For businesses
New business, no reviews: how to build trust from day one
A new business with no reviews builds trust by making everything else checkable: a company number, a trading address, a geographic phone number, scheme registration, insurance and card payment. A company that says it is new and offers card payment is treated very differently by a customer, and by a check, from one that claims “20 years” and wants a bank transfer. Age cannot be faked; honesty about it can be verified.
Key facts
- Around 800,000 new companies are incorporated in the UK each year; being new is the most common state on the register, not a warning sign (Companies House incorporated companies statistics).
- Writing or commissioning fake reviews, and publishing reviews without checking they are genuine, are banned commercial practices (Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Sch. 20, paras 13–14).
- A first-year company has no accounts on the register: the first accounts are due 21 months after incorporation (Companies House filing deadlines).
- In SafeToPay scoring a company earns 25 points for existing, up to 20 for age, 10 for accounts and up to 15 for reviews — so a first-year company cannot score green (70+) however well it presents; the realistic target is a clean amber with no discrepancies (methodology v1.2).
- Red “cannot be verified yet” requires all four of: no company match, domain under 12 months, no reviews and no address. Fixing any one of them moves the verdict (methodology v1.2).
What a customer sees when a business is new
A customer looking at a new business sees a company formed months ago, no accounts, no reviews and a domain registered recently — and has no way of telling an honest start-up from a phoenix or a pop-up, because from the outside they look the same. That is the whole problem, and it is not solved by looking older. It is solved by giving the customer things that can be checked on day one, and by being straightforward about the one thing that can’t.
Claims are where new businesses go wrong. “Established 2005”, “over 20 years’ experience”, “trusted by thousands” on a company incorporated in March are read by a check as discrepancies and by a careful customer as the first lie. If the founder really has 20 years in the trade, say that — “our founder has fitted kitchens since 2005; the company was formed in 2026” — and the same fact becomes a strength instead of a hard discrepancy. What the customer reads on the register itself is set out in what customers see on Companies House.
Signals you can show from day one
Everything in the table below can be in place within the first month, and every one of them is something a customer can verify against a source you do not control.
| Signal | Available from day one? | Customer verifies it at | Effect in a check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company number in the footer and on quotes | Yes | Companies House | +25 for an identified company; enables every other comparison |
| Trading address with postcode, matched by Google Business Profile | Yes | Google Maps, Street View | +5; removes the serviced-office deduction |
| Geographic landline (01/02) | Yes — a VoIP number costs a few pounds a month | Dialling code vs postcode | Counts towards the address-and-landline points; removes the mobile-only deduction |
| Email on your own domain with SPF and DMARC | Yes | DNS; the customer’s spam filter | Shown in Email security; invoices from your domain are hard to forge |
| Scheme registration number (Gas Safe, FENSA, NICEIC, MCS, TrustMark) | Often — most schemes register individuals or new firms | The scheme’s register | Shown under Licences and schemes; substitutes for reviews as third-party evidence |
| Public liability insurance certificate | Yes | The insurer, on request | Claim matched against the website; reassures the customer directly |
| Card payment for the deposit | Yes — card links cost nothing to set up | They pay by card and get Section 75 | Recommended in deposit guidance for every verdict |
| VAT number matching the company name | Only if registered | GOV.UK VAT checker | Shown, with HMRC name match |
| Filed accounts | No — not for up to 21 months | — | Not held against you; shown as “no accounts due yet” |
| Reviews older than a year | No | — | Missing; the reason a new company cannot reach green |
| Domain and archive history | No, unless you bought an established domain | Wayback Machine | Young domain is neutral if the company is honest about its age |
Your founder’s history is your track record
Directors’ names are public, and a customer can see every company a director has been appointed to. If you ran a sole-trader business for years before incorporating, or worked for a well-known firm in the trade, put that on the About page with dates. If a previous company was closed properly — solvent, accounts filed, voluntary strike-off — say so before a customer finds the entry and assumes otherwise; the pattern they are told to look for is explained in the phoenix company guide.
Scheme registration does what reviews cannot yet
A Gas Safe, NICEIC, FENSA or MCS number is third-party evidence of competence available in month one, verifiable in seconds on the scheme register, and shown in a check as a licence rather than a claim. For a new firm it carries the weight that reviews will carry later. Put the number and the registered name next to the logo; the logo alone is worth nothing, and displaying one you don’t hold is a banned practice.
A small deposit by card is the strongest thing you can offer
A new company asking 50% by bank transfer is asking a stranger to trust it with money it cannot recover; the same company asking 20% by card is asking for almost nothing. Card fees on a first-stage payment are a marketing cost, and a cheap one. The customer’s side of this is in the deposit refusal guide.
Say it before they find it. “We were incorporated in 2026. Our founder has been fitting windows since 2011 — ask us for references. We take card payment for deposits and are FENSA registered, number 12345.” Four sentences, and every one of them is checkable.
What a check can realistically show at 1, 6 and 12 months
A new company cannot reach a green verdict in its first year because green needs a score of 70 or more and at least five reviews; the realistic aim is a clean amber with every discrepancy at zero, which most customers accept when the reasons are visible.
| Stage | What the record shows | Realistic verdict | What moves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | Active company, no accounts due, young domain, no reviews | Amber, “Little to verify yet” (score under 50) — or red if there is also no address | Company number, address, landline, scheme number, card payment |
| Month 6 | First Google reviews, Business Profile with history, VAT if registered | Amber, “A few points to check” (50–69) | Five or more genuine reviews with replies; no discrepancies |
| Month 12 | Domain a year old, review count growing, confirmation statement filed | High amber; green possible only if reviews and address points all land | Confirmation statement on time; nothing claimed that the register contradicts |
| Month 21–24 | First accounts filed | Green, if accounts show positive net assets and reviews are in place | File early; positive balance sheet; keep the record honest |
Two real checks
Both from live checks; names withheld, figures as filed on the register.
Home improvement trader, website live for seven months
No company number and no company matched under the brand, domain or postcode; domain seven months old; no address; mobile and Gmail only; no reviews anywhere. All four conditions for “cannot be verified yet”. The work may be excellent, and none of this says otherwise — but the customer has been given nothing to check. A company number alone, or an address alone, would have moved this to amber.
Kitchen fitting company, eleven months on the register
Company identified; registered at a serviced office; no trading address, no landline, no accounts due yet, a handful of reviews. Nothing on the register is wrong, and the website makes no claims the register contradicts. This is the honest new-company record — and the report says so, with deposit guidance of 25–50% by card and a contract in the company’s name. A trading address and a landline would have taken it into the higher amber band; green will have to wait for reviews and accounts.
Enter a website address, e.g. smithkitchens.co.uk
The first-30-days checklist
Done in the first month, these seven items give a new company everything it can have before time does the rest.
- Footer and quote template: registered name, company number, registered office, trading address with postcode, place of registration.
- Google Business Profile claimed at the trading address, with the same phone number as the website.
- A geographic landline listed first — VoIP is fine.
- Email on your own domain, with SPF and DMARC published.
- Scheme registration for your trade, number and registered name next to the logo.
- Card payment set up for deposits; deposit at the low end of the band for your trade.
- An About page that tells the truth about age — incorporation year, the founder’s history with dates, and an offer of references.
Then run the free check and read the report as a customer would. The setup behind each item is in how to prove your business is legitimate.
Getting real reviews without breaking the law
Reviews are the one signal only time and customers can supply, and the shortcuts are now illegal: writing your own, paying for them, asking friends to post as customers, or offering a discount conditional on a five-star rating are all banned practices under the 2024 Act. What works is unglamorous — ask every customer at completion, by a link to your Google profile, and reply to every review including the poor ones. Five genuine reviews with dates spread over six months are worth more in a check than fifty posted in a week, which is a pattern the report flags rather than rewards.
Show the record you do have
A new business has less to show, which is exactly why showing it matters more. The free verified business badge links from your website to your full public report: the company, its status, the address and phone corroboration, the scheme registration, the deposit guidance — and, honestly, the reviews and accounts not yet there. Customers respond well to a business that shows them a thin record rather than hiding it, and the badge follows the record upward as the reviews and accounts arrive.
Enter a website address, e.g. smithkitchens.co.uk
Frequently asked questions
Can a new company get a green verdict?
Not in its first year. Green needs a score of 70 or more, at least five reviews and no negative equity, and a first-year company has no accounts and few reviews to score. The realistic aim is a clean amber with no discrepancies, which is what an honest new company looks like and what most customers will accept.
Is a sole trader more or less trusted than a new limited company?
A limited company is easier to check, because it has a register entry, a number and, eventually, accounts. A sole trader has none of those and relies entirely on address, phone, VAT, schemes and card payment. Both can be perfectly legitimate; the company gives the customer more to verify.
Can I say “established 2005” if I traded as a sole trader before incorporating?
Only if you make the distinction clear: “trading since 2005, incorporated 2026”. A bare “established 2005” on a company formed last year is a hard discrepancy in a check and reads as a lie to a customer who looks. If the old domain or Wayback archive goes back to 2005, the claim becomes verifiable and is treated as worth asking, not as a warning.
Does buying reviews work?
No, and it is illegal. Fake and incentivised reviews are banned commercial practices under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, and a burst of reviews in a short period is flagged as a pattern in a check rather than counted. Ask every real customer at completion and reply to every review.
Should I wait until I have reviews before taking deposits?
No. Take smaller deposits by card, put the contract in the company’s name and show the scheme registration and insurance. A customer’s exposure on a 20% card deposit to an identified company is small; that is what lets a new firm win work while the reviews accumulate.
How long until the domain age stops counting against me?
Domain age is neutral once the company is honest about being new; it only counts against a business when a young domain sits under an old-sounding claim. Points for domain history accrue over the first two to three years, and the Wayback archive starts recording once the site has any traffic.
Sources
- Companies House — Companies register activities statistics (incorporations per year)
- GOV.UK — Life of a company: annual requirements, first accounts deadline
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20 — banned practices including fake reviews — legislation.gov.uk
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 75 — legislation.gov.uk
- Companies House — Find and update company information
- SafeToPay methodology v1.2 — Record strength points and verdict bands