Regulated Product Reviews

Sell products that have rules about what people can and can’t claim? Trustie Pro helps you collect reviews safely — keeping the value of social proof without the compliance headaches.

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What’s a Regulated Product?

Some products are governed by advertising and therapeutic goods regulations that restrict the types of claims anyone can make about them — including your customers in reviews. In Australia, the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) oversees this. The FDA does something similar in the US, and most countries have equivalent bodies.

The short version: if a product makes health, therapeutic, or performance claims, reviewers can’t say things like “this cured my eczema” or “this fixed my back pain” — even if they genuinely believe it. Those are therapeutic claims, and publishing them on your site can put you on the wrong side of the regulator.

Common Regulated Product Categories

Here are some product types where this comes up regularly:

Not sure if your product qualifies? A good rule of thumb: if the product packaging makes any health, therapeutic, or “this will fix/treat/cure X” claims, the reviews need to be moderated for the same language.

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How It Works

Trustie Pro’s regulated product feature has four parts that work together:

1. Reviewer guidance — Clear examples shown on the review form so customers know what they can and can’t say
2. Forced moderation — Every review goes through your approval queue, regardless of your auto-approve settings
3. Keyword flagging — Configurable keywords are highlighted in the moderation view to help you spot non-compliant language quickly
4. Hide Text — A one-click moderation action that approves the review but hides just the written text, preserving stars, ratings, custom form responses, and demographics

The result: you still get the value of every review (star ratings, form data, demographics, aggregate scores) without publishing text that could land you in trouble.

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Setting It Up

Step 1: Mark the Form as Regulated

1. Go to Trustie > Forms in your WordPress dashboard
2. Edit the form assigned to your regulated products (or create a new one)
3. In the sidebar, find Regulated Product and tick the toggle
4. Three new fields appear:

– Customers CAN say things like — Examples of compliant review language (shown with a green tick)
– Customers CANNOT say things like — Examples of non-compliant language (shown with a red cross)
– Flagged Keywords — Words that get highlighted in moderation to help you spot issues

Step 2: Write Your Guidance

The guidance you write here appears directly on the review form, above the text field. Write it in plain language — your customers aren’t lawyers.

Example for a magnesium recovery cream:

Customers CAN say:

I like the texture and it absorbs quickly
The smell is pleasant and not overpowering
It performs as advertised
I use it as part of my post-workout routine
The packaging is great and it's easy to apply

Customers CANNOT say:

It cured my back pain
This fixed my sore muscles
It's effective for treating inflammation
My arthritis is gone since using this
It healed my skin condition

Example for a sunscreen:

Customers CAN say:

It goes on smoothly and doesn't leave a white cast
I like that it's not greasy
Great under makeup
The bottle lasted me all summer
Nice light scent

Customers CANNOT say:

It prevented me from getting skin cancer
This cured my sun damage
It healed my sunburn
My dermatitis cleared up after using this

Example for a supplement:

Customers CAN say:

Easy to swallow, no aftertaste
I've added it to my daily routine
Good value for the quantity
I like that it's made in Australia
The packaging keeps them fresh

Customers CANNOT say:

This cured my joint pain
My anxiety went away after taking these
It fixed my gut issues
I lost 10kg thanks to this product
My blood pressure dropped after using this

Step 3: Set Up Flagged Keywords

Add words and phrases (one per line) that should be highlighted in your moderation queue. These don’t block the review — they just make non-compliant language easy to spot when you’re moderating.

Good keywords to flag:

cure
cured
treat
treatment
heal
healed
fix
fixed
pain relief
cleared up
went away
got rid of
no longer suffer
diagnosed
prescription
doctor recommended
medical
therapy
therapeutic

Tailor this list to your products. A supplement store might add “weight loss” and “appetite suppressant.” A skincare store might add “anti-aging” and “wrinkle removal.”

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Moderating Regulated Reviews

When a form is marked as regulated, every review requires manual approval — even if you’ve set auto-approve thresholds for other products. This is deliberate. Regulated reviews need human eyes before they go live.

What You See in the Moderation Queue

Regulated reviews have a few extra visual cues:

• A Regulated badge on the review row
• Any flagged keywords highlighted in red within the review text
• A notice listing which keywords were flagged

Your Moderation Options

When you open a regulated review, you have the usual options plus one new one:

Hide Text is the star here. Instead of rejecting a well-meaning review because the customer said “it cured my pain,” you can hide just the text and keep everything else. The customer’s 5-star rating, their “Texture: Smooth” form response, their “Skin Type: Sensitive” demographic — all of that stays visible and valuable.

If a customer later edits their review to remove the non-compliant language, you can click Show Text to restore it.

Bulk Actions

You can also Hide Text and Show Text in bulk from the moderation queue. Select multiple reviews, choose the action from the dropdown, and apply.

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What Customers See

On the Review Form

Customers see a clear guidance box above the review text field:

> This is a regulated product
>
> Advertising regulations limit what can be said about this product in reviews. To help your review get published in full, here’s a quick guide:
>
> You CAN say things like:
> – I like the texture and it absorbs quickly
> – It performs as advertised
>
> You CANNOT say things like:
> – It cured my back pain
> – This fixed my sore muscles
>
> Don’t worry — even if your review text can’t be shown, your star rating and other feedback will still count and be displayed.

On the Storefront (Text Hidden)

When a review has its text hidden, customers see:

• The reviewer’s name and verified badge
• The star rating
• Any custom form responses (ratings, dropdowns, etc.)
• Demographic info
• A “Text hidden” badge is only visible to you in admin — customers just see the review without the text section

The review card simply doesn’t show a title, written content, or photos. It still looks natural — like a quick star-and-ratings review.

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Google & Structured Data

For regulated products, Trustie Pro automatically adjusts the structured data (JSON-LD) output:

• AggregateRating still outputs normally — your star averages and review counts appear in Google search results
• Individual Review schema (with reviewBody text) is excluded for reviews that have text hidden or come from regulated forms

This means you get the SEO benefit of star ratings in search results without publishing review text in your structured data that could contain non-compliant claims.

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Tips for Getting It Right

1. Be specific with your guidance — Generic “don’t make health claims” isn’t as helpful as concrete examples. Show customers exactly what good and bad reviews look like for your product
2. Keep your keyword list focused — Too many keywords and every review gets flagged, which defeats the purpose. Start with 10-15 obvious terms and add more if you see patterns slipping through
3. Use Hide Text, not Reject — A customer who left a genuine 5-star review but used the wrong language will be confused if you reject it outright. Hiding the text preserves their contribution
4. Create separate forms per product type — Your sunscreen and your supplements probably need different can/cannot guidance. Use the Form Builder’s category assignment to send each product type to the right form
5. Review your guidance quarterly — Regulations change. Make sure your examples are still accurate
6. Don’t over-explain regulations to customers — Keep the guidance brief and practical. Customers don’t need to know the legal details — they just need to know what to write

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Common Questions

Does Hide Text affect my aggregate rating?
No. Hidden-text reviews still count toward your star average, review count, and rating distribution. Only the written text is hidden.

Can I un-hide a review’s text later?
Yes — click Show Text on the review in the moderation queue. If the customer edited their review to be compliant, you can restore the text at any time.

What if a review has no flagged keywords but still contains non-compliant language?
Keywords are a helper, not a guarantee. That’s why every regulated review requires manual moderation. Read each one before approving.

Do the regulation settings affect reviews already submitted?
Marking a form as regulated only affects new submissions going forward. Existing approved reviews aren’t retroactively hidden or re-queued. If you need to hide text on an existing review, do it manually from the moderation queue.

Can I use regulated forms for site reviews (not product reviews)?
Yes — if your store review form is marked as regulated, the same rules apply. Forced moderation, keyword flagging, and Hide Text all work for site reviews too.

Does this make my store legally compliant?
What you publish and what you keep hidden is entirely your decision — we can’t offer guidance on that. What we can do is give you the tools to make it possible. You’re responsible for understanding the regulations that apply to your products and your market. When in doubt, consult with a compliance professional.

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If Something’s Not Working

The regulated toggle isn’t showing in the Form Builder:

• Make sure you’re running Trustie Pro 1.0.18 or later
• Check that you’re editing the form in the Form Builder (not the basic settings page)

Reviews aren’t being held for moderation:

• Verify the form is marked as regulated (look for the purple “Regulated” badge in the forms list)
• Check that the form is actually assigned to the product being reviewed

Flagged keywords aren’t highlighting:

• Keywords are matched at submission time. Reviews submitted before you added keywords won’t be retroactively flagged
• Check your keyword list for typos — keywords must match exactly (they’re case-insensitive)

Hide Text button isn’t showing:

• The Hide Text action only appears on reviews from regulated forms, or reviews that already have text content to hide

Still stuck? Drop us a line at support@tracksies.com and we’ll help you get it sorted.