Trustie helps you collect and display reviews, testimonials, and star ratings on your WordPress site — building the kind of trust that turns visitors into customers.
Why This Matters
Here’s the thing: people trust other people more than they trust marketing. A genuine review from a real customer does more for your sales than any amount of copywriting. But most review systems are either ugly, complicated, or both.
Trustie gives you beautiful review displays, testimonial collection, Google Reviews integration, and a floating review widget — all working out of the box, fully accessible, and designed to match your brand.
Without a review system:
- Visitors have no social proof and are less likely to buy
- Happy customers have nowhere to share their experience
- You miss out on Google rich results that help your search rankings
- Your Google Reviews live on Google but never appear on your actual website
What You’ll Need
- WordPress 6.0 or newer
- PHP 7.4 or newer (PHP is the programming language WordPress runs on — your hosting provider manages this for you)
- WooCommerce 7.0 or newer (only if you want product reviews — testimonials and Google Reviews work without it)
Don’t have WooCommerce? No worries! Trustie’s testimonial features, Google Reviews display, and floating widget all work on any WordPress site.
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Installing Trustie
From WordPress (recommended)
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins in the left sidebar, then click Add New
- Type
Trustiein the search box at the top right - Find Trustie in the results and click the Install Now button
- Once it finishes installing, click Activate
You should now see Trustie in your left sidebar menu. That means it’s working.
From a ZIP File
If you downloaded Trustie as a ZIP:
- Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress sidebar
- Click the Upload Plugin button at the top of the page
- Click Choose File, select your ZIP, then click Install Now
- Click Activate Plugin
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Your First Steps
Once Trustie is active, you’ve got a few options depending on what you need. Here are the most common things people set up first.
Display Reviews for a Product
If you have WooCommerce, you can show reviews for any product by adding this shortcode to a page or post:
[trustie_reviews product_id="123"]Replace 123 with your actual product ID. Not sure where to find it? Go to Products in your WooCommerce menu, hover over the product you want, and look at the URL — you’ll see something like post=123. That number is your product ID.
Add Star Ratings
Want to show off your average rating? This shortcode displays stars with the review count:
[trustie_rating product_id="123"]This shows something like: ★★★★☆ (42 reviews)
Collect Testimonials
Testimonials are general feedback about your business — not tied to a specific product. Think of them as quotes you’d put on your homepage.
Add a submission form to any page:
[trustie_testimonial_form]Then display the approved testimonials somewhere else (or on the same page):
[trustie_testimonials]Show Your Google Reviews
If you have a Google Business Profile, you can display those reviews right on your website:
[trustie_google_reviews]This needs a bit of setup first — you’ll need to connect your Google Place ID and API key. See our Google Reviews guide for the full walkthrough.
Create a Reviews Page
Want a dedicated page showing all your reviews in one place? Use:
[trustie_reviews_page]This creates a full reviews page with pagination, summary statistics, and a clean grid layout. See Setting Up Your Reviews Page for details.
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The Floating Widget
You might notice a small tab appearing on the side of your site — that’s Trustie’s floating review widget. It’s enabled by default and shows your latest reviews in a slide-out panel.
Visitors can click it to browse reviews without leaving the page they’re on. It’s a subtle but effective way to show social proof on every page.
You can customise or disable it in Trustie > Settings > Widget. See The Floating Widget for full details.
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A Note About Emails
Trustie can send review request emails to customers after they make a purchase — a friendly nudge that makes a real difference in how many reviews you collect.
Here’s something important though: WordPress needs help sending emails. Think of it like having a mailbox but no postal service — WordPress can write the letters, but it needs a delivery service to actually get them to inboxes.
If you don’t already have email delivery set up, you’ll want to install an SMTP plugin (like WP Mail SMTP — it’s free). See our Review Request Emails guide for the full setup.
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Feature Toggles
Trustie comes with several features enabled by default. If you don’t need all of them, you can turn off the ones you’re not using:
- Go to Tracksies > Settings > Features (or Trustie > Settings > Features if Trustie is your only Tracksies plugin)
- Find the Trustie section
- Toggle features on or off
Think of it like appliances in your tiny house — if you’re not using the toaster, unplug it. Your site loads a tiny bit faster for every feature you disable.
Available toggles:
- Testimonials — testimonial forms and display
- Reviews — product review display (requires WooCommerce)
- Review Requests — post-purchase email reminders
- Google Reviews — Google Places integration
- Floating Widget — the slide-out reviews panel
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Accessibility
Trustie meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards out of the box. No configuration needed — here’s what that means in practice:
- Keyboard navigation works on all forms, buttons, and filters
- Screen readers announce form results, loading states, and content changes
- Focus indicators are clearly visible when tabbing through controls (they use your brand colour from the Designer)
- Decorative images are hidden from screen readers so they don’t create noise
This is especially important if you serve customers in regions with digital accessibility requirements (like the EU’s European Accessibility Act).
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What’s Next?
Now that you’re set up, explore these guides:
- All the Shortcodes — every shortcode and what it does
- Google Reviews — connect your Google Business reviews
- Review Request Emails — automated post-purchase emails
- The Floating Widget — customise the slide-out review panel
- Setting Up Your Reviews Page — create a dedicated reviews page
- The Designer — colours, styling, and automatic theme integration
- Import Tools — bring in testimonials from other plugins, convert comments to reviews
- Settings & Configuration — all the settings in one place
- Common Questions — answers to things people often ask
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If Something Goes Wrong
Shortcodes show as plain text:
Check that Trustie is activated in Plugins. If you’re using a page builder, make sure you’re putting the shortcode in a “Shortcode” or “HTML” block — not a regular text block.
Nothing appears on the page:
If a shortcode runs but shows nothing, there’s probably no content to display yet. Try adding a test review or testimonial first, then check again.
Styles look broken:
Try clearing your caching plugin (if you have one), then do a hard refresh in your browser (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows, Cmd+Shift+R on Mac). If it still looks off, check Trustie > Designer — your theme might need slightly different colour or border settings.
Need more help? Check our FAQ or open an issue on GitHub.
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Want More Features?
Trustie Free covers the essentials. If you need advanced features like multi-step email sequences, custom review form fields, photo reviews, or priority support, check out Trustie Pro.