How AO grew into the UK's most trusted electrical retailer with Trustpilot

Exploring AO

AO, an online electrical retailer based in Bolton, UK, first appeared in 2000. Over two decades later, thanks to considerable growth, its range now encompasses over 6,000 products, from large appliances to mobile phones. It serves the entirety of the UK with its nationwide delivery business.

The company also owns its own fridge recycling plant, where old appliances are upgraded into new ones.

What sets AO apart from its competitors is its unique position in the market, deriving from a genuine commitment to doing the right thing for its people and customers.  

 “We see this in our repeat purchase rates; once customers try AO, they stick with us. An intangible unique selling proposition (USP) like trust can be difficult to quantify and communicate, which is where Trustpilot comes in,” says Vicky Monk, Group Brand and Marketing Director, AO.

Integrating Trustpilot across channels

AO utilises the marketing assets offered by its Trustpilot paid plan in multiple channels across its digital landscape. In a recent social media campaign featured on Facebook and Instagram, the team included customer reviews to drive home how AO helped consumers when they needed it most. This encompassed videos, posts and stories amplified through paid media.

On the AO website, their Trustpilot star rating appears in a banner at the top of the homepage and within pop-ups as users explore. But the showstopper is AO’s dedicated review page, highlighting the full scope of their Trustpilot social proof, receiving 6K impressions over the last year. 

On the marketing and communications side, AO wields its star rating in the footer of communications like newsletters where verbatim customer reviews are featured. 

In email marketing, the team at AO saw the benefit of keeping email as a major channel within branding and communications as it was a great portal to engage customers. 

Supercharging AO's reputation with advertising

Trustpilot has appeared heavily across all AO advertising channels since November 2022, when “trust” was incorporated into its core brand messaging to reinforce and strengthen its reputation further.

“As an amalgamation of increasing advertising spend and introducing “trust” messaging within our creatives, we saw our brand metrics spike regarding the statement that AO is a "retailer that we trust." This has remained stable since,” says Vicky.

AO’s Brand Response TV (BRTV) and digital video channels use two “trust frames”, including the Trustpilot logo and star rating, alongside the category rank claim "one of the most trusted major electrical retailers.”

A recent study by Kantar touched on how including Trustpilot throughout TV Advertising effectively built consumer trust. 

AO saw a 10pp increase in brand confidence, perceived worth, and the feeling that it meets category needs among 35 - 64-year-olds once Trustpilot was included in the creative. At the same time, 18 -34-year-olds saw a 33pp increase in trust-seeking mentality from the AO Trustpilot creative. 

In static advertising, Trustpilot was featured in all holiday promotions, such as gifting print adverts. AO also signs off on radio ads across linear radio and digital audio with the consistent message of "one of the UK's most trusted electrical retailers.”

The Trustpilot-inspired messaging across all these channels is simple. AO continues to shout out their ever-increasing volume of reviews and excellent 4.8 TrustScore to keep up their objective of becoming the UK's leading and most trusted electrical retailer. 

The results using these methods have resulted in 0.6 million Google Impressions and over 91K views on AO’s Trustpilot profile page in the last year.