Review & Messaging Guidelines

1. Our Philosophy

Trailfire believes that authentic, unbiased customer feedback is the foundation of trust between local service businesses and their communities. Our review collection tools are designed to help businesses gather genuine feedback from every customer -- not just the happiest ones. We are committed to maintaining the integrity of online reviews across all platforms.

2. How Review Collection Works

When a job is marked as complete in Trailfire, our system automatically sends a review request to the customer via SMS, email, or both. Here's how the process works:

• Automated timing: Review requests are sent after job completion, with configurable delays to give customers time to evaluate the work.
• Universal invitations: Every customer who completes a job receives a review request. Businesses cannot selectively choose which customers receive requests.
• Feedback first: Customers are first asked for private feedback. All customers -- regardless of their satisfaction level -- are then given the option to leave a public review.
• Platform choice: Customers can choose which public review platform to use (Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.).
• Follow-up limits: The system limits the number of follow-up messages to avoid overwhelming customers.

3. Business Obligations

As a Trailfire user, you agree to the following obligations regarding review collection:

• No cherry-picking: You may not selectively send review requests only to customers you expect will leave positive reviews.
• No review gating: You may not use internal feedback scores to decide whether a customer is directed to a public review platform. All customers must have equal opportunity to leave public reviews.
• No coercion: You may not pressure, threaten, or offer undisclosed incentives to influence the content or rating of a review.
• No impersonation: You may not write reviews on behalf of customers or create accounts to post reviews pretending to be customers.
• Respond professionally: When responding to reviews (positive or negative), maintain a professional and constructive tone.

4. Incentive Disclosures

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that any material connection between a reviewer and a business be disclosed. If you offer any incentive in connection with reviews:

• Incentives may be offered for leaving a review, but never for leaving a positive review
• The incentive must be clearly disclosed in the review request and visible to review platform readers
• Examples of incentives requiring disclosure: discounts, gift cards, contest entries, free services, loyalty points
• Trailfire provides built-in disclosure templates that comply with FTC guidelines when incentive features are enabled

5. Consumer Rights

Trailfire is committed to protecting the rights of consumers who interact with our review collection system:

• Opt out: Consumers can opt out of future review requests at any time by replying STOP to SMS messages or clicking unsubscribe in emails.
• Report concerns: Consumers can report suspicious review practices to [email protected]. We investigate all reports.
• Removal requests: While Trailfire does not host public reviews directly, we can assist consumers in understanding how to request review removal from third-party platforms.
• Data rights: Consumers can request to know what data a business has stored about them in Trailfire. See our Privacy Policy for details.

6. Platform-Specific Rules

Different review platforms have different policies. Here is a summary of key rules for major platforms:

Platform policies may change. You are responsible for staying informed about the current policies of platforms where you collect reviews.

7. Messaging & Communication Compliance

Trailfire sends SMS and email messages on behalf of businesses for review requests, drip marketing, referral campaigns, and cross-sell offers. All messaging is subject to strict compliance rules enforced at the platform level:

• CAN-SPAM Act: All marketing emails include a valid physical address, clear sender identification, non-deceptive subject lines, and a one-click unsubscribe link. Opt-outs are honored immediately.
• TCPA compliance: Marketing SMS messages require prior express written consent with full disclosure of message types, frequency, and opt-out instructions. Transactional messages (review requests tied to a completed job) require prior express consent.
• 10DLC registration: All business SMS is sent through registered 10DLC campaigns in compliance with carrier requirements (mandatory since February 2025).
• Sending windows: Messages are only sent between 9:00 AM and 8:00 PM in the recipient's local time zone, complying with all state quiet hour laws including Florida and Texas.
• Rate limits: Trailfire enforces per-contact limits to prevent over-messaging: no more than 1 SMS per day, 3 per week, and 8 per month to any single contact. Review requests are limited to 1 initial request plus up to 2 follow-up reminders per job.
• Opt-out handling: Recipients can opt out at any time by replying STOP (or QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE) to SMS, or clicking unsubscribe in emails. Opt-outs are processed immediately. One confirmation message is sent within 5 minutes with no promotional content.
• Do-Not-Call compliance: Contact lists are scrubbed against the National DNC Registry at least every 31 days.
• Consent records: All consent records are stored with timestamps, method, and exact disclosure language, and retained for the duration of the business relationship plus 5 years.
• Double opt-in: SMS marketing campaigns require double opt-in confirmation to verify the recipient's phone number and intent.

8. Anti-Abuse Enforcement

Trailfire monitors messaging health for every business account to protect recipients and maintain platform deliverability:

• Health scoring: Every business account is monitored for hard bounce rates, spam complaint rates, opt-out rates, and delivery failures.
• Progressive enforcement: Accounts exceeding safe thresholds receive a warning, then sending is throttled, then marketing messages are paused (transactional only), and repeated violations result in suspension.
• New account ramp-up: New businesses start with restricted sending limits and earn higher limits through demonstrated good behavior over the first 30 days.
• Content restrictions: Messages must not contain deceptive urgency, impersonate government or emergency services, or include prohibited content categories.
• State-specific rules: Trailfire automatically enforces the strictest applicable messaging law based on each recipient's state, including Florida's 3-attempt daily limit and Texas quiet hour restrictions.

For the full technical specification of our messaging compliance rules, see our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Questions?

If you have questions about our review collection guidelines, please contact us: