How do you ask for reviews the way Google and the FTC allow?

What Google's Maps policy says

Google's Maps User Generated Content Policy applies to reviews left on Google Maps. It lists what merchants do not do and what they may do.

• Google says it does not allow merchants to “discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.” Source: support.google.com
• It does not allow merchants to offer incentives, “such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services,” in exchange for posting a review, or for changing or removing a negative one. Source: support.google.com
• Merchants should not “require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises,” and should not ask for specific content to be included. Source: support.google.com
• Its examples include a merchant asking staff to solicit a certain number of reviews, or reviews with specific content, including content that identifies a staff member. Source: support.google.com
• It does allow merchants to “solicit or encourage the posting of content that does represent a genuine experience,” without offering incentives or trying to influence the rating or the contents of the review. Source: support.google.com

What the FTC's rule says

The FTC's consumer reviews rule (16 CFR Part 465) is a federal rule, not a site's policy.

• The rule went into effect on October 21, 2024. It covers fake or false reviews, buying reviews, reviews written by a business’s own insiders, and suppressing reviews. Source: ecfr.gov, ftc.gov
• Giving something in exchange for a review that has to express a particular sentiment, positive or negative, is treated as an unfair or deceptive practice (section 465.4). Source: ecfr.gov
• Asking customers in general is a named exception, but a narrow one. Section 465.2(d) says a business is not responsible, under the buying-reviews and insider-reviews paragraphs, for a review that came from a generalized request to purchasers, such as an email to every purchaser that an employee happens to answer. FTC staff use that example. The rule does not say that asking only some customers is itself a violation. Source: ecfr.gov, ftc.gov
• On suppression (section 465.7), it is treated as an unfair or deceptive practice to tell visitors that the reviews in a reviews section of your site are most or all of the reviews submitted when some are being held back because of their rating or negative sentiment. Using an unfounded legal threat, a physical threat or intimidation to stop a review or get it removed is covered too. Source: ecfr.gov
• A review written by an owner or manager needs a clear disclosure of their relationship to the business, and an owner or manager who asks relatives or employees for reviews is covered in some cases (section 465.5). Source: ecfr.gov
• FTC staff say the rule does not by itself ban incentives for reviews as long as nothing requires a particular sentiment, and that not disclosing an incentive can still be a problem under the FTC Act. Google’s policy is stricter: it does not allow incentives for a review at all. Source: ftc.gov, support.google.com
• The rule defines a consumer review as one published on a website or platform dedicated, in whole or in part, to receiving and displaying reviews, so it is not tied to one site (section 465.1(d)). Source: ecfr.gov

What that means for the way you ask

Each habit below points back to the rule it comes from.

• Ask everyone you served, not only the customers who seem happy. Google names selectively soliciting positive reviews. Source: support.google.com
• Give every customer the same links. Birdeye’s terms of service call it “review gating” when a business asks customers whether their experience was positive or negative, directs the positive ones to leave a public review, and typically sends the negative ones to a comment form that is not public. Birdeye’s terms bar its clients from doing that, and NiceJob’s reviews FAQ lists gating requests to only happy customers as prohibited. GoCheckIn’s home page says happy customers are “guided to leave reviews on Google” and bad reviews are “handled privately.” Source: birdeye.com, get.nicejob.com, gocheckin.net
• Offer nothing for a review: no payment, discount, free item or free service. Source: support.google.com
• Don’t require or pressure customers to review while they’re still in your shop, and don’t tell them what to write. Source: support.google.com
• Do not set a review quota for staff, and do not ask for a review that names a person. Source: support.google.com
• Do not pay for or promise anything to get a negative review changed or taken down, and don’t threaten a reviewer with a legal claim you can’t back up, or with harm. Source: support.google.com, ecfr.gov

What Kwickly Answers does about this

A practice that is built today says so. One that is not built yet says that too.

• A review request email goes to a customer after the business marks a visit done, when the owner has set a review link (or turned on the review page). Nothing a customer has said or rated decides whether it is sent. The owner can skip a request or send a link by hand.
• The thank-you page after a customer leaves a rating on the business’s own page shows the same review-site buttons whatever stars they gave.
• On a business’s own review page, the owner can hide a review only for one of four reasons: abusive or harassing, shares personal information, not about this business, or spam. The reasons the owner can pick don’t include the rating.
• There is no reward, points or discount for leaving a review, and no staff ranking or quota by review count.
• After a visit, the request email also carries a link to an optional private feedback form, unless the owner turns that link off. It has one text box and no rating, it isn't posted anywhere public, and nothing on it decides who is shown a review link.

What review-request tools say about their own practice

Each comparison sets what the tool's own pages say next to what Kwickly Answers does, with the source and the date it was read.

• Kwickly Answers vs. GoCheckIn
• Kwickly Answers vs. Birdeye
• Kwickly Answers vs. NiceJob

Questions people ask

Sources

Read on September 30, 2026. Rules change, so check the original before you rely on it.

• Google Maps User Generated Content Policy
• FTC consumer reviews rule, 16 CFR Part 465
• FTC staff questions and answers on the rule

Product names on this page are trademarks of their owners. Kwickly Answers isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. What each says about its own practice is from its own public pages, read on September 30, 2026.