Why the wording matters
Review Chaser refuses some phrases in customer-facing copy. This is what each of them runs into, and where to check it. None of this is legal advice, and if a regulator is already asking questions you want a solicitor rather than a settings page.
Asking for a particular rating
Requesting five stars, four stars, "top marks" or "a positive review" is soliciting a specific outcome rather than an honest account. Google’s Maps review policy prohibits it, and the update enforced from 16 and 17 April 2026 names sentiment pre-screening directly. Under the UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 the suppression of negative reviews is a banned practice, meaning the CMA does not have to prove consumer harm to act, and it can fine up to 10 per cent of global turnover without going to court.
Offering anything in return
A discount, a voucher, a free coffee, entry into a draw, loyalty points, a refund on the next visit: all of these make the review paid content. The prohibition applies even when the incentive is offered to every customer regardless of what they write. The FTC Consumer Reviews Rule has been in force since October 2024 at roughly USD 53,000 per violation, and the FTC sent warning letters to ten companies in January 2026.
Naming a member of staff
Asking a customer to mention the person who served them was added to Google’s prohibited practices in the April 2026 update, alongside staff review quotas. It turns a review into an internal performance instrument, which is also why it tends to produce reviews that read as coached.
Asking while they are still with you
Review kiosks, counter tablets, and asking a customer to scan a code before they have left are named in the same update. Reviews gathered on the premises cluster in time and place, and Google reads clusters as a manipulation signal. Invite people after they have gone, which is what the invitation scheduling in this product is for.
Conditioning the ask on satisfaction
"If you were happy, please leave a review" is review gating expressed in words rather than in code. The mechanism is different; the effect on the published record is identical. In New Zealand, Bachcare was fined NZD 117,000 under the Fair Trading Act for withholding reviews below 3.5 stars, and The TV Shop was convicted on 13 charges in December 2025.
What you can say instead
Ask about the experience rather than the score. “Tell us how it went” and “we would like to hear about your visit, whatever it was” are both fine, and they produce longer reviews with more detail in them. That matters commercially as well as legally: answer engines read review text, not just the star average, so a profile with two hundred detailed reviews at 4.4 tends to outperform forty reviews at 4.9 that all say “great service”.