Send invitations with Unique Links

This feature is part of the Connect add-on module. Get the module

If you’d like to manage your review invitation process using in-house tools, Unique Links might be right for your business. Here you can find a detailed explanation of what they are and how to set them up.

IMPORTANT

● New free and paying customers signing up on or after Oct 1, 2020 will not have access to the Unique Link self-inviting automated method.

● Existing paying customers will lose access to the Unique Link self-inviting automated method 90 days after contract renewal. Applies to contract renewals on or after Nov 1, 2020.

● Existing free customers will not have access to Unique Link self-inviting automated methods 90 days after Oct 1, 2020.

The technology used to protect personal data in a Unique Link is now considered outdated.

What is a Unique Link?

A Unique Link is a link that invites customers to leave service reviews, without logging in to Trustpilot. Unique Links can be used in combination with all our other invitation methods.

Each Unique Link is specific to a particular customer interaction, and is generated and stored on your business’s own server. Once you generate the URL, it can be used wherever you want. Customers you send the link to can click through to write a review.

How does it work?

A Unique Link URL contains the required customer data to be able to write a service review: name, reference number, and email. Because they are generated and stored on your business’s own server, Trustpilot will only receive this data when customers click the link to write a review.

To ensure the Unique Link comes directly from your business (not a third party), it also includes a hash containing the data, and the Secret Key made by Trustpilot specifically for your business.

If you’d like to set up Unique Links, you’ll need to contact your Trustpilot Account Manager for your Secret Key code.

What does a Unique Link look like?

Here’s an example of a Unique Link using the following data:

  • Domain Name: mydomain.com
  • Reference Number: A1B2C3
  • Customer Email: john@example.com
  • Customer Name: John Smith
  • Unique Link Secret Key: TrustpilotSecret

It will look something like this:

https://www.trustpilot.com/evaluate/mydomain.com?a=A1B2C3&b={BASE64(john@example.com)}&c={encodeURI(John Smith)}&e={SHA1(TrustpilotSecretjohn@example.comA1B2C3)}

What format can I use to encode Unique Links?

The formats are BASE64, SHA1, or encodeURI. You need to have a programming language that supports these formats, or use compatible third party implementations. The braces {} and parentheses () indicate that the information contained within must be hashed/encoded.

Create a Unique Link

If you'd like to create Unique Links to send to your customers, we suggest programming it to work dynamically with your business’s customer data.

If you want to test what a Unique Link could look like, it can be generated in real time below. This program is ONLY for testing.

Test a Unique Link in a browser

If you’d like to check if your Unique Link was created correctly:

  • Paste your link into a browser and go to trustpilot.com.
  • If the URL was created correctly, it should look like the left image. If there's an error in the URL, it will look like the image on the right:

Example of what a correctly formatted link should return vs. Example of what an incorrectly formatted link will return

Troubleshooting

If you're having issues with the parameter &e= (SHA1 hash), make sure it's formatted correctly. SHA1 only takes a single parameter, which is the concatenated string of the 3 required values. You'll need to ensure they're in the exact outlined order. The most commonly reported issue with the Unique Link is that the hash is incorrect. To illustrate exactly how the hash should be made and what it should look like, we’ve made a testing tool for this below.

Intended Implementation

We recommend using Unique Links with the Embedded Review Form, to ensure your customers won't have to sign in via Facebook or email to write a review. The form can be used with programmatically generated Unique Links, but not with those generated via API’s.

Use of the Embedded Review Form is restricted, and the implementation does not allow your site and the Trustpilot site to communicate with each other.

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