There is a strong case against incentivized reviews. While they are mostly prohibited for good reasons, one being authenticity, paid reviews can be executed without breaking the rules.
Let’s talk about paid ratings and reviews in this blog as follows:
- What are incentivized or paid reviews?
- The importance of online reviews and reputation management services: Why you should generate reviews
- What do big platforms say about paid ratings and reviews?
- How NOT to ask for reviews according to the Federal Trade and Commission
- How to feature reviews according to the Federal Trade and Commission
What Are Incentivized or Paid Reviews?
Incentivized reviews are a form of customer feedback that includes offering customers an incentive in exchange for their honest opinion about a product or service. Ultimately, incentivized reviews could be seen as a review generation tool; the goal is to get more reviews than you would through traditional methods like surveys, polls and focus groups without compromising authenticity. To get more reviews, incentives could be in the form of the following:
- Free products
- Free service trial
- Brand discount
- Loyalty points
- Any special coupon
The key to successful incentivized reviews lies in understanding your target audience and what types of incentives would be most effective for them. For example, if you’re targeting young professionals heavily engaged with social media, offering a discount code or special deal through their favorite platform may be the best option. On the other hand, if you’re targeting more established customers who don’t use social media as often, then providing a free trial period through email or SMS marketing may be more beneficial.
When you generate reviews, whether paid or not, you should only invest in the best reputation management services. But is hiring online reputation management companies worth it?
The Importance of Online Reviews and Reputation Management Services: Why You Should Generate Reviews
Online reviews are a critical part of online reputation management, as they provide customers with an accurate representation of the brand and its offerings. With 83% of American shoppers conducting preliminary research online before visiting a store (Google and Ipsos) and 55% of consumers using search engines to find product or service reviews (Statista), the importance of online reviews is as clear as day.
Whether through a review generation tool or not, generating trusted reviews is crucial to success, as it allows customers to feel comfortable investing in a product or service. Additionally, trusted reviews can help boost search rankings and provide insight into customer satisfaction levels. Brand reputation management also helps small businesses stay ahead of the competition by actively responding to reputational risks, such as negative reviews or customer complaints.
Finally, investing in a reputation management tool allows small businesses to better understand the needs and expectations of their target audience by actively monitoring conversations about the brand online. Working with reputation management consultants specializing in online review monitoring and generation ultimately leads to improved customer loyalty which is essential for any business.
What Do Big Platforms Say About Paid Ratings and Reviews?
Now that we’ve gone over the importance of online reviews, let’s find out what top review sites say about paid ratings and reviews. So, do they accept incentivized reviews as a mere review generation tool?
When it comes to incentivized reviews, Google’s guidelines are quite clear. Incentivizing customers to leave positive feedback or reviews is strictly prohibited and may result in the removal of reviews or complete suspension from Google’s platform. While Google reviews are the gold standard, think again before you pay for them.
They may only offer incentives for simply submitting a review, regardless of its nature or rating, and only if the customer wasn’t expecting anything in return when writing the review. Such practice ensures that reviews are authentic and unbiased, providing potential customers with an honest representation of the quality of a product or service.
Violating these guidelines may not only negatively impact a business’s presence on Google but also lead to a loss of consumer trust. Therefore, businesses must ensure that all reviews on their products or services are genuine and accurate, following Google’s guidelines.
Yelp
Yelp also has strict guidelines when it comes to incentivized reviews. Incentivizing customers to write positive reviews or offering incentives in exchange for specific star ratings or review content is strictly prohibited. Yelp defines incentivized reviews as anything that “appears to create a conflict of interest.”
As such, businesses cannot offer customers discounts, freebies, or other incentives in exchange for positive reviews. Yelp’s goal is to ensure the authenticity and transparency of reviews on its platform, providing users with reliable information on the quality of a business’s services or products.
The review platform also regularly uses technology to detect fake or incentivized reviews and remove them if found. Apart from search ranking penalties on the platform, failure to follow guidelines can lead to a business’s account being terminated or permanently banned from Yelp.
Facebook’s guidelines on incentivized reviews also mandate that businesses cannot offer incentives for positive reviews or specific star ratings. Facebook’s platform also prohibits companies from demanding or posting positive reviews. The social media platform states that reviews must be authentic and unbiased, not under any influence of any form of compensation or reward.
To ensure compliance, Facebook regularly employs algorithms to detect and remove fake or manipulated ratings and reviews. Failure to adhere to the social media platform’s guidelines may lead to a business’s account being suspended or permanently banned from Facebook.
What this all boils down to is that businesses should maintain authenticity and transparency in all their dealings, including the reviews they receive. Facebook understands the importance of reviews to businesses and users and aims to provide users with reliable reviews that will reflect the quality of a business’s services or products.
How NOT To Ask for Reviews According to the Federal Trade and Commission
Here’s what the Federal Trade and Commission (FTC) says about generating reviews.
- Before asking for reviews, be aware of any prohibitions or conditions imposed by the platform or website on which those reviews would appear.
- Don’t ask for reviews from people who haven’t used or experienced the product or service.
- Don’t have your staff write reviews without disclosing their employment status and the fact that you asked them to write.
- Don’t only ask customers who will likely leave positive reviews; include those with poor experiences.
- Don’t ask family and friends for reviews without disclosing their personal connection in the review.
- If you offer an incentive for a review, don’t condition it as being positive, and ensure the review discloses the incentive.
As such, it’s essential to maintain the credibility of the reviews and ensure customers have an accurate understanding of the product or service before making a purchase. Following these guidelines will help you get more reviews that are genuine and unbiased from people who can truly speak about their experiences with your product or service and ultimately spare you from legal consequences.
Pro tip: If you choose to work with online reputation management companies, ask questions about their practices to see if they’re familiar with FTC’s rules. You also want to ensure they’re not employing a review generation and reputation management tool designed to fabricate fake reviews.
How To Feature Reviews According to the Federal Trade and Commission (FTC)
When you want to get more reviews, you likely intend to feature or display them on your website or social media channels. So here are FTC’s principles on review publication:
- Companies featuring online reviews should publish all genuine reviews and not exclude negative ones to maintain transparency.
- Reviews should not be displayed misleadingly – for example, it could be deceptive to feature positive reviews more prominently than negative reviews.
- Suppose a reviewer has a material connection to the company offering the product or service, such as receiving compensation or a free product in exchange for their review. In that case, that relationship should be clearly disclosed.
- The best reputation management services will ensure they have clear procedures in place to disclose how they collect, process and display reviews and how overall ratings are determined to avoid misleading customers.
- Companies should have proper online review monitoring procedures in place to identify and handle fake or suspicious reviews that are published. Suppose someone suspects a review to be illegitimate. In that case, the company must investigate and take necessary action, such as removing the review, labeling it suspicious, alerting others and addressing the matter with the responsible parties.
The Best Reputation Management Services: Incentivized Reviews Done Right
Conclusively, FTC requires businesses to disclose if they have provided any incentives to customers in exchange for their reviews without restricting the reviewer from their honest opinion. However, since most review platforms prohibit paid reviews, incentivized reviews are only allowed on your own website, considering you follow FTC’s guidelines mentioned above. Similarly, video reviews from influencers are qualified on their respective YouTube channels with proper disclosure or transparency.
Running paid reviews survey campaigns can be tricky, with all the guidelines you need to keep in mind — but it is doable. To further guide you, Rize Reviews’ reputation management consultants are at your service. For any questions, message our team or call us at 866 325 0303.
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