While the following may seem like commonsense, it is important that everyone on your team knows, understands and abides by these golden rules to ensure that your company does not incur penalties.
Guideline | Description |
❌ Bias is not permitted | You may not leave reviews about your company's own products You may not input reviews on behalf of customers You may not introduce bias when soliciting reviews ie. can you please leave us a 5-star review... |
❌ You must follow the giveaway guidelines if you offer incentives | ...pay-per-review/direct compensation is not permitted ...giveaways must be randomized ...giveaways must not exceed $1,000 per giveaway item ...giveaways must not exceed a giveaway rate higher than 10% (1 in 10 users) ...total giveaways within a calendar year must not exceed $5,000 |
❌ Users may not leave reviews on behalf of anyone but themself | ...you may only leave a review about your own experience with a given product or service ...you may not leave a review on someone elses behalf |
What happens if your company is found to be violating these guidelines?
All companies are expected to uphold integrity and honesty as well as the community guidelines. HTR has (1) a community reporting process (2) automated fraud detection systems and (3) content moderators queue to ensure that all guidelines are upheld.
If your company is found to be in violation of any of the above guidelines:
Any reviews found to be in violation of these guidelines will be deleted
An investigation will be opened to determine the severity of the infraction and the resulting penalties that your company will incur
Guidelines for running a giveaway campaign:
As a basic rule, indirect incentives may be offered to increase the conversion rate on review campaigns; however, in no event may direct incentives be offered in a way that might manipulate or bias reviews.
❌ No pay-per-review direct incentives
❌ No influence over review content
✅ Randomized giveaways are permitted
✅ Charitable contribution donations are permitted
Guideline | ❌ Not Allowed | ✅ Allowed |
1. No direct incentives unless for charitable cause (aka. pay-per-review) | "Leave a review, get $20 gift card" | "We're raising money for a cause that is near and dear to our team and for every review generated we'll be donating $20 to Y charity" |
2. No influence over review content | "Leave us a 5-star review and get entered to win" | "Leave us a review between now and the end of the month to win" |