Acceptable Use Policy

This policy binds the businesses that run loyalty programs on Cync. It exists because some of the rules below are not merely preferences — they are the difference between a legitimate review request and an unlawful one.

Review gating is not permitted, and the product is built so it cannot be done. Specifically:

• Every eligible customer gets the same prompt. A business cannot choose who is asked for a review, and cannot ask only the customers it expects to be happy.
• No satisfaction question first. The prompt is never preceded by “how was your visit?” used to route happy customers to Google and unhappy ones elsewhere.
• Both options appear together, as peers. Leaving a public review and sending private feedback are shown side by side. Private feedback is a genuine alternative, not a detour that hides bad reviews.
• No reward for reviewing, and none for reviewing positively. Points, stamps, discounts and rewards are never given in exchange for a review or conditioned on its rating. Compensated reviews must be disclosed under FTC rules, and rewarding only positive ones is a deceptive practice.
• Access is never conditioned on rating. The link to Google Reviews is not hidden, delayed or withheld based on what a customer thinks or on how they answered anything.

These constraints are enforced in the product, not left to good intentions. A business that wants review gating cannot get it here.

• Do not send a message to anyone whose consent record does not cover it. Staff cannot override a suppression.
• Do not import a list of contacts collected somewhere else and treat it as consent given here.
• Do not make a marketing consent a condition of joining, of a reward, or of a purchase.
• Honour every opt-out immediately.

The Messaging Policy sets out the detail.

• Use member information only to run your loyalty program. Do not sell it, and do not share it with a third party for their own marketing.
• Do not attempt to access another business's members, staff or activity.
• Give staff the least access that lets them do their job. A staff member cannot reverse an entry; a manager can, and it is recorded.
• Pass on any access, correction or deletion request promptly.

• Do not describe a reward you do not intend to honour.
• Do not represent Cync as affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by Apple, Google, or any review platform.
• Do not enrol anyone under 13.
• Do not run a program for a regulated product — alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, firearms, gambling, or regulated health services — without the additional review those categories require.

A program found breaking these rules may be suspended. Where a breach affects customers — messages sent without consent, or reviews solicited selectively — the affected customers may be told.

Draft note: the notice period before suspension, the appeal route, and how breaches are reported still need to be defined and reviewed by an attorney.