Curating honestly
Should You Show Negative Reviews
Every testimonial section is a selection. The question is not whether you chose, but whether a visitor would feel misled if they saw everything you left out. Score your current approach below and find the points where curating has drifted into hiding.
- Eight checks on how you choose what shows
- A band from fair selection to misleading
- A fix for every check you miss
Free scorecard
How honest is your selection?
Think about every place your site shows customer feedback. Answer yes, partly or no for each line.
Scored in your browser. Nothing you tick is sent anywhere.
The problem, solved
Selection problems you can actually fix
The scorecard shows where the policy is weak. These are the operational gaps behind most low scores.
- Problem 1
Bad reviews just quietly disappear
Without a review step, the only way to keep a submission off the site is to delete it, and a deleted complaint teaches you nothing.
How StoryProof solves it
Every submission waits in a queue until someone approves it, so a critical one can stay unpublished and still be read, kept and answered.
- Problem 2
Nobody replies to the one star ones
The unhappy customer hears nothing, and the problem they described repeats with the next buyer.
How StoryProof solves it
From Pro, a rating of 2 stars or fewer can trigger an urgent alert to your team and a personal apology email to the customer.
- Problem 3
Auto-publishing would skip the honest middle
Teams that automate approval often only automate the top scores, then never come back for the threes.
How StoryProof solves it
From Pro, auto-approval covers only 4 and 5 star testimonials with text. The rest stay in your queue for a person to decide, rather than vanishing.
- Problem 4
Featured quotes and the full record blur together
The homepage carousel and the page that claims to hold every review end up drawing from the same hand-picked set.
How StoryProof solves it
Tag testimonials by where they may appear and choose exactly which ones each widget shows, so a featured selection and a complete page stay separate.
- Problem 5
There is no place for the fuller picture
A visitor who wants more than three quotes has nowhere to go, which makes the three look chosen.
How StoryProof solves it
Every plan includes a Wall of Love, a hosted page of your approved testimonials with its own link, to sit behind the short selection on key pages.
The same feedback, displayed two ways
Hiding
- A page titled “Customer reviews” that only ever shows fives
- Fair complaints deleted because of their tone
- A 4.9 average worked out from the quotes you liked
- No reply to the customer who had a bad week
Curating
- A section titled “What clients say” with chosen quotes
- Spam and abuse removed under a written rule
- No average shown unless it counts every rating
- Low ratings answered, kept and learned from
In StoryProof
Put a display policy into practice
- 1
Write the removal rule
One short list of what is never published, such as abuse, personal data and spam, applied whatever the rating.
- 2
Route every submission through review
Approve or hold each testimonial in StoryProof instead of deleting what you do not want to see.
- 3
Answer the low ratings
On Pro or above, switch on the low-rating alert so a person sees each one quickly and the customer hears back.
- 4
Label each display honestly
Tag featured quotes, fill each widget from the right set, and use headings that describe a selection as a selection.
What happens next: Rerun the scorecard whenever you add a new page of testimonials or change how approval works.
Before you start
What this page cannot settle for you
What this does not cover, and what to check on your side. Better to know now than after launch.
- 01
This is not legal advice
The FTC rule cited here is US law and has detail this page does not cover. Other countries have their own rules. Check with a lawyer if you are unsure.
- 02
Testimonials and reviews are treated differently
The FTC describes a testimonial as an advertising message and a review as feedback on a page built to collect it. A curated testimonial block is not a reviews page.
- 03
Selection can still mislead
The FTC notes that featuring non-representative reviews in marketing could be deceptive under the FTC Act, even outside the suppression rule.
- 04
Third-party sites have their own terms
What you show on your own site is separate from how you treat reviews on platforms you do not control. Their rules apply there.
- 05
The score is a prompt, not a verdict
A high score means your process looks sound on these points. It does not certify anything.
FAQ
Questions people ask
Short answers to what usually comes up next.
Is it legal to show only positive testimonials on my website?
In the US, the FTC says its review suppression rule does not cover picking positive reviews for marketing, but warns that non-representative selections could still be deceptive. Label a curated section as a selection and do not imply it is everything.
Do negative reviews make a business look more trustworthy?
A few critical comments with a calm reply often read as proof that the feedback is real. A page of nothing but perfect scores can look edited.
Can I remove a review that is rude or false?
Removing abuse, spam, personal data or content unrelated to your product is reasonable when the same rule applies to positive and negative posts alike.
Is sorting the best reviews first allowed?
The FTC says organising reviews is not suppressing them, but warns that ordering which makes negative reviews hard to find could still be unfair or deceptive.
Where should negative feedback go if not on the homepage?
To a person first. Answer it, fix what it points at, and keep it in your records. Your homepage can stay a selection as long as it is presented as one.
Still have a question? Ask the StoryProof team or book a demo.
Choose what to feature, and keep the rest
Review every submission, answer the low ratings and publish a selection you can stand behind.
Sources
- Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers, Federal Trade Commission. Checked 2026-11-05.
Last updated 2026-11-05.