Can you give customers a discount or a gift for leaving a review?

Ascent Vision · Published October 24, 2026

No. Google's Maps content policy bars businesses from offering incentives, such as payment, discounts or free goods or services, in exchange for posting any review. The FTC says its review rule separately bans incentives conditioned, openly or by implication, on a positive or negative review, and that failing to disclose other incentives could violate the FTC Act. As general advice, offer nothing for any review, anywhere, and ask every customer the same way. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.

What Google's policy says

Google's Maps content policy does not allow merchants to offer incentives, "such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services", in exchange for posting any review or for revising or removing a negative one. It says content posted because of a business's incentive will be removed. Because the policy says any review, a discount for an honest review is still covered.

Google says it may also restrict the profile of an owner who breaks its fake engagement policy. Its examples include blocking new reviews or unpublishing existing ones for a set period, and showing a warning that fake reviews were removed.

What the FTC's rule adds

The Federal Trade Commission's questions-and-answers page on its Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, which it says went into effect on October 21, 2024, takes a narrower line. 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 review express a particular sentiment. It says paying incentives for five-star reviews would violate the rule, on your own website or on review platforms. That does not make a discount allowed on Google, whose policy bars incentives for any review.

The FTC says you cannot suggest a review must be positive to get a promised incentive, even without saying so outright; one of its examples begins "Tell us how much you loved your visit". It also says failing to disclose incentives could violate the FTC Act.

What the guidance does not do: the FTC says its staff guidance is not definitive or comprehensive and gives no safe harbor from liability. It says the rule lets courts impose civil penalties for knowing violations. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.

Asking only happy customers

Asking only the customers you expect to rate you well, sometimes called review gating, is barred by Google, and the FTC warns it could break the FTC Act. Google's policy bars merchants from discouraging negative reviews or selectively soliciting positive ones. The FTC's page says its rule has no specific prohibition against it, but that "this practice could violate the FTC Act".

What to do instead

Google's policy allows asking for reviews of genuine experiences, without incentives or attempts to influence the rating or content. It also says not to pressure customers to review while on the premises, ask for specific content, or have staff collect a certain number of reviews. As general advice:

Ask every customer the same way, with a direct link and nothing attached; see the related answer on getting more reviews the right way.
Keep any discount, loyalty or referral offer out of the review request, and never make it depend on a review.
If a review is unfair, reply or report it, but never offer anything to change it; see the related answer on getting a fake Google review removed.
Other sites set their own rules; see the related answer on why Yelp hides some reviews.

Sources

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