No. Do not offer a discount, a free fill or another reward for a Google review. Google bans review incentives. That includes rewards to change or remove a bad review. The FTC rule separately bans rewards tied to positive or negative sentiment. A disclosure does not cancel Google's ban.
Why are the two rules different?
FTC staff guidance says its review rule does not ban every reward when no particular sentiment is required. Hidden rewards can still raise FTC Act concerns.
Google's policy is stricter for its platform. It bars rewards for reviews and requests aimed only at positive reviews. For Google, remove the reward from the ask. Calling it a thank-you does not change the exchange.
How can we ask without buying praise?
These are our office recommendations:
- Ask about a real experience in the customer's own words.
- Leave the rating to the customer.
- Remove gifts tied to posting, editing or deleting a review.
- Check that the process does not ask only happy customers.
- Give staff and vendors the same approved request.
What about a credit for poor service?
Fix the service issue on its merits. Our advice is to keep that remedy separate from any review change. Save the reason for the credit. Never make it depend on taking down criticism. Have counsel review a proposed agreement about an existing review.
Read the review process and text permission checks. These steps promise neither more reviews nor a higher rating. This is operator background, not legal advice.