Our latest release includes some neat improvements for consumers using mobile devices. Read why mobile matters, what we released and how you benefit.

Do you remember the electronic brick to the right? It’s the Nokia 9000 Communicator. Back in 1996 it was the world’s first mobile phone with internet connectivity. Today it’s used primarily as a doorstop.

Since the arrival of internet-connected phones a lot of fortunes have been told about the rise of mobile commerce waiting just around the corner. But only a few of the experts have foreseen what today’s internet connected devices look like and what they are used for.

Mobile trends that matter to online reviews

A smartphone is like a digital Swiss army knife. One of the most common tasks we use smartphones for is checking emails: In fact, 20% of emails are now opened on the iPhone compared to 18% in Outlook.

Tablets have quickly become the sofa device, where we comfortably get entertained and inspired. But more importantly, it has by far become the most used mobile device for e-commerce. In March 2012, 68% of all mobile shoppers were using an iPad, which also showed far better conversion rates compared to other mobile devices.

Seamless review process on mobile devices

This is how we see the mobile evolution at Trustpilot, which has led to these new mobile improvements that both companies and consumers now benefit from.

We redesigned the key areas you need to go as a consumer, when writing a review. That includes:

• The email template used by companies to send review invitations via the Automatic Feedback Service
• The page where users submit reviews
• The login page

The style of the design is responsive, which means that it is built to work in the browser no matter the size of the screen. The content will adapt and fit into the smaller screens on smartphones, which makes it much easier to read and use. The image to the right gives you an idea of how it looks.

With these updates the user experience on mobile devices is clearly improved. We expect this will lead to more quality reviews written by consumers using mobile devices, which companies and other consumers will benefit from. We don’t know exactly how much the review count will increase, but we are keeping track of the numbers.

Popup boxes are long gone

When redesigning for mobile use we wanted to get rid of objects that don’t work well on mobile devices. That’s why you don’t see a popup box anymore when you login or when writing a review. Rather, you will be taken to a specific page that only shows the most pertinent information. This way it becomes much easier to get the full overview when using a mobile device with a smaller screen.

Additional improvements in the release

Besides the mobile improvements, we also made the following changes to Trustpilot today:

• Improved control of social sharing settings. Consumers now have more control over whether they want to share reviews on Facebook or not. We added a big button (see picture) to make it more clear, and we also made it simpler to edit a user when basic details like name and profile picture are imported from Facebook. We want less anonymous reviews on Trustpilot, but we also want to leave a door open for those who are concerned about giving away too much personal information.

• Updated User Terms and Privacy Policy. When you login as a user, you get asked to read and accept our latest User Terms and Privacy Policy in order to continue. The simple reason for
• Simplified search page. One of the most used functions on Trustpilot is Search. We gave the search results page a make-over, so it contains no irrelevant information and looks more like a… search results page. Here’s what a search on “trustpilot” would look like.

We hope you like our latest – but for sure not last – improvements for mobile. We would be happy to hear about your thoughts in the comments below or by giving us a review on Trustpilot.

Tags: Automatic Feedback Service, mobile, online shopping, product release, quality reviews, smartphone, tablet, user experience