Review Incentives Explained

What's Allowed: Compliant Incentive Examples

Incentives are generally considered compliant when:

• they are tied to completing a survey or providing feedback — not submitting a public review
• the reward is available regardless of whether the customer leaves a review at all
• the incentive is offered for warranty registration, product education, or general engagement
• any incentive for feedback is not conditioned on the sentiment of that feedback

Example: offering a discount for completing a post-purchase survey is acceptable, as long as the discount is not conditioned on leaving a 5-star review or any public review.

What's Not Allowed: Non-Compliant Examples

Incentives that cross the compliance line include:

• gift cards offered in exchange for leaving an Amazon review
• coupons or discounts offered specifically for positive reviews
• refunds or rebates that require submitting a review as proof
• giveaway entries exclusively tied to leaving a public review
• free product offers conditioned on a verified purchase review

These practices violate both Amazon's seller policies and may violate FTC review guidelines.

The Core Principle

The key question: 'Does a customer have to leave a review — or a positive review — to receive the benefit?'

If the answer is yes, the incentive likely creates a compliance concern.

If the incentive is available to all customers regardless of whether they leave a review, the structure is generally safer.

Incentives for Surveys vs Public Reviews

There is an important distinction between incentivizing private feedback and incentivizing public reviews.

Offering a small reward for completing an internal customer satisfaction survey is generally acceptable when the survey is not used to gate public review access.

The concern arises when the incentive is tied to posting a review on a public marketplace like Amazon.

Frequently Asked Questions