Read the complete invitation together with the reward terms and the way rewards are actually granted. Identify whether a reviewer must express a particular sentiment, explicitly or by implication, to receive the incentive. The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule Q&A says sentiment-conditioned review incentives are prohibited under section 465.4; disclosure does not cure paying for positive ratings. Removing a sentiment condition does not settle the remaining disclosure, truthfulness, or applicability questions. Record those separately before continuing the offer.
For: A research-only merchant reviewing an existing or proposed offer of an incentive for customer reviews.
Preserve the actual invitation, linked terms, reminder text, and instructions supplied by any review service or agency acting for the merchant. Note the dates and versions. Read the offer from the recipient's perspective: what must be submitted, where must it appear, who decides that it qualifies, and what benefit follows? A brief summary that the store asks for honest feedback cannot answer those questions if the actual reward terms say something narrower.
Keep the incentive's form and conditions explicit. Record what the merchant promised and how fulfillment is decided, using the campaign's real rules and internal records. Do not invent an incentive amount or a customer example to complete the worksheet. If the reward process is undocumented, mark it unknown and identify the person who can explain it. The published wording and the team's actual instructions must be considered together.
Find both stated and implied sentiment conditions
The FTC's rule Q&A explains that section 465.4 covers incentives expressly or implicitly conditioned on a particular sentiment. Review any condition tied to stars, favorable wording, or approval by the merchant before the reward is granted. Also check what a reminder or staff instruction communicates when the main invitation does not state a rating requirement. Record the exact relevant merchant wording; a reassuring campaign label does not replace that examination.
The FTC specifically explains that disclosure does not cure paying for five-star reviews. Treat a required positive rating as a reason to stop using that condition, not as a missing-disclosure problem. Where the condition is only implied or the records conflict, preserve the conflicting language and have qualified counsel assess the actual solicitation. Do not erase the earlier terms and then describe the campaign as though it had always used the corrected version.
Assess disclosure and claims as separate questions
If no sentiment condition is found, write that limited finding. The FTC says incentives without sentiment conditions can still raise disclosure and FTC Act issues. Its Endorsement Guides Q&A explains that unexpected material relationships can require clear disclosure, and that endorsements must be honest and not misleading. Record the disclosure instruction the reviewer receives and where readers would see the connection. Merely telling a reviewer to disclose does not establish what was ultimately displayed.
An incentive and its disclosure do not supply evidence for the review's factual claims. FTC guidance says an endorsement cannot make a claim the advertiser could not lawfully make itself, and advertising needs appropriate substantiation. For a research-only storefront, do not turn a review program into a request for human-use outcomes or use incentivized praise to make unsupported product claims. Reviewing an invitation is distinct from reviewing the claims in a testimonial later selected for marketing.
Keep the format clear. The FTC Q&A distinguishes consumer reviews from hired influencer testimonials in its treatment of the rule. A paid promotional assignment should not be classified as an ordinary customer review merely because it is described as feedback. If the actual arrangement is unclear, record who commissioned the content, where it is intended to appear, and the question counsel needs to resolve. Neither label supplies blanket permission.
Choose a documented action for this solicitation
Use the worksheet to decide whether the offer has a sentiment condition to remove, an unclear qualification rule to resolve, a disclosure instruction to examine, or an unsupported claim request to stop. Assign the correction to the actual owner of the invitation and its linked terms. Retain the earlier version and the date the replacement became active so existing invitations and new ones are not confused. Questions about already-issued rewards or prior campaign obligations need their own qualified advice.
For a Prism website-review consultation, describe the site, research-only products, public solicitation surfaces, and the specific wording question. Prism can discuss a storefront review and connect provider feedback to relevant pages within an agreed scope. Legal questions belong with qualified counsel; the provider decides processing eligibility. Scope, fees, and terms are discussed before work. The public inquiry is not a review purchase or application, and private customer messages, reviewer lists, payment details, and credentials should stay out of it.
Review-incentive terms
Use one actual solicitation version and its linked terms. Record merchant-authored conditions without customer identities or private review messages. A finding that no sentiment condition was identified closes only that question; it is not a finding that the entire campaign complies.
Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.
Review-incentive terms. The last column is for temporary notes.
Term to examine
Evidence to locate
Decision or unresolved question
Your finding and action
Solicitation text
Evidence to locateDated invitation, reminders, linked terms, and merchant-authorized service instructions.
Decision or unresolved questionWhat must the reviewer submit, and do all versions communicate the same requirement?
Incentive
Evidence to locateActual promised benefit and the existing qualification and fulfillment rules.
Decision or unresolved questionIs receipt of the reward tied to posting, to particular content, or to a decision whose criteria are unclear?
Express sentiment condition
Evidence to locateAny stated star, rating, favorable-language, or other sentiment requirement in the offer.
Decision or unresolved questionA sentiment-conditioned incentive is the rule issue itself; adding disclosure does not cure it.
Implied sentiment condition
Evidence to locateSurrounding wording and actual merchant instructions governing qualification.
Decision or unresolved questionCould the offer communicate a sentiment condition without stating it directly? Preserve uncertainty for counsel.
Disclosure instruction
Evidence to locateWhat reviewers are told to disclose and where readers would encounter the disclosure.
Decision or unresolved questionAn instruction is not proof of a visible disclosure; absence of a sentiment condition does not settle this question.
Content arrangement
Evidence to locateWhether the actual request is a consumer review or a commissioned influencer testimonial, and the intended publication surface.
Decision or unresolved questionWhich documented rule treatment needs assessment? Do not choose a category from the campaign name alone.
Rule question and correction
Evidence to locateThe specific unresolved condition, responsible owner, retained prior version, and actual correction date.
Decision or unresolved questionSeparate stopping a condition, reviewing disclosure, and assessing claims; keep prior campaign obligations unresolved until addressed.
These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.
Limits
This worksheet applies the supplied FTC guidance as a bounded review method. It does not determine legal applicability to an unseen campaign or establish compliance in another jurisdiction.
Disclosure is not permission to purchase sentiment-conditioned reviews, fabricate endorsements, or publish unsupported claims. The FTC Endorsement Guides Q&A is not a safe harbor.
Consumer reviews, hired influencer testimonials, and ordinary review hosting have different rule treatment. This page does not declare every unsolicited false review to be the host's violation.
Keep reviewer identities, private customer records, card data, authentication codes, and credentials out of the worksheet and public inquiry.
FTC Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking — checked 2026-09-28. Endorsements must be honest and not misleading, cannot make claims the advertiser could not lawfully make itself, and may require clear disclosure of unexpected material relationships. The Q&A is not a safe harbor; application depends on actual facts.
FTC truth in advertising — checked 2026-09-28. Advertising must be truthful, nonmisleading, and appropriately substantiated across media, including the web. This does not establish that a particular solicitation or claim is lawful.
FTC Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule Q&A — checked 2026-09-29. Section 465.4 prohibits incentives expressly or implicitly conditioned on review sentiment. Disclosure does not cure paying for five-star reviews; other incentives still raise disclosure and FTC Act questions. Consumer reviews, hired influencer testimonials, and mere hosting have different rule treatment.
Prism solutions — checked 2026-09-21. Prism can discuss storefront review and help connect provider website questions to pages. Scope, fees, and terms are discussed before work, legal questions go to qualified counsel, and the provider decides eligibility.
Prism contact — checked 2026-09-21. The inquiry asks for the website, products, and question and excludes payment-card details, passwords, and customer records. It is not an appointment, service purchase, or processing application.