Point real buyers at your review page
Unlocks the verified-review component, 20 of the 85 weighted trust points — 24% of the evidence, against the 30% floor we require before naming a trust band. It will not clear that floor on its own; it is the largest single step toward it an owner can take.
Every review is read by a person before it publishes, and every approved review counts toward the star rating on your page. The trust component is stricter: it takes 3 verified reviews before it is scored at all, and only reviews where a moderator checked the buyer's order reference count toward it — so ask your buyers to include one. Your verified rating is then pooled with 8 imaginary reviews at the index-wide average, so a thin run of five-star reviews is dragged back toward the market and cannot outrank a long record — and, because the component sits inside the average, a rating below the market pulls the trust score down rather than merely failing to lift it. Asking your own buyers is fine and expected. Writing them yourself is not, and the proof-of-purchase step is what makes that distinction enforceable rather than aspirational.