Churchill Gowns provide a viable alternative to graduation gowns from traditional university-promoted suppliers. Their toilets are made from 70% recycled plastic and are designed to perfectly match the regulations for almost all UK universities.
Despite Churchill Gowns’ affordability and eco-event credentials, many students may be reluctant to hire their gowns from anywhere other than suppliers specifically recommended by their university.
This is why peer reviews are so important to the business: students are much more likely to order one of their dresses if they know others have done the same. That’s why Churchill Gowns decided to leverage a review platform they knew their customers would trust.
“Trustpilot was the natural choice to build this level of trust – the seamless invitation process made it easy to collect reviews quickly and the brand’s reputation means students trust that the good reviews they read are legitimate.”
Ruth Nichols
Operations Manager at Churchill Gowns
The aim of Churchill Gowns’ partnership with Trustpilot was to encourage students to understand the authenticity of their gowns – that they are the real deal, not fancy dresses or cheap imitations.
Churchill Gowns uses Trustpilot widgets on its website. The home page includes the number of reviews, the Trustpilot logo and links to over 1,000 customer reviews. To showcase their glowing reviews, they’ve also created short video reels to post on social media where they can target specific universities and their students.
Some students are still looking for reassurance, asking if the dresses are really appropriate to wear to graduation. In response, the customer service team can simply send them a link to the Trustpilot page – and usually see a sale almost immediately.
“We find the stars widget to be the most effective at attracting customers as it features our five star rating along with the number of reviews, which we hope reassures students that many of their peers have ordered from us in the past .”
Ruth Nichols
Operations Manager at Churchill Gowns
Churchill Gowns has seen many obvious benefits from working with Trustpilot. The Trustpilot page is ranked #1 on Google and has had 4,400 views in the last year alone, with a click-through rate of 7.9%.
Sales have soared by 700% from review aggregator Trustpilot and their rating has improved from 4.4 in 2019 to an impressive 4.8 today – well above the industry average.
Churchill Gowns have also seen an undeniable improvement in their social media advertising results. When their Trustpilot rating was not displayed on their ads, their return on ad spend (ROAS) was 746%. However, when incorporating their Trustpilot score (either number of reviews, TrustScore or customer review) Churchill Gowns saw a remarkable increase in ROAS to 1891%. That’s an impressive 153% increase in performance.
Churchill Gowns consistently features Trustpilot and TrustScore reviews on their Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat ads. They also integrate their TrustScore into other marketing materials, such as physical posters and brochures.
Initially, the goal of Churchill Gowns was to collect as many reviews as possible to help build trust and reputation among university students. They have seen for themselves how their customers feel reassured by Trustpilot and are happy to make their own choices rather than follow the crowd. Now Churchill Gowns is focused on projecting its reputation, expanding its marketing and planning for the future.
Trust brings results. Churchill Gowns have used reviews to create social proof and reassure their customers. Let our experts show you how you can do the same by booking a demo here: