Asking customers for reviews: what's allowed and what isn't
Google reviews within the rules, a service your AI agency can set up: why discounts for reviews aren't allowed, what the FTC rule covers, and a request to copy.
A bakery owner has a new website and a Google listing with eleven reviews. The café across the road has hundreds. She has an idea: "What if we give ten per cent off the next order to anyone who leaves us five stars?" She asks her web designer to add a line to the receipts.
It sounds harmless. It's also against Google's rules, and in some countries it can break consumer law. The good news is that the honest way to get more reviews is simple, costs nothing, and is a small service a one-person AI agency can set up for her.
Here's the short answer. A business can ask every customer for a review. It can't pay for reviews in any form, including discounts or freebies, and it can't pick and choose who gets asked. The rest of this guide covers why, what to say instead, and how to make it a regular part of your work for local clients.
Why do reviews matter to a local business?
Because people read them before they call. Google shows reviews next to a business's profile on Maps and in Search, and its help pages describe them as a way to stand out and give possible customers useful information.
Reviews also give the owner something back: a steady picture of what customers like and what annoys them. A run of reviews mentioning slow weekend service is worth more than any report you could write.
That's why review requests are a good service to offer after a website. They connect the site, the Google listing and the business's everyday work. If you already look after the site, they fit alongside the website care plan you sell.
Can a business offer a discount for a Google review?
No. Google's policy for content on Maps says businesses may not offer incentives, such as payment, discounts, free goods or services, in exchange for posting a review, or for changing or removing a negative one. Reviews posted because of an incentive count as rating manipulation, and Google says it removes them.
Notice what the rule doesn't say. It doesn't say "incentives for good reviews". Any reward for any review is out, even "leave us an honest review and get a free coffee". The bakery's receipt line breaks the rule twice: it offers a discount, and it asks for five stars.
Google's Business Profile help puts it plainly too: offering incentives for customers to post, change or remove reviews counts as fake and misleading content and is strictly prohibited.
What does the FTC rule say?
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission published a rule on consumer reviews and testimonials in August 2024. It came into force on 21 October 2024. Among other things, it prohibits:
- fake reviews and testimonials, including selling or buying them;
- buying positive or negative reviews, meaning rewards tied to what the review says;
- reviews by the business's own staff, managers or their relatives without a clear disclosure of the connection;
- certain ways of suppressing bad reviews, such as threats;
- a website the business controls that pretends to offer independent reviews.
The FTC rule and Google's policy overlap but aren't the same. The FTC rule targets rewards tied to a particular kind of review, and fake or hidden-insider reviews. Google goes further for its own platform: no incentive of any kind for a review on Maps. If your client is on Google, follow the stricter one.
Other countries have their own consumer laws on fake and incentivised reviews. If a client is outside the US, check the rules where they trade. This article is general practice, not legal advice.
What is allowed?
More than people think. Google's policy says businesses may ask customers to post reviews of genuine experiences, as long as they don't offer anything in return or try to influence the rating or what the review says.
| Allowed | Not allowed |
|---|---|
| Asking every customer for a review | Offering a discount, gift or entry into a draw for a review |
| Sending a link that opens the review form | Asking only customers you think are happy |
| A sign at the counter or a line on the receipt | Asking for five stars, or for particular words |
| Replying to reviews, good and bad | Writing reviews yourself, or asking staff and family to |
| Reporting a review that breaks Google's policies | Offering a reward to change or remove a bad review |
Two items trip up well-meaning owners. The first is asking only happy customers, sometimes called review gating: Google's policy says businesses shouldn't selectively ask for positive reviews or discourage negative ones. The second is staff and family. Their reviews can look like any other, but they come from a conflict of interest, and Google's policy covers that too.
How should a business ask for reviews?
Make it easy, make it the same for everyone, and ask at the right moment. The right moment is just after the job is done: the dog is groomed, the tooth is filled, the cake is collected.
Google Business Profile lets the owner share a link that opens the review form for their business. Put that link where customers already are:
- a short text or email after each appointment or order;
- a line with the link on the receipt or invoice;
- a small card or QR code at the counter;
- a sentence on the website's contact or thank-you page.
Here's a request text you can adapt. It asks for honesty, not stars, and offers nothing in return:
Thanks for choosing us today. If you have a minute, we'd be grateful for a review on Google. It helps other people in the area find us, and it tells us what we're getting right and what to fix. Here's the link: [review link]
Send it to every customer, not only the ones who smiled. Some unhappy customers will say so when asked, which gives the owner a chance to reply and put things right.
Should the business reply to reviews?
Yes. Google's tips suggest keeping replies short, polite and specific, and focusing on reviews where a reply adds something, rather than sending the same thank-you to everyone.
For negative reviews, Google suggests replying calmly, not sharing any private details, apologising where it's fair, and inviting the person to continue by phone or email. If a review breaks Google's policies, such as a fake review or one with abusive language, the owner can report it. A review isn't against the rules just because it's harsh.
Replies are public. They're read by the next customer as much as by the reviewer, so write them for both.
How do you sell review requests as a service?
Keep the promise small and honest. You can promise to set up the request, send it after each job, and help the owner reply. You can't promise a number of reviews or a star rating, and you shouldn't try.
A simple version you can offer alongside a care plan:
- Set-up. Find the review link, write the request text with the owner, add it to the website and the receipt.
- Monthly. Check new reviews, draft replies for the owner to approve, and flag any review that may break the rules.
- Report. A short note: how many reviews came in, what customers mentioned, anything the owner should know.
Write it down as a service recipe so each client gets the same steps. The guide to services you can sell after the website covers where review requests sit next to care plans and local search work. If you mainly sell marketing to local businesses, the page for marketers selling local services shows how that work fits together.
Reviews also feed a business's wider local presence. The local SEO checklist for a new website covers the Google listing, the site's own pages and how they fit with reviews.
For the bakery, the change is small: take the discount off the receipt, add a link that asks everyone for an honest review, and reply to what comes in.