How to Flag a Review as Inappropriate

Overview

Proviews enables store visitors to flag reviews that violate platform policies. This feature helps maintain a trustworthy review section by identifying content that breaks specific rules — not content that merchants or visitors simply disagree with.

Important: Disagreement Is Not a Valid Reason to Flag: The flag feature exists to report policy violations only. A negative review, a low star rating, or a customer opinion you disagree with is not grounds for removal. Authentic customer feedback — positive or negative — must remain visible to maintain trust and comply with review platform policies.

What this feature enables: Store visitors can flag reviews that violate specific policies. Flagged reviews appear in a moderation queue where you can review the reported reason and take appropriate action — but only if a genuine policy violation occurred. Google Policy

When to Flag a Review

Reviews should only be flagged when they violate one of the following objective criteria:

Prohibited Content

• Spam or promotional content
• Profanity or vulgar language
• Hate speech targeting protected groups
• Harassment or threats
• Sexually explicit content
• Graphic violence or gore
• Illegal content or activity

Identity Violations

• Impersonation of another person
• Exposed personal information (PII) — phone numbers, addresses, etc.
• Undisclosed conflict of interest (employee posing as customer)

Fraudulent Reviews

• Confirmed fake review (no purchase record exists)
• Bot-generated or automated content
• Duplicate submissions from same person
• Confirmed competitor sabotage (with evidence)

Off-Topic Content

• Review is about a completely different product
• Content unrelated to the product or purchase experience

When NOT to Flag a Review

The following are not valid reasons to flag or remove a review:

Invalid Reasons — Do NOT Flag

• You disagree with the customer's opinion
• The review is negative or has a low star rating
• The customer's experience differs from what you expected
• You believe the customer is wrong about the product
• The review hurts your sales or reputation
• The customer had unrealistic expectations
• The review mentions a problem you have since fixed
• The customer misunderstood how to use the product
• You cannot verify the purchase (unless confirmed fake)

Best Practice: Instead of flagging negative reviews, respond professionally and address the customer's concerns. A thoughtful reply demonstrates excellent customer service and builds trust with future shoppers.

Step 1 – Enable the “Flag as Inappropriate” Option

1. Log in to your Proviews app.
2. Go to Widgets and app embeds → Product Page Widget.
3. Scroll to the Show Vote Count section.
4. Toggle ON the Review Inappropriate option.

Once enabled, a flag icon appears on every review on your storefront, allowing visitors to report it as inappropriate.

Step 2 – How Visitors Flag a Review

When a visitor clicks the flag icon, a Report Review modal appears. The visitor must select a specific reason from a closed list of policy violations.

Flag Reason Categories

Visitors select from these objective violation types:

Step 3 – Customize the Flagging Messages

Set the messages customers see when interacting with the flag feature:

Step 4 – Manage Flagged Reviews

All flagged reviews are collected in the Flagged section of the Proviews app. From here, you can take the following actions on each flagged review:

• Publish / Unpublish:

         Control the visibility of the flagged review on your storefront without permanently removing it.

• Dismiss Flag:

        Clear the flag report and remove the review from the flagged list if the report is unwarranted.

Step 5 — View Flag Counts in Admin Dashboard

Proviews displays flag report counts directly in the Product Reviews secion, giving you quick visibility into which reviews have been reported and why.

How to View Flag Counts

1. Navigate to Home → Reviews and Q/A → Product Reviews.
2. Locate a review that has been flagged — flagged reviews display a flag indicator.
3. Hover over the flag indicator to view a detailed breakdown of flag reasons and their counts.

Prioritization Tip: Reviews flagged multiple times for the same violation type may require immediate attention. A single flag warrants investigation before action.

Flag Count Tooltip Details:

The tooltip displays each flag reason along with the number of times visitors reported the review for that reason:

Example Flag Count Display

Why this matters: Flag counts help you prioritize moderation. A review flagged multiple times for the same reason (e.g., "Fake/Fraud: 5") may require immediate attention, while a single flag might warrant further investigation before action.

Need Help?

Click Help Me on the dashboard to open the support chatbot for real-time assistance.

For email support, contact us at support@simprosys.com