Moderation Guidelines
Moderation Guidelines
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This document reflects the moderation logic used by Yotpo's Professional Services team.
Reviews are published, rejected, or escalated according to the criteria outlined in this article.
Reasons for rejecting reviews
Unclear or incomprehensible text
Text or content is not clear and cannot be understood.
All Reviews need to make sense. If a Review has not been clearly written and cannot be understood it should not be published. Reviews containing many spelling and/or grammar errors should be published as long as the general meaning is still clear.
| Criterion | Action |
|---|---|
| Gibberish/nonsense | Reject |
| Spelling and/or grammar to a degree that the review is not understandable | Reject |
| Cynical review | Reject |
| Minor spelling/grammar mistakes | Publish |
Irrelevant content
| Criterion | Action |
|---|---|
| Review contains only product name (no additional information) | Reject |
| Review contains information about shipment/packing/service | Reject |
| Customer has not opened or used the product yet | Reject |
Legal
No review should include any legal transgression, including harassment, or threats against an individual or group.
| Criterion | Action |
|---|---|
| Any threat/harassment/legal transgression/racist remark | Reject |
Profanities and explicit language
If a Review includes profanity and/or inappropriate word(s) or sentence(s) which are included in the keywords list, the review should be rejected.
| Criterion | Action |
|---|---|
| Any profanity not picked up by the filter | Reject |
Details of a competitor or competitor's product
No need to promote competitors on your website (including auction or customer’s personal websites).
| Criterion | Action |
|---|---|
| A customer has included a competitor's details or product, and this review gives the competitor advantage over our client. See the exception below: | Reject |
| The competitor's name is part of the product (such as a gift card) | Publish |
Protecting a customer’s personal details and information
A customer may have added personal information not realizing the details will be published. This could include credit card payment details, ID or Passport number, full name, email or physical address, and phone number. These reviews should be rejected.
Review and rating consistency
If there is a major difference between star rating and review content, the review should be rejected.
For example, if a negative review is submitted with a 5-Star rating, it should be rejected.
Review and product page consistency
If the review content does not match the product page where it was submitted, it should be rejected.
Mention of pricing
As pricing can change on your website, certain customers have requested that reviews that include the price the customer paid should be rejected.
| Criterion | Action |
|---|---|
| Mention of the actual price | Reject |
| Good price/too expensive sale/rebate (50%/$5 off) | Publish* |
| Good deal/bargain | Publish |
Only if there is more relevant content in the review in addition to "Good price/too expensive" or "sale/rebate (50%/$5 off)"
Mention of different products
These are reviews where a customer mentions another product supplied by a different competitor brand or vendor.
| Criterion | Action |
|---|---|
| Mention of different product that is similar but of a different brand or vendor | Reject |
| Mention of additional product that is unrelated to the product reviewed | Publish |
*As long as other content is relevant
Test reviews
Any internal review submitted for the purpose of testing or QA will be rejected.
Negative reviews
The recommended policy is not to Reject, but to publish negative reviews as long as all the details in the review are accurate and reflect true events. The benefits of such an action outweighs the drawbacks.
Publishing negative reviews shows it is a transparent and honest business and will add credibility to your website.
Review escalation
Customers will sometimes use the review platform as an opportunity to lodge a complaint or issue with the company. For example, “I never received the shipment” or “I received the wrong product”.
In these cases, reviews can be escalated directly to the company’s customer support team for further action. This option can be set up in your moderation account so either the review will be sent to a defined email address or CRM integration. This can be discussed further with your assigned Client Success Manager.
Criterion | Action |
|---|---|
Customer complaining about damage to product... | Escalate |
...Unless it is clear damage was very minor, or the customer is still satisfied overall, or the customer states they've already returned the product | Reject |
Customer claiming they never received the product they ordered (not due to cancellation) | Escalate |
Customer claiming they did not order the product | Reject |
Customer expressing concern their credit card/personal information has been compromised | Escalate |
Customer expresses frustration, with a clear question/call to action | Escalate |
Customer expressing frustration, with no explicit question/call to action... | Reject |
...Unless | |
Customer expresses extreme frustration, claiming to "never shop at 'site name' again" | Escalate |
Customer complaining their order had been canceled or received notification the item is out of stock | Reject |
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