The prescription for credibility: How Selph built trust in a brand-new market
Opportunity
Brand new in the healthcare sector, Selph needed to build trust with customers to convince them to use their services, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Approach
Selph adopted a customer-centric approach to ensure satisfaction, using Trustpilot to amplify positive word-of-mouth and respond to customer feedback quickly.
Impact
Selph has become a major provider in the consumer diagnostics market, serving over 1M customers and delivering 2M tests. They’ve achieved a 4.9 TrustScore with 71k reviews.
4.9
Trustpilot star rating as of October 2025
71,000
reviews
92%
5-star reviews
A service that starts at home
Selph is a true family business, offering at-home testing tests to check for IBS, coeliac disease, diabetes, bowel cancer and more. Dr. Alasdair Scott and Dr. Claire Merrifield started the business with the idea of offering gut-health testing from home. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, they quickly pivoted. They became one of the first providers of COVID PCR and antibody tests in the UK.
The travel testing market was a major opportunity, Alasdair says, but it was also a brand-new market with no established players. Selph's unique selling point emerged quickly: “Our mission was to give people certainty in uncertain times,” Alisdair says. “Trustpilot became a huge asset for us, significantly amplifying positive word of mouth, and things snowballed from there. In a brand-new market where there were no established players, trust and price were the only real distinguishing factors.”
Building trust in uncertain times
As a new brand in the healthcare industry, a sector where trust is paramount, Selph faced a significant challenge: “Without Trustpilot, we’d have no way to convince people to trust us with their health,” Alasdair explained. He believes that trust is “the most important currency in the healthcare sector. We need to be trusted and Trustpilot helps us with that.”
Selph’s Trustpilot rating quickly became their “biggest asset,” and they integrated it into all their marketing materials, including social posts, PPC ads, and videos. They have customised their profile page and email template with their branding.
Since automating their review collections to invite all customers, Selph has received 47% more reviews. They’ve had more than 700 visitors to their Trustpilot page in a 28 day period, since fully implementing our service.
Beyond marketing, Selph replies to all reviews - both positive and negative - because "if a customer can take the time to leave us a review, we can take the time to respond and thank them". For any review of three stars or less, they typically call the customer to better understand how to improve the experience. It’s a proactive approach to trust-building, in partnership with Trustpilot.
A healthy approach to feedback
Selph doesn't just respond to reviews; they use them to inform business practices. The team holds a monthly customer service meeting to discuss recurring issues, and also monitor competitors’ Trustpilot reviews to identify what customers like and dislike across their sector.
This approach has led to real improvements. Alasdair shared with us an example of a customer who left a one-star review out of frustration with the website. After speaking with her, he learned she hadn't received important emails and the website lacked sufficient information.
"I took her feedback and redesigned various aspects of the website and shared with her all the changes we’d made," Alasdair says. Not only did they improve the website for future customers, but the customer then chose to update her review to five stars.
It all speaks to the very essence of their business: prioritising the customer and looking after them.
Testing the potential of trust
Selph's journey is a testament to the power of building trust, especially in a new market with few established business norms. By putting customers first and using Trustpilot to showcase their dedication to service, they transformed into a leader in the diagnostics space.
Their outstanding TrustScore and thousands of positive reviews are proof of their commitment to providing peace of mind to their customers. It’s a tried and tested approach to building trust.
