Online Reviews: Asking, Responding and Following the FTC Rule

For many small businesses, online reviews do the job a neighbor's recommendation used to do. Google shows them next to your Business Profile on Maps and Search, where people read them before they call or visit.

That makes reviews worth managing on purpose. The rules got sharper in 2024, when the Federal Trade Commission's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials took effect. Review platforms such as Google also have their own policies, and in some areas they go further than the law.

This guide covers asking for and responding to reviews, and what the FTC rule and Google's policies say. It is general information, not legal advice.

How to Ask for Reviews

The simplest approach is also the safest: ask every customer, at a natural moment, for an honest review.

• Make it easy. Google lets you create a link or QR code that takes customers straight to your review form. Add it to receipts, follow-up emails, invoices or a sign at the counter.
• Ask everyone, not just happy customers. Google's policy says merchants may not "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers," and the FTC has said that asking only customers you expect to be satisfied could violate the FTC Act.
• Don't pressure. Google says merchants shouldn't require or pressure customers to leave reviews while on the premises, or ask that specific content be included. That covers telling staff to collect a set number of reviews, or reviews that mention a staff member by name.
• Pick the moment. Imagine a hypothetical plumber who texts the day after a job, once the customer knows the repair held, asking for an honest review.

Google also encourages businesses to value all reviews, saying a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy.

Incentives: Where the FTC Rule and Google Differ

The FTC rule prohibits a business from providing compensation or other incentives in exchange for, or conditioned expressly or by implication on, reviews expressing a particular sentiment, positive or negative. In its published questions and answers, the FTC says the rule does not prohibit incentives for reviews as long as there is no express or implied requirement that the reviews express a particular sentiment.

Google is stricter. Its Maps content policy prohibits offering incentives, "such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services," in exchange for posting any review, or for changing or removing a negative one, and says incentivized reviews will be removed. So a discount for "leaving a review" might not break the FTC rule but would break Google's policy. Other review sites set their own rules, so check each one. For Google reviews, the safe approach is no incentives at all.

What the FTC Rule Prohibits

The FTC announced its final rule on August 14, 2024, and it went into effect on October 21, 2024. The FTC said the rule strengthens enforcement by allowing it to seek civil penalties against violators. The rule, codified at 16 CFR Part 465, targets six main practices:

1. Fake or false reviews and testimonials. Businesses may not write, create or sell reviews or testimonials that misrepresent that the reviewer exists, that they used the product or service, or what their experience was. The FTC's announcement specifically mentions AI-generated fake reviews.
2. Buying positive or negative reviews. Incentives conditioned on a particular sentiment are banned, as described above.
3. Undisclosed insider reviews. Officers and managers may not write reviews or testimonials about their own business without clearly and conspicuously disclosing their relationship to it. The rule also covers officers and managers who ask employees or immediate relatives, defined as a spouse, parent, child or sibling, for reviews that then appear without a disclosure.
4. Company-controlled review websites. A business may not misrepresent that a website or organization it controls provides independent reviews or opinions.
5. Review suppression. No one may use unfounded legal threats, physical threats, intimidation or certain false public accusations to stop a review from being written or to get it removed. A business also may not present the reviews on its own site as all or most of the reviews submitted while hiding some because they are negative.
6. Fake social media indicators. Buying or selling fake followers, views or other indicators of influence, such as those generated by bots or hijacked accounts, is prohibited when the buyer or seller knew or should have known they were fake and they misrepresent influence for a commercial purpose.

Two details reassure ordinary businesses. Several of these provisions specifically exclude reviews that result from a business making generalized requests to its customers to post reviews about their experiences. And if you host reviews on your own website, the rule allows you to withhold reviews using criteria applied equally regardless of sentiment, such as content that is defamatory, harassing, contains someone else's personal information, is clearly false, is reasonably believed to be fake, or is unrelated to what you sell.

Google's Rules on Fake and Biased Reviews

Google's Maps content policy says contributions should reflect a genuine experience. Under its fake engagement rules, it removes content not based on a real experience, reviews paid for "directly or in kind," content posted from multiple accounts by or at the request of one person, and posts on a competitor's listing meant to undermine it.

The policy also treats reviews based on a conflict of interest, including current or former employment and family relationships, as rating manipulation. So while the FTC rule focuses on disclosing insider relationships, Google's policy treats conflict-of-interest reviews as not allowed on Maps. Merchants also may not discourage or prohibit negative reviews.

If you believe a review breaks Google's policies, you can flag it, but disagreeing with a review isn't the same as a violation.

Responding to Reviews

You can reply to reviews once your Business Profile is verified. Replies are public, appear as coming from the business rather than from you personally, and the reviewer is notified. Google checks replies against its content policies before posting them, which usually takes up to 10 minutes but can take up to 30 days.

Google's suggestions for replies include:

• Be professional and polite, and keep it short and simple.
• Make replies count. Instead of pasting the same "thank you" everywhere, focus on reviews where you can share a helpful update or answer a question.
• Be conversational, not promotional. Avoid using replies to offer deals.
• For negative reviews, never share a reviewer's private information or make personal attacks. Acknowledge mistakes, explain what you can and can't do, apologize when appropriate, and invite the reviewer to contact you by phone or email to resolve complex issues.
• Respond in a timely manner.

Google notes customers can still change their review after reading your reply, and a calm, specific reply shows future customers how you handle problems. For more on the profile itself, see our guide Google Business Profile: A Practical Guide for Local Businesses.

A Simple Review Routine

1. Add your review link or QR code to the standard follow-up every customer receives.
2. Write down your rules: no incentives for Google reviews, no asking only happy customers, no staff quotas, and no reviews of the business from owners, employees or their relatives.
3. Check new reviews weekly and reply where you can add something useful.
4. Flag only reviews that actually break platform policy.
5. Treat recurring complaints as feedback for the business itself.

Key takeaways

• Ask every customer for an honest review, make it easy with a link or QR code, and never ask only the customers you expect to be happy.
• The FTC rule bans fake reviews, sentiment-conditioned incentives, undisclosed insider reviews, fake independent review sites, review suppression and fake social media indicators.
• Google goes further than the FTC rule: it prohibits any incentive for reviews and any conflict-of-interest reviews.
• Reply professionally and briefly, take complex complaints offline, and never reveal a reviewer's private information.
• Rules and platform policies change, so recheck them periodically.

Sources

• Federal Trade Commission, Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials (August 14, 2024)
• Federal Trade Commission, The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers (November 2024)
• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 16 CFR Part 465: Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials
• Google Maps Help, Prohibited and restricted content (Maps user contributed content policy)
• Google Business Profile Help, Tips to get more reviews
• Google Business Profile Help, Manage customer reviews