Bazaarvoice moderates reviews as consumers submit them to ensure they meet our authenticity standards, contain on-brand content, and do not violate any rules (such as containing profanity or pricing information). Reviews are first moderated by a sophisticated Natural Language Processing (NLP) tool. If the tool is highly confident that a review meets moderation criteria, it can be automatically approved and distributed to retailers. If the content needs additional review, a human moderator will read and tag the content for approval, rejection, or review.

Rejection codes

To reject a review, a moderator tags the content with one or more of the following rejection codes. Rejection codes are categorized as editable or non-editable:

  • Editable—Moderators use editable codes when a review contains useful content but includes some forbidden information, such as a competitor’s name or inappropriate media. When a review is tagged with one of these codes, the contributor receives an email with an editable copy of the original review and a submission link. The email lists the reasons for rejection and highlights them in the review text. The contributor can edit the review and resubmit it for moderation.

    The editable codes are:

    Code Description Code Description
    CR Competitor references PRI Price mentioned
    DBA Directs business away SI Shipping and fulfillment issues
    IMG Inappropriate image URL Contains a URL
    MSR Misleading star rating VAC Irrelevant
    PII Personally identifying information

  • Non-editable—Moderators use non-editable codes when a review contains no useful content. When a review is tagged with one of these codes, the contributor receives an email with an empty review form and a submission link. The contributor can choose to submit a new review. For example, if a review is primarily focused on service or return policy rather than the product, a moderator can add the CS tag to the review and reject it.

    The non-editable codes are:

    Code Description Code Description
    CS Customer service issues PUX Lacks personal experience
    FL Language used does not match site SPM Duplicate or spam submissions
    GIU Inappropriate content UA Inappropriate age (written by a reviewer who is 13 or under)
    LI Legally sensitive content WP Applies to different product

Determine why a review was rejected

You might occasionally notice a rejected review that looks like it should have been approved. Follow these steps to determine why a review was rejected:

  1. Sign in to the Bazaarvoice Portal .
  2. From the navigation bar, select Ratings & Reviews > Reviews.
  3. Search, filter, or sort your review content from the list view to find the review you think should have been approved.
  4. Select View details
  5. Under Moderation codes, select Edit moderation codes.

  6. Make sure that the correct moderation codes are selected and select Apply.

    Note: Some moderation codes are locked and cannot be edited.

Review resubmission

When Bazaarvoice moderation rejects a review, the contributor receives an email notification that provides the opportunity to submit a modified review. The moderator’s reasons for a review’s rejection are listed in the rejection email. The moderator can also highlight the specific sections of a review that need editing. The rejection email includes an editable copy of the original review. This saves the contributor the time and effort required to re-create the entire review. As a consequence, a higher percentage of contributors will decide to resubmit their reviews and your review volume will increase.

Note: If a moderator chooses both editable and non-editable codes when rejecting a review, the review resubmission email displays an empty review form.

View resubmitted reviews

Follow these steps to access a list of resubmitted reviews:

  1. Sign in to the Bazaarvoice Portal .
  2. Select Ratings & Reviews > Reviews
  3. From the Content filter, select Campaign ID. A list of sources is displayed.
  4. Select Bazaarvoice review resubmission email, and select Apply and close.
  5. Select additional filters to analyze resubmitted reviews. For example:
    • To view all approved resubmitted reviews—From the Moderation filter, select Moderation status and then select the Approved checkbox.
    • To view all rejected resubmitted reviews—From the Moderation filter, select Moderation status and then select the Rejected checkbox.
    • To view all resubmitted reviews that include pictures—From the Content filter, select Visual content and then select the Reviews with photos checkbox.

Generate reports on resubmitted reviews

Complete the following steps to generate and download a report of resubmitted reviews in spreadsheet (XLSX) format.

  1. Sign in to the Bazaarvoice Portal .
  2. Select Analytics > Custom Reports.
  3. Select +New report. The Start with a template dialog box is displayed.
  4. Under Data exports, select the Download reviews… template.
  5. Choose what data you want to see for each review.
  6. From the Content filter in step 2, select Campaign ID. A list of sources is displayed.
  7. Select Bazaarvoice Review Resubmission Email and select Apply and close.
  8. Set any other filter or sorting options you want.
  9. Set your delivery options in step 3.
  10. Select Run report to generate your report. The report will appear in your list of custom reports.

You can use the report to answer questions like:

  • How many reviews were successfully or unsuccessfully resubmitted?
  • How many reviews were resubmitted with pictures?
  • What was the rate of successful or unsuccessful resubmission?

Contact Bazaarvoice Support if you want to receive a recurring report that includes information about the review rejection emails sent, the open rate, and the clickthrough rate.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) support

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is intended to control what information is collected from children under the age of 13. It applies to operators of commercial websites and online services that collect, use, or disclose information from site visitors.

For detailed information about COPPA, refer to the following:

Bazaarvoice gives you the option to block users under any age from contributing content to your sites. Although COPPA protections apply only to children under 13, you can choose to block all users under 18, for example.

Using the following methods, you can design Bazaarvoice content submission forms and profile pages to discourage users from falsifying their age, and to detect and block underage users:

  • Implement a neutral age-screening mechanism on the content submission form or profile page where:
    • Users can select an age range, such as 17 or under.
    • No indication or message is displayed that alerts a visitor that they must be 18 years or older to contribute.
  • Add a COPPA cookie for users under 18 years old, which recognizes the user agent or IP address and prevents the user from:
    • Using the Back button to enter a different age.
    • Using the same device and browser to log in at a later time and submit content.

    The cookie persists for 365 days.

Note: The age-screening mechanism is always enabled and is not affected by user authentication or by how a visitor accesses your site. For example, age-screening works the same whether the visitor selects the Write a review link on a retailer site or an email link that opens the review submission form. Bazaarvoice cannot provide you with guidance on COPPA, and in no event should this document be construed as such.