Aston Watson
What is review gating?
Gating is any step that decides who gets a review request based on how happy a customer seems. The business checks how customers feel first, then invites the satisfied ones to post a public review and steers everyone else to a private form, a support ticket or nothing at all.
The name comes from the gate in the middle of the flow. Customers on one side of it see the review link and customers on the other side never do, so the reviews that reach G2 or Trustpilot come from a filtered group. Buyers reading the profile have no way to tell that a filter was there.
Gating is different from writing fake reviews, because every review that gets through may be genuine. The problem is the reviews that were never written. A profile built from a screened group can look far better than one built from every customer, even when the second product serves its users better, and that gap is exactly what review sites and regulators want to close.
How SaaS teams gate reviews by accident
Few teams set out to hide bad reviews. Gating usually creeps in when someone wires a review request into a tool that already sorts customers by mood, and the sorting quietly becomes the filter. These four patterns cover most of the gated flows in SaaS products.
NPS-based routing
Many teams send a Net Promoter Score survey and then branch on the answer. Promoters who score 9 or 10 get a link to G2 or Trustpilot, while passives and detractors get a thank-you note or a feedback form. The survey itself is fine, but using the score to decide who sees the review link is gating.
"Rate us first" widgets
Some in-app widgets ask for a star rating before they show anything else. Customers who tap four or five stars see a button to post the review publicly, and customers who tap fewer see a private message box. It looks like a polite way to catch complaints, yet it works exactly like a gate.
Inviting only after an upgrade
Triggering the review request when a customer upgrades, renews or reaches a success milestone feels natural, because those are good moments. Only customers who are already happy reach them, though, so the request never reaches the ones who churned or stayed on a plan they find frustrating. Trustpilot names this timing pattern directly in its guidelines.
Sending unhappy customers to support only
Some flows ask "How are we doing?" and send anyone who answers badly to a support ticket. Helping an unhappy customer is good practice, but when the support path replaces the review request, that customer loses the chance to post publicly. Trustpilot calls this pre-screening, and the G2 and Capterra rules cover it too.
Review gating on G2 and Capterra
G2 bans gating under the heading "Biased Review Collection" in G2's community guidelines for vendors. The rule bans collecting reviews "by any method that segments out potentially negative reviews or exclusively targets positive reviews", along with discouraging negative reviews of your product. G2 also says that if it finds evidence of a seller soliciting only positive reviews, it will remove the reviews.
The penalties can go further than lost reviews. G2 lists stopping new reviews, blocking new product listings, revoking the vendor's my.G2 access, banning the vendor or product, and removing existing reviews and report inclusions. G2 may also show buyers a warning banner on the product's profile, and vendors can appeal through a standard review process.
Capterra sets out the same principle in fewer words. Capterra's community guidelines for vendors, last updated on 4 May 2026, ask vendors to solicit reviews in a fair and unbiased manner by requesting feedback from a broad cross-section of their user base. They also tell vendors to avoid selectively targeting users based on expected sentiment or prior feedback, which describes NPS routing almost word for word.
Our G2 review campaign follows the same principle: every verified user in the campaign gets the same neutral request, and each one chooses their own rating. Rewards bring a separate set of rules on both sites, which our guide to incentivized reviews covers platform by platform.
Review gating on Trustpilot
Trustpilot's guidelines for businesses (version 7.3, September 2026) are the most detailed of the three. They ask businesses to invite everyone in the same way and at the same point in the customer journey, regardless of whether a customer had a positive or negative experience.
The guidelines then list the forms of gating Trustpilot does not allow:
- Being selective with invitations by picking and choosing which customers you invite.
- Inviting only the people you know have had a positive experience.
- Setting invitations to go out at a stage of the customer journey that only people with a good experience will reach.
- Pre-screening customers by sending those with a good experience to leave a review and those with a bad experience to contact you directly.
The last two describe upgrade-triggered requests and support-only routing almost exactly. If an invitation falls short, Trustpilot may ask you to change the wording or reset your invitation template. Wider misuse can lead to blocked or suspended features, an ended agreement, a Consumer Warning on your profile, a hidden TrustScore and legal action.
Teams that want real Trustpilot reviews through a campaign get the same fairness from us. Our Trustpilot campaigns use verified users who receive nothing for their review, write in their own words and choose their own rating.
Is review gating illegal? What the FTC says
The FTC's Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials went into effect on 21 October 2024. The FTC's questions and answers on the rule ask directly whether a business can request reviews only from customers it thinks are happy. The FTC's answer is that the rule does not contain a specific prohibition against such conduct, "But this practice could violate the FTC Act."
The FTC had already put the point plainly. The FTC's guide for marketers on soliciting reviews (January 2022) tells businesses: "Don't ask for reviews only from customers you think will leave positive ones." So gating carries legal risk even though no single section of the rule names it, because the FTC Act's ban on deceptive practices still applies.
The same Q&A covers what happens after reviews arrive. Organizing reviews in a way that makes negative ones hard for consumers to find could violate Section 5 of the FTC Act, and using non-representative consumer reviews in marketing could be deceptive. Our guide to the FTC fake reviews rule explains the sections of the rule that ban fake reviews and review suppression outright.
How to tell if your review flow is gated
Gating hides in tools and settings, so the quickest check is to trace each review request from its trigger to the link. List every place a customer can be asked for a review, including email sequences, in-app prompts, support macros and success-team templates, and ask these questions of each one:
- Who gets it? If any filter on score, plan, account health or sentiment decides who sees the link, the flow is gated.
- When does it fire? A trigger that only happy customers reach, such as an upgrade or a renewal, gates by timing.
- What do low scorers see? If they see a support form in place of the review link, that is pre-screening.
- What does the wording say? Phrases such as "If you love us" push the request toward fans only.
If every answer points to the same request for every customer, the flow is clean. If any answer depends on how the customer feels, fix that step before you send the next batch of requests.
How to fix a gated review flow
Fixing a gated flow means removing the branch and keeping the useful parts. You can still run an NPS survey and still help unhappy customers, as long as neither one decides who gets the review link.
- Remove the score branch. Send the review request to every customer, whatever their NPS or star rating.
- Move the trigger to a fixed point. Use a moment every customer reaches, such as day 30, day 90 or the account anniversary.
- Keep support separate. Offer help to unhappy customers alongside the review link, never in place of it.
- Rewrite the wording. Ask for an honest review, with no hint that only good ones are welcome.
- Keep a record. Note the date you changed the flow and what you changed, in case a platform asks.
Asking everyone is normal, and customers respond. In BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey of 1,002 US consumers, 78% of consumers were asked to write a review in the last 12 months, and 65% wrote one after being asked. A fair request sent to every customer still brings in reviews from your happy customers, along with the honest mix that makes a profile believable.
For request templates that fit every platform's rules, see our guide on how to ask customers for reviews. Then watch the first month of new reviews, because a few lower ratings are a sign the gate is gone, and a calm public reply to each one shows buyers that you listen.
Want to see how we keep campaigns fair?
Our RelikReview review policy explains how every campaign runs, with unpaid reviewers who choose their own rating.
G2 review service
Get G2 reviews without a gate from RelikReview
RelikReview runs G2 campaigns with no gate anywhere in the flow. Our G2 review service sends the same neutral request to every verified user in the campaign, with the plan, timing and price in writing first.
- No screeningNobody is filtered by score or sentiment before the request.
- Unpaid reviewersEach reviewer chooses their own rating and words.
- Paced to look naturalReviews arrive steadily, with no sudden spikes.
Building a review flow every customer reaches
Review gating is easy to build by accident and hard to defend once a platform spots it. G2, Capterra and Trustpilot all ban selective review collection, and the FTC says asking only happy customers could violate the FTC Act, so an NPS branch or an upgrade trigger is a risk worth removing.
Trace every review request this week, remove any step that filters by mood, and send one neutral request to every customer at a fixed point. If you would like help running G2 or Trustpilot campaigns that ask without a gate, talk to the RelikReview team.
FAQs about gated review requests
Is it illegal to ask only happy customers for reviews?
Asking only happy customers for reviews is not named as a banned act in the FTC's review rule, but the FTC says the practice could violate the FTC Act. Its guide for marketers puts it plainly: do not ask for reviews only from customers you think will leave positive ones. G2, Capterra and Trustpilot also ban it.
Does G2 remove reviews collected through gating?
Yes, G2 says that if it finds evidence of a seller soliciting only positive reviews, it will remove the reviews. Its Biased Review Collection rule bans any method that segments out potentially negative reviews, and further penalties include stopped new reviews, revoked my.G2 access, a warning banner on the profile or a ban from G2.
Can I send unhappy customers to support instead of a review site?
No, sending unhappy customers to support in place of the review link is pre-screening. Trustpilot's guidelines ban directing customers with a good experience to leave a review and those with a bad experience to contact you directly. You can still offer support to anyone who needs it, as long as they also get the review request.
Can I use an NPS survey before asking for a review?
Yes, you can run an NPS survey, as long as the score never decides who gets the review request. Send the review link to every customer at the same fixed point, whatever score they gave. Capterra tells vendors to avoid targeting users based on expected sentiment or prior feedback, and an NPS score is prior feedback.
Is it gating to ask for reviews right after an upgrade?
Yes, asking only after an upgrade or renewal can count as gating, because only satisfied customers reach that moment. Trustpilot's guidelines ban setting invitations to go out at a stage of the customer journey that only people with a good experience will reach. Use a fixed point every customer reaches, such as day 30 or day 90.
Does RelikReview screen reviewers by sentiment?
No, RelikReview campaigns never screen reviewers by score or sentiment. Every reviewer gets the same neutral request, is never paid and chooses their own rating. On G2, Trustpilot, SourceForge and SoftwareSuggest our campaigns use verified users, and on Capterra and HubSpot they run with the client's customers through the platform's review link.
