Incentivising reviews without breaking platform policy

Do incentives for reviews actually work?

An incentive can lift response rates, especially on photo and video reviews, where the effort asked of the customer is higher. But an incentivised review is, by definition, not a spontaneous one. That triggers obligations. Get those right and incentives are a legitimate tool; ignore them and you have manufactured a compliance problem. If you would rather avoid incentives altogether, the timing-and-ask playbook in how to ask customers for reviews lifts volume without any reward attached.

How do I incentivise within the rules?

1. 1Offer the incentive to every customer who reviews, with no link at all to the score they give, five stars or one.
2. 2State plainly that an honest negative review earns exactly the same reward.
3. 3Disclose the incentive, on the ask, and instruct the reviewer to note it on the review.
4. 4Keep the incentive modest. Large rewards distort behaviour and draw scrutiny.
5. 5Check the specific policy of any third-party review platform you collect on. Some restrict incentives further.

What never to do

• Never reward only positive reviews, or reward more for higher ratings.
• Never gate the incentive behind a four- or five-star review.
• Never hide the incentive. Never present incentivised reviews as organic.
• Never, ever write or buy fake reviews: that is not merely against platform policy, it is illegal under both FTC rules and UK consumer law.

What does compliant phrasing look like?

The difference between a legal ask and a takedown is usually one clause. Sometimes one word. The table below sets the wording side by side so you can audit your own emails against it before they go out. Gifted product follows the same logic, which is why seeding and gifting programmes also have to carry a disclosure line.