone, never used to steer.

Start with where your customers look

A review is most useful where future customers read it. Before you choose a card, ask a simple question: where do people look before they choose a business like yours? Search for your own type of business in your area, and look at where competitors’ reviews appear. That tells you more than any general rule.

Every card we sell works the same way: an NFC chip, and a printed QR code on most versions, opens the review link you give us. Our Google review NFC card guide explains how a tap works. The difference between the cards is which platform the link points to.

The three platforms compared

Google: local services and shops

If customers find you by searching for a type of business nearby — a plumber, a café, a dentist, a shop — Google reviews appear right next to your listing in Search and Maps. For most local businesses, Google is the first platform to cover. It is also the only one of the three with stands, stickers and plaques in our range, as well as cards.

Tripadvisor: hospitality and attractions

Travellers often read Tripadvisor before they book a hotel, a tour or a table in an unfamiliar town. Hotels, guest houses, restaurants in visitor areas, attractions and tour operators usually need Tripadvisor reviews as well as Google ones. A Tripadvisor review card left in the room, handed out at the end of a tour or placed in the bill folder reaches guests at the right moment. Our guide to review cards for hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets shows where each one goes.

For restaurants specifically, our restaurant and café setup guide covers where each card or stand fits.

Trustpilot: online shops and services

Shoppers buying online from a company they do not know often check Trustpilot. Online shops, subscription services, agencies and installers commonly collect reviews there. A Trustpilot review card in every parcel, or handed over at the end of a job, reaches customers when the experience is complete.

One-platform cards vs the multi-review card

A one-platform card opens one review form directly. It is the simplest option: one tap, one form. Choose it when one platform clearly matters most.

The multi-platform review card is printed with the logos of the sites you use, but its chip and QR code still open one link. Usually that link is a page listing your review profiles — your own website page, or a Digital Business Card — so each customer picks the site where they already have an account. It costs more than a one-platform card and adds one step for the customer.

Many businesses mix them: a Tripadvisor review card in hotel rooms and a Google stand at reception, or a Trustpilot review card in parcels and a Google card at a showroom.

Building the page a multi-review card opens

If you choose the multi-platform card, the page its link opens matters as much as the card. Keep it simple:

• List each platform you use with a clear button: “Review us on Google”, “Review us on Tripadvisor”, “Review us on Trustpilot”.
• Give every platform the same size and weight. Do not make one button bigger or put one behind a “more options” link.
• Keep it short, so it loads quickly on a phone.
• Test every button in a private browser window.

A Digital Business Card or a simple page on your own website both work. What matters is that the page treats every platform and every customer the same.

Never use a multi-review card to steer

A multi-review card must show every customer the same choice. It must not be used to send happy customers to the platform you care about and unhappy customers somewhere else — to a less visible site, or to a private feedback form. That is review gating, and Google, Tripadvisor and Trustpilot all forbid it. Our guide to review gating explains why it backfires.

• The page the card opens lists each platform equally, with no “if you were happy, choose…” wording.
• There is no survey or rating question before the platform links.
• Every customer is offered the same card.

Each platform’s rules on asking

All three platforms let businesses ask for reviews, and all three ban rewards and selective asking. Read each one’s own guidance before you start, as policies change:

• Google does not allow incentives such as payment, discounts or free goods in exchange for reviews, or selectively soliciting positive reviews, and removes reviews based on a conflict of interest such as employment (Google’s policy on fake engagement; Google’s tips to get more reviews).
• Tripadvisor says businesses are welcome to encourage guests to submit reviews, but no one affiliated with the business can offer incentives, discounts, upgrades or special treatment in exchange for reviews (Tripadvisor’s owner guidance on incentives).
• Trustpilot requires review invitations to be fair, neutral and unbiased with no incentives, and says businesses must not be selective — for example by inviting only customers who had a positive experience, or pre-screening customers (Trustpilot’s guidelines for businesses).

On every platform, owners, staff and their families must not review the business, and fake, bought or swapped reviews are banned. Our plain-English guide to Google’s review policy for businesses covers the Google rules in detail.

Getting each review link

• Google: from your Google Business Profile, signed in as a manager — see our guide to finding your Google review link.
• Tripadvisor: from your claimed Tripadvisor listing, using Tripadvisor’s tools for owners.
• Trustpilot: from your claimed Trustpilot business profile; the review page usually has an address like trustpilot.com/evaluate/yourdomain.

Test each link in a private window before you order, and paste the exact link you tested.

Common mistakes

• Choosing a platform because a competitor uses it, rather than because your customers do.
• Printing a multi-platform card that opens a page with a rating question first.
• Using a card for a platform where your listing is not claimed, so you cannot reply to reviews.
• Offering an incentive on one platform because another platform’s rules seem looser.

Replying on each platform

Collecting reviews on a platform means answering them there too. Google, Tripadvisor and Trustpilot all let businesses reply to reviews once the listing or profile is claimed. Thank people for positive reviews, reply calmly to critical ones, and say what you changed. If you cannot keep up with replies on three platforms, focus on fewer.

If you change platforms later

A card with a fixed link opens the same review form for good. If you think you might switch platforms, move premises or open a new profile, the editable-link option, where a product offers it, lets you change the link later from a dashboard. It is billed yearly — $12 a year in this store — and the price is shown before you pay.

For a multi-platform card, the page it opens is yours, so you can add or remove a platform on that page without changing the card.

Choosing in practice

1. Search for your type of business in your area and note where reviews appear.
2. If one platform clearly matters most, choose that platform’s card.
3. If customers are split, choose the multi-platform card, or one card per platform for different moments.
4. Copy each review link from the platform’s own business tools and test it in a private window.
5. Offer the card to every customer, with nothing in return.

Whatever you choose, a card cannot promise stars or a number of reviews. It only makes asking easier.

Questions

Should my business collect Google or Tripadvisor reviews?

Most local businesses need Google. Hotels, attractions, tours and restaurants in visitor areas usually need Tripadvisor as well.

When is Trustpilot the right choice?

For online shops and service companies whose customers check Trustpilot before buying from a business they do not know.

What does a multi-review card open?

One link you give us — usually a page listing your review profiles — so each customer can choose the site they already use.

Can I send happy customers to Google and unhappy ones elsewhere?

No. That is review gating, and Google, Tripadvisor and Trustpilot all forbid it. Every customer must get the same choice.

Can I offer an incentive for Tripadvisor or Trustpilot reviews?

No. Both platforms, like Google, ban incentives in exchange for reviews.

Do Tripadvisor and Trustpilot cards have a QR code?

Yes, on the QR versions. The simple versions are tap only.