Offers of cash back for favorable reviews generated more review responses but were followed by fewer repeat purchases in an online seller’s field experiment.
The 2026 study by researcher Geran Tian involved 799 customers who bought peaches from an online agricultural seller. Larger rebates encouraged more people to write reviews, but repurchase rates were lower in the groups offered incentives than in the comparison group.
The result concerns one seller, product and platform. It does not establish that every request for customer feedback reduces loyalty.
What customers were offered
The seller offered cash-back rebates in return for favorable post-purchase reviews. The researcher compared different rebate amounts with a group that did not receive the same incentive.
Small rebates of one or two yuan generated review response rates of roughly 10% to 20%, while a five-yuan rebate drew several times as many responses. Those figures describe review participation in the experiment, not a general conversion rate for online stores.
The researcher found lower repurchase probabilities in the solicitation groups than in the comparison group. The estimate should not be treated as an expected loss for another business.
More reviews are not the same as stronger loyalty
Reviews can help other shoppers evaluate a product, and businesses often track how many they receive. Repeat purchases answer a different question: whether a customer returns after the initial transaction.
The author suggests that an offer tied to a favorable review could undermine trust in reviews or in the seller. That is a plausible explanation, but the experiment does not establish each customer’s motive.
The study involved a frequently purchased food product in a particular online marketplace. Results could differ for a durable product, a service or a request that does not condition a reward on positive sentiment.
Our coverage of a hotel review experiment examined a separate solicitation process and its relationship with later spending.
Review incentives have rules
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer review rule guidance addresses compensation conditioned on a review expressing a particular positive or negative sentiment.
That is different from offering an incentive for an honest review regardless of its sentiment. Other disclosure requirements, platform policies and local laws may still apply to an unconditional incentive.
Businesses should not suppress genuine criticism or present compensated reviews in a misleading way. They can invite honest feedback, disclose relevant incentives where required and give customers a practical way to resolve problems.
Measure the relationship after the review
A useful evaluation looks beyond the number of reviews. A retailer can compare repeat orders, complaints, refunds and revenue among appropriately comparable customer groups over time.
These measures can reveal whether a campaign is building a useful record of customer experiences or simply producing more visible ratings. The experiment offers a reason to look at the longer relationship as well as the immediate response.
