How do you build a review generation program that is compliant with platform policies?

A compliant review-generation program is defined as much by what it does not do as by what it does, because the platform rules are specific and enforced. The permitted moves are straightforward. The prohibited ones are where companies get penalized.

Permitted vs. prohibited at a glance

Permitted	Prohibited
Prompt customers after the transaction by email or SMS	Offer incentives, discounts, gifts, prize-draw entries, in exchange for reviews
Provide a direct link to the platform’s review form	Filter or ‘gate’ by sentiment, soliciting only customers you expect to be satisfied
Ask honestly in person where appropriate	Write or buy reviews

Why the prohibited moves matter

• Incentives: most platforms ban offering anything of value in exchange for a review, because it biases the result.
• Sentiment gating: screening for happy customers is treated by Google and others as manipulation. The FTC’s consumer-reviews rule and recent enforcement raise the risk further.
• Fake or purchased reviews: these are the clearest violations and the easiest for platforms to detect over time.

Why compliant is also more durable

The compliant approach lasts longer. A natural spread of feedback reads as authentic to consumers and to the AI engines that ingest review content as third-party evidence. A suspiciously uniform set of five-star reviews invites both platform penalties and reader skepticism.