Glossary · Review collection
Review solicitation
Review solicitation is the act of asking customers for a review — verbally at the counter, printed on a receipt, by SMS or email, or with a QR code. The legal and policy line is uniformity: ask every customer the same way, never only the ones you expect to be happy (that is review gating), and never offer discounts, gifts, or incentives in exchange for reviews — both Google's review policy and the FTC's Consumer Reviews Rule (16 CFR Part 465, civil penalties up to $53,088 per violation) prohibit it. Within those lines, solicitation is not just allowed but expected: platforms want businesses to ask, because asking every customer produces the representative rating distribution the rules exist to protect.
In practice
What it means for a local business.
Good solicitation is timing plus friction removal. The ask converts best at the moment of peak goodwill — the bill drop, the checkout, the mirror reveal, the finished job walkthrough — and when the review is one tap away rather than a search away. That is the entire argument for printed QR codes and sayable links at the point of service.
The wording matters less than owners fear, with one exception: never name a star count. "If you have a minute, our review code is on the receipt" is compliant and converts; "leave us 5 stars" is a policy violation dressed as enthusiasm. Ask once, politely, and never follow up more than once.
Primary source: FTC — Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (16 CFR Part 465)
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