Promo-code and affiliate reviews on Trustpilot: what supplement brands can flag

What the rule says

Trustpilot's page on flagging reasons lists "advertising or promotional" as one of five reasons a business can flag a review. It covers reviews that:

• promote another business or product
• include promotional codes or calls to action
• promote scams
• are spam

It also states the limit. Trustpilot will not remove a review just because it mentions a competitor or compares you with one. "Brand X worked better for me" is an opinion. "Buy Brand X, use code JEN15" is promotion.

Trustpilot's automated detection technology looks for advertising and promotional content too. In clear cases it takes the review offline without emailing the reviewer. It does not catch everything, which is why flags still matter.

Why supplement profiles get so many

Supplements are sold through affiliates, influencers and referral codes more than almost any other product. A review site is one more place to drop a code. Three kinds show up.

The second kind is the one brands leave alone. It should be flagged like the others.

Your own affiliates' reviews

A 5-star review from someone you pay is a problem for three reasons.

Trustpilot's rule is the same for every star rating. Its Action We Take policy lists flagging a type of content only when it appears in negative reviews as misuse. If you flag a rival's codes and keep your own, your public flagging record shows it.

Trustpilot does not allow reviews from owners, employees or their families, and it bans incentives for reviews. An affiliate earns from every sale the review produces. See who can write a review.

The FTC's review rule covers incentivized and insider reviews. Our guide to the rule sets out those sections.

Tell affiliates in writing that review sites are not a channel for codes.

How to flag a promotional review

The flag evidence checklist puts these steps on one sheet, and the qualification tool checks one review at a time.

Disease claims in reviews

Some reviews say a supplement cured an illness. Trustpilot's advertising category also covers misinformation that includes medicinal product claims, so a review like that can be flagged whatever its rating.

There is a second reason to care. The FTC's Health Products Compliance Guidance says advertisers should not make claims through consumer testimonials that they could not substantiate if they made them directly. A disease-claim review sitting on your profile is the customer's statement. Copy it into an ad, an email or a product page, and it becomes yours.

So do two things. Keep those reviews out of your marketing. And flag them on the profile as you would a negative review with the same problem.

What does not qualify

• "I prefer Brand X." A comparison, not promotion.
• "Overpriced. Amazon has the same thing cheaper." A price opinion.
• "Did nothing for me." An opinion about results.
• A long angry review that names a rival in passing.

Flags on these come back as invalid cases on your public record.

Where this fits in an audit

On a supplement profile, promotional reviews are usually the largest group on the "can qualify" list, and the quickest to prepare. Each entry shows the words to highlight. The audit lists 5-star reviews with the same breach, because a plan that ignores them is a misuse risk. The supplements page has a sample audit, and our guide to auto-ship and refund complaints covers the large group that stays online.

The main Trustpilot review removal page explains the other four reasons. Request a free audit to see both lists for your profile.

If you would rather hand the work over, see our Trustpilot review removal service and what each removal costs.