What to consider before asking for reviews

This is a guest post from the team at LegalZoom. This is not legal advice; always consult a professional before making legal decisions. 

These days, both prospective and current customers are likely to research your company’s online reputation before supporting your brand. Having a strong collection of customer reviews can make all the difference in your brand’s ability to attract new business. 

Before you hit "send" on that feedback request, you may want to consider a few points before asking for reviews to ensure your strategy is both effective and aligns with best practices when asking customers to rate your business.

6 legal basics to keep in mind before asking for reviews

You’re free to ask any customer for a review. However, there are a few things you should keep in mind before you start sending out review requests for your business, whether you have a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, or other type of business.

1. Follow Federal Trade Commission guidelines

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released plain-language guidelines to help businesses understand their responsibilities and comply with the law when asking for and posting consumer reviews and testimonials. Failure to follow them could get your business into trouble.

• Ask for reviews from a range of customers. Asking for reviews from customers who you believe will leave positive reviews could distort your business’ reputation and make it seem better than it is. The guidelines explain that you should ask customers to leave reviews regardless of their experience with a brand to create a more honest reputation. 
• Don’t hide or remove negative but true reviews. While it may be possible to remove negative reviews that are fraudulent, you shouldn’t remove ones that share legitimate concerns or discuss real complaints and experiences. The FTC expects you to leave accurate and honest reviews live.
• Don’t tie incentives to positive reviews. The FTC guidelines do not prohibit a business from offering customers an incentive to leave a review or testimonial. However, if you’re going to offer incentives for reviews, you must give those incentives to those customers, even if they leave negative reviews. 

Violating these guidelines can result in fines from the FTC. The FTC has also released formal regulations on customer reviews that you should keep in mind to make sure you’re in compliance with federal law.

If you need advice about your consumer review practices, speaking with an attorney can be a good idea. LegalZoom’s Business Attorney Plan makes it easy for you to get the legal help you need.

2. Disclose incentives upfront

The FTC does not entirely prohibit you from paying customers for their reviews and testimonials. But you can’t condition payment on the review expressing a particular opinion (i.e., you can’t require that the customer provide a positive review in order to be paid). In addition, you should disclose what those payments will be before the customer leaves the review. This way, customers know what they’ll get in exchange for their opinions. 

When considering incentives, make sure it’s something you’re truly willing to pay in full in exchange for the review. Promising something vague or changing the terms of the incentive after the review is posted could constitute a breach of contract and/or unlawful business practice and could result in legal action.

3. Only ask for reviews from arm’s-length customers

When you ask for reviews, you may want to limit your requests to arm's-length customers instead of friends, family, or employees. Though it’s possible to ask for reviews from your employees or close friends and family (assuming they are actual customers of your business), you have to carefully follow the FTC rules for doing so, including disclosing in the review the reviewer’s material connection to your business. 

By asking only arms-length customers for reviews, you’ll be able to avoid those headaches.

You should never offer to pay someone for a review who hasn’t actually been a customer of your business. Paying a non-customer for a review is similar to paying someone to post a fake review. Both instances violate FTC rules.

4. Don’t cherry-pick reviews

The more positive reviews your business has online, the stronger your reputation will be. But that doesn’t mean you should ask for reviews only from customers who are more likely to leave positive reviews. 

Instead, use objective criteria for soliciting reviews. For example, everyone who purchased a product in the last six months, or the last year, or two years. Treat customers who provide negative reviews fairly and, if you’re offering compensation for their honest review, pay them what you agreed to in the first place. 

5. Don’t copy and paste reviews from other platforms

Though it might be tempting to copy and paste reviews from other platforms like Yelp, Google, or Better Business Bureau, resist the temptation. The reviews posted on those platforms are typically the legal property of those platforms. Copying and pasting reviews owned by review platforms could be considered copyright infringement. 

The platforms could sue you for damages and require that you remove the copied reviews from your site.

If you want to feature reviews from other platforms on your website, consider embedding them using the platform’s preferred widget. Sites like TrustPilot and Google provide these widgets, making it easy for you to legally feature reviews posted on their platforms. 

6. Use caution when making changes to reviews

Under FTC guidelines, businesses are generally limited to making changes to reviews only to fix obvious typos or update product names. These changes cannot impact the tone or message of the review in any way; otherwise, it’s a violation of FTC regulations and could lead to fines and penalties. 

Tips for requesting customer reviews

Asking for reviews can feel daunting, especially if your business is new. However, most customers are happy to share their experiences if you make the process seamless. Here is how to approach it effectively:

• Timing is everything. Send your request only after the customer has had enough time to use the product or service. For a physical product, this might be three to five days after delivery. For a service, it’s often immediately after the project is completed.
• Keep it personal and brief. Avoid long, automated-sounding emails. A simple "We’d love to hear your thoughts on your recent purchase" feels more authentic and less like a chore.
• Provide a direct link. Don't make your customers search for your profile on Google or Yelp. Provide a "one-click" link directly to the review submission page to reduce friction.
• Use a reputation management tool. Tools like AskNicely make it easy to request reviews and manage your feedback, conduct surveys, and manage your reputation.
• Explain the 'Why'. Let your customers know that their feedback helps your small business grow and helps other customers make informed decisions. People are more likely to help when they feel their input has a purpose.

Asking for reviews can build your reputation

When you ask for reviews about your business, you’ll help strengthen your company’s online reputation and gain a better understanding of where you can improve. This helps you better meet your customers’ needs in the long run.

Tools like AskNicely can make collecting reviews easier. And if you’re worried about staying in compliance with the FTC’s guidelines or regulations, LegalZoom’s Business Attorney Plan can help. When you sign up for this plan, you’ll gain access to unlimited 30-minute attorney consultations on new legal topics. 

FAQs

Can I offer a discount code in exchange for a review? 

Generally yes, but with conditions. You must offer the discount regardless of whether the review is positive or negative. Additionally, the review should disclose that the reviewer received an incentive. Statements like “I received a discount code for writing this honest review,” or “I was paid for this review,” are a good place to start.

Is it okay to delete a "troll" review that is clearly fake? 

Usually, yes it's okay to delete a "troll" review that is clearly fake. You are generally allowed to remove reviews that contain hate speech, harassment, or clearly fraudulent content from people who were never actually customers. However, you should never delete a review simply because it gives you a low star rating.

What is "review gating," and is it illegal? 

Review gating includes the practice of sending a preliminary internal survey to customers, but then only sending a public-facing "leave a review" link to those who gave a high rating. This and similar practices designed to exclude negative reviews from a company’s site violate the terms of service of most major platforms (like Google) as well as FTC regulations.

Can I ask my employees to leave reviews to get my page started? 

Usually yes you can ask employees to leave reviews, but there are risks. You must follow the specific FTC guidance for these types of reviews. For example, if an employee does leave a review, they must clearly and prominently disclose their relationship with the company within the text of the review. It is generally safer to stick to reviews from arm's-length customers.

Do I need an attorney when collecting reviews?

You don't necessarily need an attorney when collecting reviews. However, if you’re worried about compliance or want someone to look over your customer review collection process, working with an attorney could be a good idea. They’ll help you stay in compliance with the FTC guidelines. LegalZoom’s Business Attorney Plan lets you schedule 30-minute phone consultations on new legal topics with an attorney for a flat yearly fee.