You can offer a discount for a review, but only if you offer it for an honest review regardless of whether it is positive or negative, and only where the review platform allows it. The moment the discount is conditioned on a good rating, hidden, or used to suppress criticism, it crosses from compliant incentive into illegal review manipulation. And two platforms ban incentives whatever the wording: Google and Trustpilot.
Incentivizing reviews is legal in the US and EU if you do it right: offer the reward for any honest review, never condition it on positive sentiment, and disclose that an incentive was given. That covers reviews on your own Shopify store. Google and Trustpilot do not allow incentives for reviews on their platforms at all. What is banned everywhere is review-gating (only inviting happy customers), buying reviews, and suppressing negatives. The compliant way to protect your public rating is sentiment routing: ask everyone, send happy customers to public sites, and catch unhappy ones in a private feedback form so you fix the problem instead of hiding it.
The short answer
Offering a discount, loyalty points, a coupon, or entry into a giveaway in exchange for a review is allowed. Regulators do not ban incentives. They ban incentives that distort the honesty of reviews. The line is sentiment.
If your offer reads "leave a review, get 10% off," that is fine. If it reads "leave a 5-star review, get 10% off," that is a violation. The difference is one word, and it is the difference between a legal program and a fine.
What the FTC says
The US Federal Trade Commission tightened its position in 2024. Its final rule banning fake and deceptive reviews, in force since October 21, 2024, and its Endorsement Guides lay out what is and is not allowed. The FTC has also published questions and answers on the rule, which is where the wording below comes from. The relevant points for incentives:
- You may offer something of value for a review. In the FTC's words, the rule does not prohibit giving incentives for reviews, as long as there is no express or implied requirement that the reviews express a particular sentiment.
- You may not condition the reward on the review being positive, even by implication. The FTC's own example of an implied condition: "Tell us how much you loved your visit to John's Steakhouse and get a $5 coupon."
- A disclosure does not fix a conditioned incentive. Paying for 5-star reviews and asking the reviewer to mention the incentive is still a violation.
- You should disclose the incentive. The FTC notes that failing to disclose incentives could violate the FTC Act, so the review (or your collection program) should make the reward clear.
- You may not suppress or selectively publish. Presenting your review section as complete while withholding negative reviews is banned.
- Paying to change a bad review is risky. The rule itself does not prohibit offering compensation to remove or change a review, but the FTC says paying customers to change or remove truthful negative reviews may violate the FTC Act.
Penalties are real: civil penalties run up to $53,088 per violation, the figure the FTC cited when it warned 10 companies in December 2025. We checked how exposed real stores are in our FTC review-rule audit of 50 Shopify stores, and most were quietly breaking at least one of these rules.
What the EU says (Omnibus Directive)
If you sell into the EU, the Omnibus Directive adds a parallel obligation. Traders must take reasonable, proportionate steps to verify that reviews come from real customers who actually bought or used the product, and must disclose whether and how they do so. The European Commission's guidance on consumer reviews treats fake reviews and undisclosed incentivized reviews as unfair commercial practices. Same spirit as the FTC: incentives are fine, deception is not, and you must be transparent.
What Google and Trustpilot say: no incentives at all
The law is only the first filter. Each review platform has its own rules, and the two that matter most to a Shopify store are stricter than the FTC.
| Where the review is posted | Discount for a review allowed? | What the rule says |
|---|---|---|
| Your own store (through a review app) | Yes, if it is open to any honest review and disclosed | FTC rule and Endorsement Guides apply |
| Google reviews (Business Profile, Maps) | No | Google does not allow merchants to offer incentives (payment, discounts, free goods or services) for posting a review, or for revising or removing a negative one |
| Trustpilot | No | "We don't allow incentivized reviews on Trustpilot." Its guidelines list discounts, promo codes, prize draw entries, refunds and freebies |
Sources: Google's Maps user contributed content policy and Trustpilot's guidelines for businesses, both checked on October 4, 2026.
The practical consequence: a discount-for-review program belongs on your product reviews, not on your Google or Trustpilot profile. If your request message offers a coupon, the link in that message should go to your on-site review form. For Google and Trustpilot, ask without a reward. A plain, well-timed request with a direct link does the work: the free Google review link generator and Trustpilot review link generator build those links.
Which Shopify review apps support a discount for a review
Most on-site review apps have the mechanism built in, so you do not need to manage coupon codes by hand. From each app's Shopify App Store listing on October 4, 2026:
- Loox: discounts for photo reviews, on the free Beginner plan (up to 500 orders).
- Okendo: a review rewards engine, on the free plan (up to 50 orders a month).
- Judge.me: coupons and referrals, on the Awesome plan ($15 a month).
- Junip: incentives, from the Core plan ($29 a month).
- Air Reviews: discounts for reviews, in a free app.
Whichever you use, check two settings: the reward must be sent for every review, not only for high ratings, and the incentive should be visible to shoppers who read the review. Our comparison of the best Shopify review apps covers the rest of the feature set.
The right way vs the wrong way
| Practice | Compliant? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Discount for any honest review | Yes | Reward is not tied to sentiment |
| Discount only for 5-star reviews | No | Conditions reward on positive sentiment |
| Loyalty points for verified reviews, disclosed | Yes | Incentive disclosed, open to all customers |
| Coupon for a Google or Trustpilot review | No | Both platforms prohibit incentives, whatever the rating |
| Refund or gift in exchange for changing a 1-star review | No | Prohibited by Google, and the FTC says it may violate the FTC Act |
| Only inviting happy customers to review (review-gating) | No | Selectively suppresses negative feedback |
| Asking everyone, routing unhappy ones to private form | Yes | Everyone can review; nothing public is suppressed |
| Buying reviews from a third party | No | Fake reviews, banned outright |
| Deleting honest 1-star reviews | No | Suppression of genuine feedback |
The throughline: incentivize the act of reviewing, never the content of the review, and never quietly filter who gets to be heard publicly.
Why review-gating is banned (and why people confuse it with routing)
Review-gating is the practice of asking customers how they feel first, then only inviting the happy ones to post a public review while quietly dropping the unhappy ones. It manufactures an artificially positive rating by hiding dissatisfaction, and the rules against it are explicit. Google's content policy bars merchants from selectively soliciting positive reviews. Trustpilot's guidelines for businesses prohibit being selective with invitations and name pre-screening specifically: sending customers who had a good experience to leave a review and those who had a bad one to contact you directly. The FTC's guide for marketers gives the same rule of thumb: do not ask for reviews only from customers you think will leave positive ones.
This trips merchants up because gating looks superficially similar to a compliant practice: sentiment routing. The distinction is what happens to the unhappy customer.
- Gating (banned): unhappy customer is silenced. Their feedback goes nowhere, and the brand pretends it never existed.
- Routing (compliant): unhappy customer is still heard. They are directed to a private feedback channel where the brand can actually resolve the issue, and they remain free to post a public review anywhere they like. Nothing is suppressed; you simply gave them a faster path to a human.
The difference is not cosmetic. With routing you are not blocking the public review, you are offering a better first option and fixing the underlying problem.
One test settles most cases: does every customer receive the invitation to review publicly, whatever they answered? If yes, the private feedback form is an extra channel. If the public review link only ever appears for satisfied customers, Trustpilot's wording above treats that as pre-screening, whatever the flow is called. Set up your tool accordingly, especially for Trustpilot and Google. We go deeper on handling the unhappy ones well in how to respond to negative reviews.
How Reviewz stays compliant by design
This is exactly the model Reviewz is built on. After a Shopify order, it asks every customer for feedback across WhatsApp, SMS, and email. Based on sentiment, it routes happy customers to leave a public review on Trustpilot, Google, or Judge.me, and routes unhappy customers to a private feedback form where you can make it right before they churn.
Critically, this is routing, not gating. The unhappy customer is never blocked from reviewing publicly; they are simply offered a direct line to support first. Everyone is asked, nothing honest is suppressed, and any incentive you attach applies to the act of reviewing rather than to a positive rating. That keeps the program on the right side of both the FTC and the Omnibus rules while still protecting your public score the legitimate way: by fixing problems instead of hiding them. Platform rules can be stricter than the law, so when you collect for Trustpilot or Google, make sure the public review link is offered to every customer, and keep any discount for your on-site reviews only.
If you want the incentive itself to land, timing matters as much as the offer. See the best time to send a review request and our review request email templates for the mechanics.
 |
| Reviewz.ai for Shopify automatically routes happy customers to leave reviews on Trustpilot, Google, and Judge.me, while privately catching unhappy ones in a feedback portal before they post a public 1-star. Re-engage every reviewer with upsell offers via WhatsApp, email, and SMS. Install Reviewz on Shopify |
How to run a discount-for-reviews program correctly
If you decide to incentivize, here is the compliant checklist:
- Offer the reward for any review. Your wording should never mention a star count. "Share your honest review and get a coupon" is safe.
- Make it available to all customers. Do not pre-screen for happiness before extending the offer.
- Disclose the incentive. A short note in the request and ideally a badge on incentivized reviews keeps you transparent.
- Keep the reward modest. A small discount nudges participation without buying enthusiasm. A large reward can read as paying for praise.
- Verify the reviewer bought the product. Tie requests to real orders so reviews stay authentic and EU-verifiable.
- Never delete honest negatives. Respond to them instead.
- Keep the reward away from Google and Trustpilot. Send the incentivized request to your on-site review form. Requests that point to Google or Trustpilot must carry no reward.
Run any wall of glowing reviews through our free fake review checker if it ever looks suspiciously perfect, and read is Trustpilot legit for how platforms police incentivized reviews on their side.
Alternatives to discounts
Discounts are not the only lever, and sometimes not the best one. Incentives can subtly skew tone even when compliant. Alternatives that lift review volume without cash:
- Multi-channel asking. Most stores under-collect simply because email alone is ignored. Adding WhatsApp and SMS often does more for volume than any discount. The average review submission rate is low precisely because of single-channel requests.
- Better timing. Asking at the moment of delight (just after delivery, after a repeat purchase) beats asking too early or too late.
- Loyalty points instead of cash. Points feel like a thank-you and keep customers in your ecosystem.
- A frictionless flow. One tap to a pre-filled review form converts far better than a link to a login wall.
- Simply asking everyone. Volume is mostly an asking problem, not a bribing problem. We break down the broader case in why customer reviews are important.
The bottom line
Discounts for reviews are allowed when the reward is for honesty, not for praise. Tie it to the act of reviewing, open it to every customer, disclose it, and never suppress the negatives. If your goal is a healthy public rating, the durable way to get there is to ask everyone, route happy customers public, catch unhappy ones privately, and fix what they tell you. That is compliant, it is honest, and it outperforms any bribe over time.
Related reading: Incentivized reviews.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to offer a discount for a review?
Yes, in the US and the EU, as long as the reward is offered for any honest review whatever the rating, the incentive is disclosed, and negative reviews are not suppressed. The FTC states that its rule does not prohibit incentives for reviews when there is no express or implied requirement of a particular sentiment.
Can I offer a discount for a Google review?
No. Google's policy does not allow merchants to offer incentives, including discounts, in exchange for posting a review or for changing or removing a negative one. Reviews posted because of an incentive can be removed.
Can I offer a discount for a Trustpilot review?
No. Trustpilot does not allow incentivized reviews, and its guidelines for businesses list discounts, promo codes, prize draw entries, refunds and freebies. Invitations have to be neutral and sent without a reward. See how to get more Trustpilot reviews on Shopify for what works instead.
Can I give a discount only for 5-star reviews?
No. Conditioning a reward on a positive review violates the FTC rule, and adding a disclosure does not fix it. The FTC treats wording such as "tell us how much you loved it and get a coupon" as an implied condition.
Can I offer a refund or a gift to get a negative review changed?
Fix the customer's problem because it needs fixing, not as a trade. The FTC says paying customers to change or remove truthful negative reviews may violate the FTC Act, and Google and Trustpilot both prohibit incentives for editing or removing a review. Once the problem is solved, you can simply ask whether the customer would like to update their review.
Do I have to disclose that a review was incentivized?
You should. The FTC notes that failing to disclose an incentive could violate the FTC Act, and EU rules treat undisclosed incentivized reviews as an unfair commercial practice. Check whether your review app can label incentivized reviews, and turn the label on.
References:
- FTC. Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers. Link
- FTC. Soliciting and Paying for Online Reviews: A Guide for Marketers. Link
- FTC. FTC Warns 10 Companies About Possible Violations of the Agency's New Consumer Review Rule (December 2025). Link
- Google. Maps user contributed content policy: fake engagement. Link
- Trustpilot. Guidelines for businesses. Link
Route happy customers to Trustpilot & Google, capture negatives privately.
Install Reviewz on Shopify
About the author
Nicolas Provost · Founder of Reviewz.ai
Nicolas built Reviewz.ai after auditing 500+ Shopify review setups while running Kanal (WhatsApp marketing for Shopify). He has spent four years inside the Shopify ecosystem and writes about review collection, brand trust SEO, and the actual economics of running customer-feedback flows on ecommerce sites.
