Review gating: what it is, why platforms ban it, and what to do instead
Asking only happy customers for public reviews, or filtering unhappy ones to a private form first, is review gating. Why Google prohibits it and the FTC has acted on it, and the honest alternative that works better.
Frontiva · · 4 min read
Review gating is any process that asks for public reviews only from customers expected to be positive, or that routes customers through a sentiment check ("how was your visit?") and shows the public review link only to the happy ones. Google's review policies prohibit selectively soliciting reviews and discouraging negative ones, and the FTC's rule on consumer reviews targets suppression of honest reviews. The honest alternative, asking everyone and giving everyone a private way to reach you, works better anyway. This post describes the rules; it is not legal advice.
What counts as gating
The obvious version. The front desk decides who to ask based on how the visit went.
The software version. A text asks "How was your visit, 1 to 5?" Fours and fives get the Google link; ones to threes get a "tell us more" form. The customer never sees the public link unless they scored high.
The subtle version. Everyone gets the link, but the message to expected-negative customers is worded to discourage ("we would love feedback on how to improve" with no link), or requests are simply not sent for visits flagged as difficult.
The test: does the customer's expected sentiment change whether they are offered the public review? If yes, it is gating.
Why platforms ban it
Reviews are only useful if they reflect all customers. A profile with 4.9 stars from gated requests is a profile that lies to the next customer, and the platforms know that lying profiles make the whole system worthless. Google's policy language is direct: do not discourage or prohibit negative reviews, and do not selectively solicit positive ones. Businesses found gating can have reviews removed or profiles penalised.
Why the FTC cares
The FTC's rule on fake reviews and testimonials, finalised in 2024, prohibits fake reviews, paying for reviews conditioned on sentiment, and suppressing or attempting to suppress honest reviews. Gating flows that filter negative feedback away from public platforms sit uncomfortably close to suppression, and the FTC has brought cases against businesses whose review practices misled consumers. Whatever the precise legal line for a given flow, the direction of enforcement is clear.
What to do instead
Ask everyone whose visit completed, with consent, on the same timing, with the same message. Include a private route in the message: "If anything was not right, reply here and we will sort it out." That is not gating, because everyone is offered the public link and the private route sits beside it, not in front of it.
The result is that unhappy customers usually take the private route, because it is faster and more likely to fix their problem, and happy customers take the public one. You get the complaints privately and the reviews publicly, without ever deciding who is which.
The exceptions that are not gating
Not sending a request for a visit with a bad clinical outcome, or to a customer who is already in a complaint process, is a judgement about not asking someone for a review of a bad day. It is not selecting for positive sentiment. Keep it to a person's one-tap skip per visit, with the reason, and do not let it become a rule that quietly filters.
The AI's role
It sends on the rule, to everyone the rule covers. It does not analyse the conversation for sentiment and decide who gets the link. If a vendor offers "smart review requests that only go to happy customers", that is gating with a nicer name.
Frequently asked questions
Is a "how was your visit" survey always gating?
Not if everyone gets the public review link regardless of their answer. It becomes gating when the answer decides who sees the link.
What about asking for feedback first, then reviews later?
If the review request goes to everyone on the same rule, a separate feedback survey is fine. If the feedback survey's result decides who gets the review request, it is gating.
Will our rating drop if we stop gating?
Possibly a little, and it will become true. A 4.7 that reflects all customers is worth more than a 4.9 that platforms may remove.
What Frontiva does here
Frontiva sends review requests, and everybody gets the same link. There is no happy path and no unhappy one, which is the whole of the rule above. Requests go after a completed appointment, by hand, or as a step in an automation, throttled per contact. What Frontiva cannot do is read your reviews back, so it can tell you what it asked and not what was written. See asking for Google reviews by text.