Your Trustpilot TrustScore jumps or drops suddenly because it is not a simple all-time average. Trustpilot uses a time-weighted formula where newer reviews have a significantly higher impact on your score, meaning a sudden influx of fresh 1-star or 5-star reviews will rapidly shift your overall rating.
Prefer visuals? Watch the video version here:
Why TrustScore Isn’t a Straight Average
Trustpilot’s TrustScore isn’t calculated by averaging every review you’ve ever received. Instead, it focuses on:
• The number of reviews submitted in the last 12 months
• The average star rating of those same reviews
As older feedback ages out of that 12-month window, it gradually stops influencing your score. That’s why a fresh batch of positive reviews can lift your rating quickly—and why a lull or surge in lower-star feedback shows up fast.
How Star-Rating Labels Break Down
Trustpilot also groups weighted averages into labeled brackets. Here are the ranges where each label changes:
Crossing one of these thresholds switches your star color and wording, which can have an outsized impact on how potential customers perceive your brand.
A 30-Day Jump: Real-World Example
Here’s a simplified case study from one e-commerce brand:
Starting point:
• Reviews last 12 months: 300 @ 3.9 stars TrustScore ≈ 3.9 (Average)
In 30 days they:
• Collected 300 new reviews @ 4.3 stars
By matching their prior 12-month volume in a single month—and improving the average score of those reviews—they climbed from 3.9 to 4.1 in under 30 days.
We can estimate review impact by using the following formulas:
Essentially, you can think of the average over the last 12 months, with slightly more weight towards the last 3 months of the review score.
Seeing Your Own 90 Day Projection
To forecast how your TrustScore could change, try our calculator tool that:
• Retrieves your current 12-month review count and average
• Let's you model adding X reviews per month at Y stars
• Shows your projected TrustScore after 90 days
That single 90-day output makes it easy to set realistic collection targets and track your progress at a glance.
Conclusion
If you’d like to see similar 90-day projections for your Trustpilot profile—and plan exactly how many reviews at what star level you’ll need—try out StackTome for free, you can signup here - https://app.stacktome.com/plans. It’s the fastest way to get your TrustScore up
If you would like to get on a personalized demo to see how it can work specifically for your brand, then you can book it here: https://www.stacktome.com/book-a-demo
