Overview
Reviews are powerful when people can trust them. That's the foundation SmartCustomer was built on, and it shapes every decision we make about how reviews are collected, verified, and published.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the federal agency responsible for protecting consumers from deceptive business practices. We look to the FTC because they represent the legal and ethical floor for consumer protection in the United States. In 2024, the FTC finalized a rule that makes it illegal to buy or sell fake reviews, suppress negative feedback, use undisclosed insider reviews, or compensate reviewers in ways designed to skew ratings. These values reflect the standards we've held since the beginning, and we continuously work to make sure our work and policies stay aligned as the rules evolve.
What follows is our full Review Integrity Policy: the SmartCustomer standard we’ve developed over 20+ years, what we expect from reviewers, what we expect from businesses, and what happens when those expectations aren't met.
For Reviewers
The Short Version
Anyone can write a review on SmartCustomer. You don't need to be invited. What we do ask is that your review reflects your own genuine experience with a business.
SmartCustomer receives thousands of reviews everyday. Before reviews are published, it goes through our verification process to confirm it's real. If it doesn't meet our standards, it won't go live.
We know that most people who write reviews are doing so in good faith, and we've designed our process to support that. You're in control of your review and can edit or delete it at any time. If you come across a review you think is fake or misleading, you can flag it. Helping keep the platform honest is something every reviewer can be part of.
Primary Rules
These are hard limits. Reviews that violate them will be removed, and repeated violations may result in account suspension.
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Reviews must be based on your own firsthand experience. Second-hand accounts ("my friend ordered from here") aren't allowed.
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One review per transaction. Duplicate reviews are removed.
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No fake or fraudulent reviews. This includes paid reviews and reviews submitted on behalf of someone else.
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No insider reviews. If you own, work for, or are closely associated with a business, you can't review it. SmartCustomer exists to capture genuine customer experiences, not internal endorsements.
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No incentivized reviews for businesses. Accepting anything of value (discounts, gift cards, cash, giveaway entries) in exchange for a business review isn't allowed, regardless of whether you disclose it.
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No hate speech, threats, harassment, or lewd content.
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Reviews must be relevant. Content that doesn't describe a real customer experience will be removed.
Guidelines
These are best practices that help your review be as useful as possible to other consumers.
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Be specific. What did you buy? What worked well, and what didn't? The more detail you include, the more helpful your review is.
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Stay factual and respectful, even if your experience was negative. Reviews that focus on the experience rather than personal attacks are more credible and more likely to be taken seriously.
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Use clear language. Write the way you'd describe your experience to a friend.
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Add photos or videos if they genuinely reflect your experience. Visual proof adds credibility.
Moderation & Appeals
SmartCustomer uses automated filtering software and a dedicated moderation team to identify and remove reviews that violate our policies. Reviews are never removed simply because they're negative.
Catching every fake review is an ongoing effort, and your reports make us better at it. If you come across a review you think is fake or doesn't meet our guidelines, you can flag it directly from the review page and our moderation team will review it.
If your review is removed, you can appeal the decision by emailing [email protected]. Appeals are typically reviewed within 10 business days.
For Businesses
The Short Version
Businesses are welcome to invite your customers to share their experiences, respond to feedback publicly, and use our tools to understand what your customers are telling you. What you can't do is try to manipulate the outcome. Offering incentives for business reviews, screening which customers to invite, or pressuring reviewers to change what they've written are all violations of our policy.
We understand that negative reviews can be frustrating, especially when you believe they don't reflect the full picture. The right response is to:
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Engage professionally
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Deliver quality experiences for your customers
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Continue to collect fresh feedback
A business that responds thoughtfully to criticism and consistently generates more buzz builds long-lasting trust. If you believe a review is fraudulent, flag it through your dashboard and we'll investigate. The integrity of the platform protects you as much as it protects consumers.
Primary Rules
These are hard limits. Violations trigger our enforcement process, which is described below.
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No fake reviews. Businesses can't collect or purchase reviews that don't reflect genuine customer experiences.
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No incentivizing business reviews. Offering compensation (discounts, gifts, cash, or anything else of value) in exchange for a business review is prohibited, and aligns with the FTC's final rule banning this practice.
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No review gating. Review gating means pre-screening customers before inviting them to review, for example by asking whether they had a positive experience and only sending the review invitation if they say yes. This practice skews ratings and is banned on SmartCustomer. Businesses must invite a fair, representative sample of their customers.
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No review suppression. Businesses can't ask consumers to remove or change negative reviews, threaten reviewers, or take any action designed to hide or bury legitimate feedback.
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No insider reviews. Owners, employees, and close associates may not review the business. This is also prohibited under the FTC's final rule on undisclosed insider reviews.
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No coordinated manipulation. Businesses may not trade reviews with other businesses, flood their profile with reviews to dilute negative feedback, or engage in any other coordinated effort to manipulate their rating.
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A note on product review incentives: Business reviews and product reviews are held to different standards, and that distinction is intentional. A business review reflects someone's overall experience with a company—their trust, their service, their reliability. That's not something that should ever be sourced with an incentive. Product reviews serve a different purpose: they help consumers evaluate specific items, and incentivized product testing is a recognised and regulated practice when done transparently. For that reason, incentives for product reviews, videos, and images are permitted under specific conditions: the incentive can't be tied to a particular star rating or sentiment, it must be clearly disclosed in the review itself, and the review must comply with FTC guidelines on incentivized reviews. Incentivized product reviews do not override our prohibition on incentivized business reviews.
Guidelines
These are best practices for businesses who want to build a trustworthy presence on SmartCustomer.
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Invite all your customers, not just the happy ones. A representative sample gives you a more accurate picture of your performance, and consumers trust profiles that reflect the full range of experiences.
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Respond to reviews professionally, whether they're positive or negative. A thoughtful response to a critical review often says more about a business than the review itself.
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Report suspicious reviews. If you see a review you believe is fraudulent, use the flagging system in your account dashboard. Don't attempt to handle it directly with the reviewer.
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Don't ask reviewers to change or remove negative reviews. You can respond to them, but pressuring consumers to alter their feedback is a violation of our policy.
Consequences for violations
We take policy violations seriously, and we're transparent about enforcement.
When we've confirmed that a business has violated our Review Integrity Policy, we reach out directly with a formal warning. We also publish the status of that warning in the Business Activity section of their SmartCustomer profile, so consumers can see it.
After three confirmed violations, we remove the business's SmartCustomer rating entirely and apply a permanent banner to their profile. This isn't a decision we make lightly, but protecting the integrity of the platform means holding businesses accountable when repeated violations make that necessary.
Moderation & Appeals
SmartCustomer uses automated filtering software and a dedicated moderation team to identify and remove reviews that violate our policies. Reviews are never removed simply because they're negative, and businesses cannot request removal of reviews they simply disagree with.
Catching every fake review is an ongoing effort, and your reports make us better at it. If you believe a review on your business profile is fraudulent or violates our guidelines, you can flag it through your account dashboard and we'll investigate.
If you'd like to appeal a moderation decision, you can reach us at [email protected]. Appeals are typically reviewed within 10 business days.