Should you only ask happy customers for reviews?

No. Asking customers for reviews is allowed, and worth doing. Choosing who to ask by how happy they are is a different matter. Google and Trustpilot both forbid it in their own rules. The regulator's guidance goes further and names "encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews" as one way of cherry-picking, which UK law has banned since April 2025. Be clear about where that last step comes from: the Act itself says nothing about which customers you ask, the link is the regulator's reading, and no court has tested it. What is true is that there is plenty you can do to get more reviews, fairly.

This is part of our series on marketing myths, checked, which tests things small businesses are told against what the people who run the systems actually publish.

What is being recommended

The advice comes in a few forms. Only send the review link after a job you know went well. Ask in person when the customer is smiling, and not otherwise. Send a short "how did we do?" message first, then pass the happy ones to your Google page and keep the unhappy ones in your inbox. Offer a small thank-you, a discount or a prize draw, for leaving a review. Each is presented as normal practice. We are describing the practices, not anyone who recommends them.

What the law says

The rules are in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. Schedule 20 lists practices that the Act says are "in all circumstances considered unfair" (section 225). Paragraph 13, in force since 6 April 2025, covers reviews. It bans:

• "Submitting, or commissioning another person to submit or write" a fake consumer review, or one "that conceals the fact it has been incentivised"
• "Publishing consumer reviews, or consumer review information, in a misleading way"
• publishing reviews without taking "reasonable and proportionate steps" to prevent and remove fake reviews, concealed incentivised reviews and false or misleading review information
• offering businesses services to submit, commission or misleadingly publish reviews, or to help others do so

A fake review is one "that purports to be, but is not, based on a person's genuine experience". "Commissioning" includes "incentivising by any means". And the Act gives examples of publishing in a misleading way:

• "failing to publish, or removing from publication, negative consumer reviews whilst publishing positive ones (or vice versa)"
• "giving greater prominence to positive consumer reviews over negative ones (or vice versa)"
• "omitting information that is relevant to the circumstances in which a consumer review has been written"

Notice what the Act does not say. It bans incentivising a review without saying so, but it says nothing about which customers a business chooses to ask. The link between selective asking and cherry-picking comes from the regulator, not from the Act.

What the CMA says about choosing who to ask

The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance on fake reviews (CMA208, published 4 April 2025) makes that link directly. Under the heading "Suppressing and cherry-picking reviews", it says a business "may infringe the law if they suppress genuine negative or positive reviews, selectively promote positive or negative reviews or omit information around how reviews have been written." It goes on:

"Cherry picking positive reviews for publication over negative ones might be done either through suppressing negative reviews that have been submitted or by encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews."

The same guidance also lists things businesses should not do to stop negative reviews being left in the first place, including "arbitrarily stopping and starting review invitations" and "making an offer of dispute resolution contingent on a consumer not leaving a negative review". And it says those publishing reviews should not "try to persuade consumers to submit a complaint, rather than leave a review for publication", or "treat a negative review intended for publication as a complaint and not publish it."

The same guidance is clear that asking is fine. Encouraging reviews "without predetermining the contents or sentiment expressed in the review, for example by merely emailing customers generally to ask if they wish to provide a review, is not prohibited".

What the CMA says about incentives

Here the law is more relaxed than most people expect, and the platforms are stricter. The CMA's guidance says businesses may pay for reviews or offer "future discounts or free products", but "to comply with the law they must: (a) tell consumers that the review has been incentivised, and (b) the review must still reflect the reviewer's genuine experience."

There is a catch. The guidance adds that "many publication media (for example, websites, platforms etc.) do not allow incentivised reviews. Where this is the case, submitting an incentivised review is likely to be misleading." Google and Trustpilot are two of them.

Among its examples of commissioning banned reviews, the CMA lists offering a customer "a free or discounted product in exchange for a five-star review", sharing a social media post "asking for five-star reviews in exchange for free products", and contacting a customer who left a negative review to offer "a refund and/or a gift card if they change their review".

Is the CMA enforcing it?

Yes, though we found no published outcome yet on reviews. In its one-year review of 17 April 2026, the CMA says it carried out a sweep of review publishers, "issued advisory letters to 54 firms", and in March 2026 "opened investigations into 5 companies", looking at "how reviews are obtained, moderated and displayed".

The CMA's notice of those investigations (27 March 2026) describes the practices in question: whether one-star reviews were not published on a platform and "were not counted towards star ratings"; whether a business "asked staff to write positive reviews"; whether a ratings system "inflated certain restaurants' and grocers' star ratings"; and whether customers "were offered discounts on future orders in exchange for leaving 5-star reviews on delivery apps, without this being disclosed". The CMA says it "has not reached any conclusions about whether consumer law has been broken", and its case pages expected the next update in September 2026.

The penalty is set in section 182 of the Act: a fixed amount "not exceeding £300,000 or, if higher, 10% of the total value of the turnover" of the business. The Act makes most banned practices a criminal offence, but section 237 excludes the review practices from that offence, so the main route for reviews is civil enforcement by the CMA. Conduct that is also misleading in other ways can still fall under the Act's other offences.

What Google says

Google's policy on prohibited and restricted content for Maps covers reviews on a Business Profile. Under "Rating manipulation", it lists what "We do not allow merchants to" do. That includes offering incentives "such as payment, discounts, free of cost goods and/or services" in exchange for a review, or for changing or removing a negative one, and it includes this: "Discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers".

The same policy says that when asking for reviews, businesses "should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises, nor should they request that specific content be included", and it rules out asking staff to collect "a certain number of reviews". What it allows: businesses may "Solicit or encourage the posting of content that does represent a genuine experience, without offering incentives to do so or attempting to influence the rating or the contents of the review."

The consequences are on Google's page on Business Profile restrictions. As well as removing the reviews, Google says it may stop a profile receiving new reviews for a set period, unpublish its existing reviews for a set period, or display "a warning to let consumers know that fake reviews were removed." Businesses can appeal. If your profile has been restricted or suspended, we cover what to do next.

What Trustpilot says

Trustpilot's Guidelines for Businesses (June 2026) are the most specific. Invitations must be "fair, neutral, and unbiased with no incentives offered." Businesses should "Invite consistently and fairly", which Trustpilot explains as "inviting everyone in the same way, and at the same point in the customer journey, regardless of whether they've had a positive or negative experience with your business". And they must not:

• "Be selective with invitations, by picking and choosing which customers you invite", including "Inviting only those people who you know have had a positive experience" and setting invitations "to go out to customers at a certain stage in the customer journey that will only be reached by people who have had a good experience"
• pre-screen reviewers "by directing customers who have had a good experience to leave a review and those with a bad experience to contact you directly"
• "Offer incentives in connection with writing or editing reviews", including "discounts, promo codes, prize draw entries, refunds, freebies"
• "Suggest that reviewers only leave positive reviews"

Trustpilot's guidelines say misuse can lead to "account suspension or placing a Consumer Warning on your profile."

What Facebook says

Much less. Facebook's help page on recommending a business tells reviewers that a recommendation should be based "on personal experience", and that they "Shouldn't manage the Page for that business". It adds that Facebook does "not verify that users purchased the product or used the service" being reviewed. We found no Meta policy that addresses businesses asking for or rewarding reviews. Facebook does let a Page owner switch Recommendations off, which removes the rating and all reviews, good and bad. The law applies to reviews on Facebook just as it does anywhere else.

Does it matter who is asking?

The same Act applies to everyone, but the duties differ by role.

A business asking its own customers is covered by the ban on commissioning fake or concealed incentivised reviews, whoever publishes them. If it also shows reviews, on its own website, in a widget or on printed material, it is a publisher too, and the rules on misleading publication apply to what it chooses to display. The CMA's examples include "selecting only favourable reviews to be presented".

A platform hosting reviews carries the heavier duty to prevent and remove fake and misleading reviews. The CMA's guidance says the steps expected of a site that collects and verifies reviews itself "may differ from, and be more significant than", those of a business that displays ratings it has pulled from that site. But it is explicit that small businesses are not exempt: "Even a small trader publishing only reviews from their own customers" must take "reasonable and proportionate measures where their content poses a risk".

The platforms' own rules sit on top. Breaking Google's or Trustpilot's policy is not in itself breaking the law, but it gets reviews removed and profiles restricted. And where a platform does not allow incentivised reviews, the CMA says submitting one there is likely to be misleading.

The part that is true

You should ask for reviews, and there is a lot you can do to get more of them, fairly:

• Ask everyone, the same way, at the same point. After the job is finished or the order has arrived, not only after the ones that went well.
• Make it easy. Google's tips page suggests asking customers "to visit a Google link or scan a QR code", and adds: "Value all reviews: Honest and balanced reviews can help potential customers decide. A mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy."
• Give people time to use what they bought before asking. Trustpilot's guidelines say "Give your customers time to experience the product or service before asking them to provide feedback".
• Use neutral words. "Would you leave us a review?" rather than "If you're happy, please leave five stars".
• Reply to reviews, including the critical ones. Google's tips put it simply: "Show customers that their feedback matters."
• Fix the problem, separately. You can offer to put things right for an unhappy customer. What you cannot do is make that offer depend on them not leaving, or removing, a review.

What you cannot do is let the customer's mood decide who gets asked. We cover where reviews fit in local search in our local SEO checklist, and why anyone offering to create reviews or mentions for you should worry you in can you pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?

If you would like a hand with your Google Business Profile and local search, including a review process that stays within the rules, our SEO audit and first fixes is a fixed £2,500.

A quick check

The ticks are saved in this browser.

• Every customer is asked for a review at the same point, in the same way.
• We never ask "how did we do?" first and send only the happy ones to review us.
• Our request does not mention stars or a positive review.
• We offer nothing in return for a review.
• Staff have no targets for numbers of reviews.
• Any reviews on our own website include the negative ones, not just the best.
• Any offer to put things right does not depend on a review being changed or removed.

Where the evidence is thin

• The Act and selective asking. The Act bans publishing reviews in a misleading way but does not mention how reviews are requested. That selective asking is a form of cherry-picking is the CMA's reading, in guidance. We found no court decision that tests it, so treat it as the regulator's view of the law, not settled law.
• Enforcement outcomes. The CMA opened five review investigations in March 2026. As of 27 September 2026 its case pages still showed them open, with no published outcome, so there is no decided case yet showing where the line falls for a small business. None of the five is about selective asking.
• Facebook. We found no Meta policy on businesses soliciting or rewarding reviews. Facebook's help pages address reviewers, not businesses.
• How common it is. We found no reliable UK data on how many businesses ask only happy customers, so we make no claim about whether it is "normal practice".

The verdict

False. Asking for reviews is allowed and worth doing. Asking only the customers you think are happy breaks Google's and Trustpilot's rules outright. In law, the regulator's guidance treats it as cherry-picking, which the Act bans, though the Act does not name it and no court has tested that reading. None of that makes it safe. The rule to follow is simple: ask everyone, the same way, at the same point, and offer nothing in return.