Customer review software: compliance planning template

What to take away

A customer review software planning template is a control document, not a content calendar. It ties review collection to legal and platform obligations.
The Competition and Markets Authority has tightened enforcement against fake and misleading reviews, so the legal section now carries more weight than scheduling.
The CMA secured commitments from Amazon and Google in 2023 to strengthen action against fake reviews.
Amazon sellers must plan around that marketplace's own policies, which change independently of UK law.
Record where each review came from and when, because a disputed claim turns reviews into evidence.
Review the template each quarter, since platform rules move faster than annual planning cycles.

Three core sections: legal duties, platform rules and evidence

Copyable planning-template layout

Use one row for each obligation or channel. Copy these fields and fill in the owner and review dates for your team.

Requirement and channel	Rule or check	Evidence to keep	Owner	Last checked	Next review
Legal — all channels	Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024: fake and undisclosed incentivised reviews	Moderation procedure and review records	[name]	[date]	[date]
Advertising — review claims	CAP Code and applicable consumer-protection rules	Claim, source review and sign-off	[name]	[date]	[date]
Platform — each marketplace or review site	Current platform policy and category restrictions	Policy link or saved copy, plus the restriction checked	[name]	[date]	[date]
Privacy — own site	UK GDPR lawful basis, transparency and retention	Privacy information and consent wording where consent is relied on	[name]	[date]	[date]
Evidence — all channels	Record integrity and traceability	Review text, timestamp, source and verification status	[name]	[date]	[date]

Legal and regulatory compliance

Start with the rules that apply to reviews you publish or rely on. The CMA's guidance, Online reviews and endorsements: advice for businesses, explains the requirements. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans fake reviews and certain undisclosed incentivised reviews, and requires businesses publishing consumer reviews to take reasonable steps to prevent fake ones. For advertising claims, check the CAP Code; the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 governed the earlier regime.

Compliance row essentials

Requirement stated
Evidence held
Person accountable
Date last checked
Claim traceable to row

Your template should record how you handle incentives, how you moderate, and who signs off a claim drawn from a review. A row per requirement, with a review date, is enough. Trading standards would ask for this section first.

A workable row lists the requirement, the evidence you hold, the person accountable and the date it was last checked. Keep the wording short enough that a colleague can audit it in ten minutes. If a claim cannot be traced to a row, treat it as unapproved.

Platform and channel rules

Marketplace policies sit on top of the law and often go further. Amazon's customer review policies prohibit review manipulation and set out how sellers may request reviews, so any Amazon template needs a column for marketplace-specific restrictions.

Marketplace rules also differ by category, so a single Amazon row may not cover every listing you run. Alongside Amazon's customer review policies, record the applicable rules for Trustpilot (its business guidelines), Google's Maps user-generated content policy and fake-engagement rules, Feefo and REVIEWS.io. Note the channel or category, the restriction and the date you last read each policy.

For your own site, list the collection method, the applicable UK GDPR lawful basis, the privacy information shown to reviewers and where the review appears. Record consent wording and a withdrawal route only where consent is relied on; use ICO guidance when setting these fields. If you are weighing software against manual collection, assess both against these fields; the distinction between review software versus audience research may help frame the choice.

Evidence and record keeping

Reviews are records. If a customer disputes a product claim, or a competitor challenges your marketing, the review and its metadata become evidence. BSI's BS 10008 standard addresses the evidential weight and legal admissibility of electronically stored information, including how records are captured and preserved.

Store the review text, timestamp, source channel and verification status in one place. A spreadsheet works at small volumes. Above a few thousand reviews a year you need a system that logs changes rather than overwrites them. Set a retention period under the UK GDPR's storage-limitation principle and use ICO guidance: keep personal data no longer than necessary, documenting why any longer period is justified.

How to keep the template usable

Keep the register current by assigning clear ownership and review cycles, and choose a level of detail that fits your channels.

Assign owners and review dates

A template with no names attached gets ignored. Give every row an owner and a next review date: compliance quarterly, platform rules monthly, evidence storage annually. Put the date in the row itself so nothing depends on memory.

Three template types compared

Lightweight

Best for: Sole traders
Key sections: Legal, platform
Review cycle: Twice a year

Standard

Best for: Multi-channel retailers
Key sections: Legal, platform, evidence, owners
Review cycle: Quarterly

Full governance

Best for: Large retailers
Key sections: All plus audit trail
Review cycle: Monthly

One person should hold overall responsibility, usually the marketing lead in a small team. Cover matters too, since an unread queue is where review requests quietly stop going out.

Compare template types before you commit

Not every team needs the same depth, so the table below sets out three common versions. Pick the lightest one that covers your channels, then add rows as you add marketplaces.

Compare template types

Best for

Lightweight: Sole traders, single-channel sellers
Standard: Multi-channel retailers
Full governance: Large retailers, regulated goods

Key sections

Lightweight: Legal basics, platform rules
Standard: Legal, platform, evidence, owners
Full governance: All of the above plus audit trail and sign-off log

Review cycle

Lightweight: Twice a year
Standard: Quarterly
Full governance: Monthly

Watch for planning errors

Common planning errors include copying a template from another sector, omitting the evidence section, and treating platform rules as static. These are the kinds of commerce reviews strategy mistakes the register is intended to catch.

A practical test: can a new starter read the template and know what to do this week? For example, a team paying £400 a month for review software should still be able to say which legal duty each collected review supports.

Common questions

These answers cover how to define, maintain and simplify the review planning document.

What is a commerce reviews planning template?

It is a document recording how you collect, moderate, store and use customer reviews, with each activity tied to a legal or platform requirement and a named owner.

How often should the template be updated?

Quarterly is a sensible baseline. Platform policies can change without notice, so marketplace sellers should check those rows monthly.

Does the template need to cover reviews left on other sites?

Yes, if you quote or republish them. The same legal duties apply wherever a review was first posted, so record the source and the capture date.

Can a small retailer use a simplified version?

Yes, provided it still covers the legal basics and the platform rules for every channel you sell on. Drop the audit trail first, not the compliance rows.