The customer reviews Gen Z trusts most come from someone like them
When Edelman asked people across 15 countries who they trust for accurate information about a brand, 80% said "customers like me." Influencers came in at 58%, and so did the brand's CEO [2].
Gen Z points the same way. In a 2026 study of 2,000 US adults ages 18 to 28, customer reviews ranked as the most trusted source of information about a brand at 72%, while influencer content came in seventh at 55% [3].
Who people trust for accurate information about a brandEdelman, 15 countries, all agesGen Z's most trusted source of information about a brandTalker Research, 2,000 US adults ages 18 to 28
To be fair to creators, they work, and plenty of brands get real results from them. But a creator is someone you hire. Your buyers are people who already spent their own money on you, and that's exactly the kind of proof a careful shopper is looking for. They're also people you already have a relationship with, which is where a member program comes in.
For brands on a shelf, the review on the retailer's page is the one that counts
If most of your sales happen at retail, think about where the second opinion actually gets read. In Bazaarvoice's survey of more than 8,000 shoppers across seven countries, user reviews on retailer sites were the single most influential type of content, picked by 47%, ahead of brand social posts at 11% and influencer posts at 10% [4]. That's a vendor study, so I hold it a little loosely, but it lines up with what we hear from brands.
That changes where you put your effort. A great post on your own Instagram is nice. A steady stream of fresh, detailed reviews on the product page where people actually buy you can matter a lot more.
This is where your members come in. When a member writes a review through a Fan Club™ review mission, it goes to the review platform the brand already uses, like Bazaarvoice or PowerReviews. If the brand syndicates through that platform, the review can show up on the retailer product pages in its network. Fan Club™ helps you ask for the review, and the review platform you already use handles the distribution. For a look at what that can add up to, Nestlé Purina's program generated 8,365 reviews in 2025, and 41.6% of them included a photo or video [5]. You can read the Nestlé Purina case study for the full picture.
Your buyers' words also shape what AI tells the next shopper
There's one more reason this matters right now. More shoppers are asking AI assistants what to buy, and those answers lean heavily on what real people have written in places like reviews, forums and communities. An August 2026 index from the PR firm 5W, which pulled together six studies covering more than 680 million AI citations, found Reddit alone accounted for roughly 40% of citations across the major AI engines [6]. Our CEO, Jacek Materna, got into this in a post on AI search and brands on the shelf.
So an honest, detailed member review does double duty. It helps the shopper reading your product page today, and it becomes part of the raw material an AI answer draws on when the next shopper asks which product to try. And a product with only a handful of old reviews gives those answers less to draw on.
Your members won't post just because they love you
Liking a brand and taking the time to write about it are two very different things.
The pattern we hear from brands is pretty consistent. Members don't post when the ask is too big, when there are too many steps, when they have to buy something and wait weeks to be paid back before they can review it, or when they get asked for content so often it starts to feel like a second job. And some audiences just aren't posters, so what works for a beauty brand may fall flat for a hardware one.
So something to consider is designing the ask around the member. Ask after they've had time to actually use the product. Keep it to one thing at a time, like a rating and a sentence, or one photo. Make the steps few and the reward worth it. And watch how often you ask, because the members who post the most are also the ones you can wear out fastest.
When I see nothing but five stars, it feels bought and paid for.
Reward people for posting, whatever they say
Now, this is an important piece to make note of, because it's where a lot of programs get into trouble. It's fine to reward a member for writing a review, as long as the reward never depends on the review being positive. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews, in effect since October 2024, bans giving anything in exchange for reviews that express a particular sentiment, positive or negative [7]. And when people earn points for posting, the FTC expects that connection to be clearly disclosed [8].
There's a trust reason for this, too. Research on incentivized reviews has found that rewards tend to make what people write more positive, partly because people enjoy writing the review more [9]. And a shopper who sees nothing but five stars gets suspicious. I'm one of them. I read reviews religiously, and what I look for is that sweet spot where it's clear the reviews are legit, with good and bad mixed in. There will always be someone who leaves one star for something completely outside the product's control, and that's fine. But when I see nothing but five stars, it feels bought and paid for, and it actually makes me less likely to buy. Gen Z has a point here, too. A 2023 PowerReviews study found that 44% of Gen Z shoppers see an average rating between 4.0 and 4.49 as ideal [10].
So invite every buyer, including the ones who might not love it. Reward the act of posting. Keep the honest three-star review up, because it's part of what makes the five-star ones believable. In Fan Club™, review missions that send reviews to Bazaarvoice or PowerReviews ask members to confirm a disclosure before they submit, and reviews sent to Bazaarvoice are flagged as incentivized. If you also want to reuse member photos and videos in your own marketing, I covered the rights side in this post on UGC and the FTC, and once the rights are cleared, our Hootsuite integration makes that content available for your social team to schedule.
Test it before you call it a win
More reviews feel like progress, and they might be. But a review count on its own doesn't tell you whether you sold more.
Reviews are public, so you can't hold some shoppers out of seeing them. What you can do is pick a few products to get the review mission and a matched set of similar products that don't, then compare review volume, ratings and retail sales for both sets in the eight weeks before the mission and the eight weeks after. If you want to measure what your program is changing for members more broadly, I walked through how I'd approach it in this post on proving your loyalty program is working.
Look at your reviews the way a careful shopper would
Before you plan anything, pick your best-selling product and pull up its page on the two or three retail sites where your shoppers actually buy it. Then read it like someone who has never heard of you.
How many reviews are there, and how recent is the newest one? Are there photos or videos, or just stars? Is it all five stars, or does it look like real people with real opinions? If the most recent review is from last spring, that's the first thing a Gen Z shopper is going to notice, and it's a good place to start your first member review mission. If you want help designing that first mission and the test around it, talk with our team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Gen Z trust customer reviews more than influencers?
Several studies point that way. In a 2026 study of 2,000 US adults ages 18 to 28, customer reviews ranked as the most trusted source of information about a brand at 72%, while influencer content ranked seventh at 55%. Across all ages, Edelman found 80% trust "customers like me" for accurate brand information, compared with 58% for influencers.
Can a brand reward customers for writing reviews?
Yes, as long as the reward doesn't depend on what the review says. The FTC's consumer review rule bans rewarding reviews that express a particular sentiment, and FTC guidance says incentives for posts should be clearly disclosed. Invite every buyer, reward the act of reviewing and keep critical reviews visible.
Where do customer reviews matter most for brands sold at retail?
Most likely on the retailer's product page. For shoppers overall, a Bazaarvoice survey of more than 8,000 people found user reviews on retailer sites were the most influential type of content, chosen by 47%, ahead of brand social posts and influencer posts.
Why don't loyalty members post reviews on their own?
Usually because the ask is too big or poorly timed. Members drop off when there are too many steps, when they have to wait to be reimbursed before reviewing, or when they're asked too often. Asking after the product has been used, keeping it to one simple task and limiting how often you ask all help.
Do customer reviews help with AI search?
They can. When shoppers ask AI assistants what to buy, the answers lean heavily on what real people have written in places like reviews, forums and communities. One 2026 index of more than 680 million AI citations found Reddit alone accounted for roughly 40% of citations across the major AI engines. Honest, detailed and recent reviews give those answers more to draw on than a handful of old ones.
Sources
- Circana, 2026 U.S. Holiday Purchase Intentions Study. Survey of 3,534 US consumers, published October 8, 2026.
- Edelman, 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, Brand Trust, From We to Me. 15,042 respondents in 15 countries, fielded April 24 to May 5, 2025.
- Talker Research, survey of 2,000 Gen Z Americans ages 18 to 28, fielded February 6 to 13, 2026.
- Bazaarvoice, Shopper Experience Index Vol. 18. More than 8,000 consumers in seven countries, September 2024.
- TrueLoyal, Nestlé Purina case study. Reviews generated in 2025 and share with a photo or video.
- 5W, AI Platform Citation Source Index 2026 (August 12, 2026). Synthesis of six citation-tracking studies covering more than 680 million AI citations, August 2024 to April 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission, Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, effective October 21, 2024.
- Federal Trade Commission, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, 16 CFR Part 255, revised July 2023.
- Kaitlin Woolley and Marissa A. Sharif, "Incentives Increase Relative Positivity of Review Content and Enjoyment of Review Writing," Journal of Marketing Research, 2021.
- PowerReviews, What Gen Z Shoppers Want from Reviews, March 2023.
About the author
Amanda Boshell is a Product Marketing Manager at TrueLoyal. She spent twelve years as a loyalty practitioner before moving to the platform side, across agency, tech, and retail, in roles spanning program operations, strategy, and marketing. She has sat on both sides of the table, as the operator running the program and as the buyer evaluating the platforms.
