Kenefied Star Rating
"How have customers rated their experiences?"
It focuses primarily on review ratings, with Checked Reviews receiving additional weight and a neutral baseline helping prevent extreme ratings from very small review samples.
Trust Before You Transact
Trust Score Explained
Every JoberTrust professional has signals that help you understand how much information has been verified and what other people have experienced.
Two of the most important are the Kenefied Star Rating and the Trust Score.
They work together, but they measure different things.
Star Rating vs Trust Score
These two numbers answer different questions.
Trust Score
"How much trust-related information is available about this professional?"
It combines customer experience with identity, professional/business verification, review history, contact verification, portfolio, and profile information.
In simple terms
Stars = customer experience
Trust Score = broader trust signals
Kenefied Star Rating
What does the star rating mean?
The Kenefied Star Rating reflects the ratings customers have given a professional based on their experiences.
It is designed to give you a more meaningful picture than simply taking an ordinary average of the most recent reviews.
JoberTrust considers the professional's latest 30 actual reviews.
Reviews that have been independently checked by JoberTrust carry more weight than standard reviews.
How the Kenefied Star Rating Works
- 1
Actual Reviews
Latest 30 actual reviews
- 2
Checked Reviews
Standard review: 1 rating unit. Checked review: 2 rating units.
- 3
Neutral Baseline
Fewer than 21 actual reviews: neutral baseline at 2.5 stars
- 4
30-Review Window
30 or more actual reviews: no neutral baseline
Example with fewer than 21 actual reviews
1 × 5-star review
10 neutral units at 2.5
Not public reviews
≈ 2.7
Kenefied Star Rating
How Checked Reviews affect the rating
A standard review contributes 1 rating unit.
A JoberTrust Checked review contributes 2 rating units.
This does not mean a Checked review counts as two separate reviews. It remains one review, but its rating has twice the influence because JoberTrust has privately checked supporting evidence associated with the experience.
For example:
- Standard 5-star review → weight of 1
- Checked 5-star review → weight of 2
This gives greater influence to experiences where supporting evidence has been checked.
Standard Review
Weight
1
1 rating unit
JoberTrust Checked
Weight
2
2 rating units
This does not mean a Checked review counts as two separate reviews.
Examples of supporting evidence
- Invoice
- Receipt
- Proof of Work
- Proof of Payment
- POS Receipt
- Bank Transfer
- Delivery Note
- Project Photo
Supporting evidence is checked privately. It is not displayed publicly as part of the review.
Why does a professional with only a few reviews not immediately get a very high rating?
JoberTrust uses a neutral baseline for professionals with fewer reviews.
When a professional has fewer than 21 actual reviews, JoberTrust adds invisible neutral rating units at 2.5 stars when calculating the Kenefied Star Rating.
These neutral units:
- are not displayed as reviews
- are not counted in the public review count
- cannot be written or controlled by anyone
- simply prevent a single review from making the rating appear disproportionately high or low
For example, if a professional has only one 5-star review, the public profile still shows:
5.0? No.
Instead, the neutral baseline is included in the calculation, producing approximately 2.7 stars.
As more genuine reviews are received, the influence of the neutral baseline decreases.
Once a professional has 30 or more actual reviews, no neutral baseline is added.
What does "actual reviews" mean?
Only genuine submitted reviews count toward the 30-review window.
A Checked review is still one actual review, even though it has a weight of 2.
Would Recommend
JoberTrust also shows a Would Recommend percentage.
This is based on whether reviewers say they would recommend the professional.
Like the Kenefied Star Rating, JoberTrust uses a neutral baseline for profiles with very few reviews.
The baseline is 50%.
This prevents a single "Yes" or "No" from creating an exaggerated recommendation percentage when there is very little review history.
54.55%Recommend
Example: one "Yes" review
not 100%
Trust Score
What is the Trust Score?
The Trust Score is a broader measure than the star rating.
While the Kenefied Star Rating focuses primarily on customer ratings, the Trust Score considers several different signals about a professional.
It is scored out of 100 points.
A higher score means that more of the trust signals considered by JoberTrust are present.
It does not mean that JoberTrust guarantees the professional, their work, or the outcome of a transaction.
How the Trust Score is calculated
The Trust Score has a maximum of 100 points.
| Trust Signal | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Kenefied Star Rating | 50 points |
| Identity Verification | 15 points |
| Review Volume | 15 points |
| Professional/Business Verification | 10 points |
| Phone Verified | 3 points |
| Email Verified | 3 points |
| Portfolio | 2 points |
| Bio | 2 points |
| Profile Photo | 0 points |
| Total | 100 points |
Kenefied Star Rating
50 points
The Kenefied Star Rating is the largest component of the Trust Score.
A professional's rating is converted into up to 50 Trust Score points.
A 5-star rating receives the full 50 points.
Lower ratings receive proportionally fewer points.
This means customer experience is the most heavily weighted part of the Trust Score.
Identity Verification
15 points
A professional receives up to 15 points for completing JoberTrust's identity verification.
Identity verification helps establish that there is a verified person behind the profile.
Verification does not mean JoberTrust guarantees the person's conduct or professional ability.
Review Volume
15 points
Having more genuine review history provides additional context.
Review volume contributes up to 15 points.
The score increases with the number of reviews until it reaches the maximum considered volume of 50 reviews.
Reviews beyond that point do not add additional Review Volume points.
This prevents professionals with hundreds of reviews from gaining unlimited Trust Score points simply because of review quantity.
Professional/Business Verification
10 points
Professionals can provide documents that help establish their professional or business credentials.
These can include things such as:
- Business registration
- Professional qualifications
- Professional registration
- Certifications
- Professional memberships or affiliations
- Government or regulatory permits
- Training or competency certifications
- Other relevant professional documents
JoberTrust reviews submitted documentation as part of its verification process.
Professional/Business Verification contributes up to 10 points.
Phone Verification
3 points
A verified phone number contributes 3 points.
Phone verification helps establish an additional verified contact channel for the account.
Email Verification
3 points
A verified email address contributes 3 points.
Email verification provides another signal that the account has access to a verified communication channel.
Portfolio
2 points
A professional who maintains a portfolio can receive up to 2 points.
The portfolio component rewards having actual work or project samples available for people considering the professional.
The Portfolio portion reaches its maximum at 10 live portfolio items.
Bio
2 points
A completed professional bio contributes 2 points.
A useful bio gives potential customers more context about who the professional is and what they do.
Profile Photo
0 points
A profile photo currently contributes 0 points to the Trust Score.
A photo may still make a profile more recognizable and useful to visitors, but it does not currently increase the numerical Trust Score.
What Does Each Number Tell You?
A professional can therefore have:
a very high star rating but a lower Trust Score
if they have very few reviews or have not completed other verification steps.
Likewise, a professional can have a high Trust Score without a perfect star rating because the Trust Score considers more than customer ratings.
Illustrative examples. The points are worked out with the formula above.
Professional A
Kenefied Star Rating
5.0
30 reviews
Trust Score
65 / 100
50 star rating + 9 review volume + 3 phone + 3 email = 65
A perfect star rating, but identity and professional verification, a portfolio and a bio are not completed, and review volume is still building.
Professional B
Kenefied Star Rating
4.3
50 reviews
Trust Score
93 / 100
43 star rating + 15 review volume + 15 identity + 10 professional + 3 phone + 3 email + 2 portfolio + 2 bio = 93
A lower star rating than Professional A, with every other trust signal in place.
A higher score means that more of the trust signals considered by JoberTrust are present. It does not mean that JoberTrust guarantees the professional, their work, or the outcome of a transaction.
A Trust Signal, Not a Guarantee
What the Trust Score does NOT mean
A high Trust Score does not mean:
- JoberTrust guarantees the professional.
- JoberTrust guarantees the quality of their work.
- JoberTrust guarantees that a transaction will be successful.
- Every review is guaranteed to be truthful simply because the account is verified.
- A verified professional cannot have a bad experience or receive a negative review.
- You should rely on the score alone when making a transaction.
The Trust Score is a decision-support signal, not a guarantee.
You should consider the professional's reviews, Checked Reviews, verification status, portfolio, profile information, and the specific circumstances of your transaction before making a decision.
Why JoberTrust uses multiple signals
No single number can tell you everything about a professional.
- Person
- Identity
- Experience
- Evidence
- Professional information
- Trust Score
- A star rating tells you about reported customer experiences.
- Verification tells you more about the identity and credentials associated with the profile.
- Review volume provides more context about the professional's history.
- A portfolio lets you examine examples of their work.
- The Trust Score brings these signals together so you can make a more informed decision.
Trust Before You Transact.
Check the person. Check the experience. Check the signals. Then decide.