Replying to reviews and asking for more: questions and answers

No. The patient can share their own information. That does not give the provider permission to confirm or add to it in public. The HHS settlement in 2023 involved replies to reviews that patients had posted themselves. Source: HHS announcement. This is general information, not legal advice.

Reply to every review that raises a real issue, once, within a few days. Trustpilot lets every business reply for free. Do not reply to reviews you have flagged as harmful or illegal until Trustpilot has decided, because those are hidden during the check.

Offer to look into it privately, and apply the refund your policy owes. Never tie a refund to editing or deleting the review. Trustpilot treats that as an incentive, and the FTC named it in its NextMed case. Sources: Action We Take and the FTC announcement.

It can. Trustpilot's guidelines say replies should be polite and professional, and that replies with personal information, threats or aggressive language will be removed. Source: Guidelines for Businesses.

One trained person or a small team, working from approved wording, with a clinician or compliance lead available for edge cases. Support agents replying from memory of the case are the most common source of disclosures.

No. Trustpilot says the calculation does not distinguish between verified, invited or unprompted reviews, and the source of a review does not affect its weight. Source: TrustScore explained.

Trustpilot's label for it is Unprompted review. It is a review written without a direct invitation tied to a transaction. That includes reviews people write on their own, and reviews that arrive through a basic profile link, a Unique Link or the Review Collector widget. Source: Trustpilot's review labels.

If a review is flagged as possibly fake and the reviewer sends documents that show a genuine experience, Trustpilot's Content Integrity Team marks it Verified. Source: why some reviews are marked Verified.

Trustpilot publishes a HIPAA Business Associate Addendum that applies when a covered entity shares protected health information through its review invitation services. Ask your privacy counsel whether your setup needs it. Source: HIPAA Business Associate Addendum.

Only with a neutral method. Trustpilot encourages inviting all customers. If that is not possible, it says to use an impartial selection, such as every third customer. Inviting only people you expect to be happy is banned. Source: best practices for review invitations.

No. Trustpilot bans incentives for writing or editing a review, including discounts, promo codes, prize draw entries, refunds and freebies. It removes incentivized reviews. Source: Guidelines for Businesses.

After the customer has had time to experience the product or service. Trustpilot says inviting only at an early stage, such as right after a first consultation, can produce unbalanced reviews. Source: Action We Take.

Not without permission. Trustpilot lists asking customers to write a review in-store without advance permission, or collecting reviews on a business device, as misuse. Source: Action We Take.

Possibly. Invitation tools send customer data to Trustpilot. Trustpilot publishes a HIPAA Business Associate Addendum that applies when a covered entity shares protected health information through its invitation services. Ask your privacy counsel. Source: HIPAA Business Associate Addendum.

Automate an invitation that goes to every customer at the same point after their order. Automation also removes the chance to pick names, which is the rule most teams break by accident. Source: invitation methods.

No. Trustpilot tells businesses to invite everyone, or to use an impartial selection such as every third customer. Asking only people you expect to be happy is banned, and the FTC's rule covers the same conduct. Sources: best practices and 16 CFR Part 465.

No. Trustpilot bans anything of value for writing, editing or removing a review. The FTC's rule bans compensation conditioned on the review being positive. In its NextMed case the FTC treated gift cards offered for review changes as unlawful. Sources: 16 CFR Part 465 and the FTC's NextMed action.

Trustpilot lists several methods, from a generated link you paste into your own email to automated integrations and an API. What matters for the rules is not the method but who receives the invitation and what the wording says. Source: invitation methods.

It depends on where you start. A TrustScore is a weighted average that counts recent reviews more heavily, so a run of new reviews shifts it faster than old ones do. Try our TrustScore calculator. Source: TrustScore explained.

It closes one reason for those reviewers. You cannot flag an invited customer's review as not based on a genuine experience. The other four reasons still apply. Source: flagging reasons.

No. A reply sits under the review and changes nothing about whether the review stays. Reporting is the separate route, and Google says only reviews that break its policies can be removed. Sources: Report or Fix Content and Report inappropriate reviews.

Google says replies usually take up to 10 minutes to review, and that sometimes a review can take up to 30 days. Plan for the slow case, and do not post the same reply twice. Source: Manage customer reviews.

You can edit or delete your own reply from your Business Profile. Treat it as permanent anyway. Readers screenshot replies, and search results can hold an old version for a while.

Yes, with care. The reply must not confirm that the writer is a patient or a customer, because that is itself a disclosure. Our guide to replying without exposing patient information has the full framework. This is general information, not legal advice.

A reported review stays visible on Google while it is checked, so a short neutral reply is fine. Keep it calm and factual. Do not argue with the writer while a report is open.

Do not offer anything for it. Google treats incentives in exchange for removing or changing a review as prohibited content, and a business may not discourage negative reviews. Source: Prohibited and restricted content.

No. A reply sits under the review and changes nothing about whether it stays. Flagging is the separate route, and Trustpilot's Content Integrity Team decides each case. Source: What happens after businesses flag reviews?.

Trustpilot does not publish a decision time. It says the reviewer has 3 days to respond to a request for information, and that complicated cases take longer. Sources: How to flag service reviews and What happens after businesses flag reviews?.

No. Trustpilot lists asking a customer to edit or remove their review after the business has resolved their issue as misuse of the platform. Fix the problem, and leave the review alone. Source: Action We Take.

Its rule on reviews bans groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation and knowingly false public accusations used to stop or remove a review. Source: 16 CFR Part 465.

Yes, if the reply confirms nothing. Never say the writer is a patient or a customer, and never mention care, dates or orders. Our guide to what a public reply may not say has the framework. This is general information, not legal advice.

Wait if the flag was for harmful or illegal content, because those reviews are hidden while Trustpilot checks them. For every other flag reason, a short neutral reply is fine.

Not on Trustpilot. Its rule bans any incentive connected with writing a review, whatever the rating. The FTC's rule is narrower. It targets incentives tied to a set sentiment. So an offer can be lawful and still break Trustpilot's guidelines.

It is when it is connected to the review. Trustpilot lists refunds among its examples. Refund a customer because the refund is owed, and say nothing about the review.

Trustpilot's Action We Take policy treats asking for an edit after resolving an issue as incentive misuse. Customers may update a review on their own, and Trustpilot says a business should never pressure them to.

No. Trustpilot asks for all customers to be invited equally, or through a neutral system. Inviting only likely-happy customers is biased invitation, which Trustpilot lists among its examples of fake review practices.

No. The language has to be neutral. Trustpilot's best-practice page gives wording of that kind as an example of what is not allowed. Source: invitation best practices.

No. The calculation does not distinguish invited from unprompted reviews. Invitations change who is heard, and recent reviews weigh more. Source: TrustScore explained.

Short, plain and the same for everyone. Say who you are, what the review is for, and give the link. Do not ask how they felt first, do not offer anything, and do not send it only to the customers you expect to be happy. The templates further down this page are written to those rules.

After the thing being reviewed is finished, not before. For a product, that means after delivery and after enough use to have an opinion. For a service, after the appointment. Trustpilot limits reviewers to an experience within the past 12 months, so an ask years later is wasted. Source: Who can write a review.

No, on both of the platforms that allow asking. Google says a merchant may not selectively solicit positive reviews. Trustpilot says an invitation must go to everyone. The FTC's rule covers the same practice. Sources: Prohibited and restricted content and Invitation best practices.

No. Google calls incentives in exchange for reviews strictly prohibited, and the FTC's rule bans compensation conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment. That includes a prize draw, free shipping and a loyalty point. Sources: Tips to get more reviews and 16 CFR Part 465.

There are four on this page: an email, a text message, a line for a receipt or packing slip, and one for the end of a chat. They are deliberately plain, because every extra sentence is a chance to break a rule.

Yelp says no. It asks businesses not to solicit reviews, on the grounds that asking creates bias in what gets written. It is the only major platform that takes that position. Source: Don't ask for reviews.

Fewer than you want to. A profile that gains 200 reviews in a week after two quiet years looks like what it looks like. A steady weekly send from your order list is both safer and easier to keep up.

Ask every customer, in the same words, at the same point after their order. Send them your review link, and offer nothing in return. Google's own tips say to make it easy and to ask for feedback, and they rule out incentives. Source: Tips to get more reviews.

No. Google says incentives in exchange for customers posting reviews, changing reviews or removing negative reviews are strictly prohibited. The FTC's rule bans incentives conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment. Sources: Tips to get more reviews and 16 CFR Part 465.

No. Google says a merchant may not discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers. The FTC's rule covers the same practice. Sources: Prohibited and restricted content and 16 CFR Part 465.

Google checks reviews before they publish, and says that in some cases this process might take a few days. Merged profiles, old phones and old software can also hold a review back. Source: About missing or delayed reviews.

Google says it may take up to 2 weeks to get an updated review score. The score is the average of all ratings published for that place, so a profile with few reviews moves faster than a large one. Source: Understand review scores.

No. They are two separate jobs. Asking fixes a thin profile. Reporting applies only to reviews that break a Google policy, and a harsh but real complaint is not one of those.

Write one short public reply. Acknowledge the problem in general terms, offer one private channel, say what you changed, and stop. Keep it shorter than the review. Never confirm that the writer is a customer or a patient, and never suggest they are lying.

No. A reply sits under the review and changes nothing about whether it stays. Reporting or flagging is the separate route, and it works only for reviews that break a named platform rule. A harsh account of a real experience is not one of those.

Reply once to every review that raises a real issue, within a few days. Give one person or a small team the job, working from approved wording. Support agents replying from memory of the case are the most common source of disclosures.

Yes, if the reply confirms nothing. Never say the writer is a patient or a customer, and never mention care, dates or orders. HHS has settled a case over patient information disclosed in replies to negative reviews. Source: HHS announcement. This is general information, not legal advice.

No. Trustpilot lists asking a customer to edit or remove a review after you resolved their issue as misuse. The FTC's rule bans threats, intimidation and false public accusations used to get a review taken down. Sources: Action We Take and 16 CFR Part 465.

No. The four templates below are written by us as examples. They are not real replies from real businesses, and no client wrote them. Edit them until they sound like your brand, and vary the wording across your profile.

Not on Trustpilot and not on Google. Both ban incentives connected with a review, whatever the rating. The FTC's rule is narrower, because it targets incentives tied to a set sentiment. So an offer can be lawful and still cost you your profile. Sources: Guidelines for Businesses and Tips to get more reviews.

No, not on these two platforms. The product is a thing of value, and the review is what you get for it. Trustpilot lists freebies among its examples. Google treats paid or rewarded reviews as fake engagement. Sources: Guidelines for Businesses and Prohibited and restricted content.

No. That is the most dangerous version of this. The FTC named it in its NextMed case, where gift cards were offered for the removal or change of negative reviews. Both platforms ban it too. Source: FTC announcement.

No. Trustpilot lists prize draw entries next to discounts and refunds. The entry has value, and the customer gets it for reviewing. A draw open to every customer, with no review required, is a different thing. Source: Guidelines for Businesses.

The FTC's guidance allows contacting customers about their issues. Trustpilot is stricter. Its policy treats asking for an edit after you resolve an issue as incentive misuse. Fix it, reply in public and leave the choice to the customer. Sources: FTC questions and answers and Action We Take.

They can be taken offline, and the profile can be penalised. Trustpilot's ladder runs from an educational email to a public Consumer Warning. Google can restrict a Business Profile or unpublish its reviews. Sources: Action We Take and Business Profile restrictions.

Both, depending on the version. Trustpilot and Google ban gated invitations outright. The FTC's section 465.7(b) reaches the display side: showing reviews on your own site as most or all reviews while hiding some by rating. Sources: best practices and 16 CFR Part 465.

No. That is the classic gate, whatever the survey is called. Trustpilot tells businesses to invite everyone, or to use an impartial selection such as every third customer. A satisfaction score is not impartial. Source: best practices.

Not if the reasons apply to every review. The rule lists categories that are not suppression, such as defamatory content, personal information or a review you reasonably believe is fake. The test is that the same criteria apply whatever the rating. Source: 16 CFR Part 465.

Yes. Filtering by who is likely to be happy is the same act as filtering by what they say. Trustpilot treats reviews gathered through biased invitation methods as fake reviews, even when each reviewer is genuine. Source: best practices.

Trustpilot can remove the reviews and move up its misuse ladder, which ends in a public Consumer Warning that hides the TrustScore. Google can restrict the Business Profile or unpublish its reviews. Sources: Action We Take and Business Profile restrictions.

Invite every customer at the same point, in the same words, with nothing offered. Send the unhappy ones the same invitation as everyone else, and fix what they complain about. Our guide to getting more Trustpilot reviews has the method.

No. That is review gating. Google tells businesses not to selectively solicit positive reviews, and Trustpilot counts reviews gathered through biased invitations as fake. Send the same ask to everyone. The guide to gating the ask explains the rules.

Because asking for a set rating steers what the review says. The kit asks for an honest review, good or bad, and warns you if an edit names a star rating.

Your Google review link is in your Business Profile, under "Ask for reviews". Our guide on the Google review link shows where. Trustpilot gives each business a review link in its business app. Paste them in; the tool does not build them.

No. The drafts and the QR codes are made in your browser. Copy them into your own email tool, text system or website.

No. Every download works straight from this page. The form only emails you the same link, once, if you want it in your inbox. You are not added to a list.

Yes, that is what they are for. Keep two rules as you do. A public reply confirms nothing about who the writer is. A review request offers nothing in exchange, and goes to every customer the same way.

Because for a health brand, confirming that someone is a patient can itself be a disclosure. In 2023 the HHS Office for Civil Rights settled a case that came from replies to negative reviews. The templates talk about your process, not about the person.

Three already ran our tools: the reply drafts, the review request drafts and the flag evidence checklist. The pack renders the same text, so the files match the tools. The other three were written for the pack.