Reviews
Promoting a digital product store: 6 services for reviews, features and links
The warning signs to check before you pay for reviews, features or links for a digital product store, then six services and what each does about them, with published prices.
What to take away
- A store selling courses, templates or ebooks needs three kinds of outside proof: reviews from buyers, features in places its audience reads and links from relevant sites.
- Check the six warning signs first. Several of them now carry federal penalties.
- The six services below are listed with what each publishes about prices and process.
- Paid features and paid links must be marked as paid, every time.
Why does outside proof matter for a digital store?
Online buying keeps growing, and so does the competition. Census Bureau data, charted by the St. Louis Fed, show e-commerce at 17.1% of US retail sales in the second quarter of 2026, seasonally adjusted. Our guide on using Census e-commerce data to benchmark a store explains how to read the series.
A digital product has no packaging, no shelf and no try-on. Buyers lean on what other people say about it. That is why sellers pay for reviews, features and links, and why some of what is on sale breaks the rules.
What are the red flags before you pay anyone?
Red flag: reviews you can buy
The FTC announced a final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials in August 2024. It covers buying or selling fake reviews, including AI-generated ones, and the FTC can seek civil penalties against knowing violators. Any seller offering ready-made reviews is offering you liability.
Red flag: rewards tied to five stars
The same rule bans incentives conditioned on a review being positive or negative. You can ask every buyer for a review. You cannot pay only for the good ones.
Red flag: undisclosed insiders and creators
The FTC rule bans insider reviews and testimonials that do not clearly disclose the writer's material connection to the business. Creators and affiliates who feature your product have disclosure duties as well. Our guide to FTC affiliate disclosure rules for digital products covers the wording.
Red flag: bought followers and views
The FTC rule also bans buying or selling fake social media indicators, such as bot followers or views, used to fake influence. A "feature" that comes with a follower boost is a warning sign.
Red flag: links sold as if they were editorial
Google's spam policies, last updated in August 2026, list buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam. That includes sending someone a product in exchange for a post with a link. Paid links must be marked as paid.
Red flag: no prices, no sites, no samples
A seller that will not show prices, name the sites or share recent placements before payment leaves you nothing to check. Ask for a sample list, then see whether the sites publish real content for real readers.
Which services handle reviews, features and links, and how?
Each provider's site was read in October 2026. Prices are shown where published.
| Service | What it covers | Published price | Against the red flags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senja | Testimonials from your customers | Free, $29 or $59 a month | Collects from your own buyers |
| Trustpilot | Review invitations and widgets | Free, from $319 or $799 a month | Invitations you send to customers |
| Source of Sources | Journalist queries | Free | Earned coverage, no payment |
| Paved | Newsletter sponsorships | No subscription fees; campaign prices not shown | Sold openly as ad placements |
| Passionfroot | Creator campaigns | Not published for brands | Put disclosure in every brief |
| Loganix | Guest posts and links | From $200 or $400 | Publishes vetting steps; ask for the site list |
1. Senja
Senja collects text and video testimonials through a form and invitations, then shows them in widgets. The free plan holds 15 testimonials. Starter costs $29 a month with unlimited testimonials, and Pro costs $59 a month and adds rich snippets for search results. It asks your own buyers, which keeps you away from bought reviews.
2. Trustpilot
Trustpilot's free plan sends 50 review invitations a month. Plus starts from $319 a month per domain, billed annually, with 300 invitations. Premium starts from $799 a month with 1,000 invitations. Paid plans have a 12-month prepaid initial term. Because reviews come in through invitations you send, you can invite every buyer rather than a chosen few.
Ask every buyer, not just the happy ones. Our notes on ebook marketing that respects readers and retailers apply to review requests too.
3. Source of Sources
Source of Sources is a free email list of journalist queries, run by Peter Shankman, who founded HARO. Queries arrive up to three times a day, and the site says more than 20,000 journalists, broadcasters, bloggers and brands use it. Off-topic pitches get sources removed. Coverage won this way is earned, not bought.
4. Paved
Paved is a newsletter ad network. It says advertisers can run sponsorships and native ads across 3,000+ newsletters reaching 253 million subscribers, with no subscription fees. It offers direct sponsorships, pay-per-click campaigns and per-campaign open, click and conversion tracking. A newsletter sponsorship is an ad placement, so treat it and any link in it as paid.
Track each placement with its own code. Our piece on digital product funnel benchmarks shows how to build a baseline before you compare.
5. Passionfroot
Passionfroot helps brands find creators, plan campaigns, send briefs and pay creators. It covers X, beehiiv, Substack, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and tracks reach, engagement, spend and ROI per creator and post. Brand prices are not published; there is a free start option. Make the creator's disclosure part of every brief.
Creators who earn a commission are affiliates too. Our affiliate best practices for digital products cover payout and disclosure controls.
6. Loganix
Loganix sells link building and SEO services and lists Vancouver, Seattle and Honolulu as locations. Guest posts start at $200, and Authority Links on niche sites with at least 1,000 monthly organic visits start at $400. Both have a three-week turnaround. It says it reviews traffic trends, referring domains and live posts to avoid inflated authority and expired domains.
Ask to see the site list before you pay, and confirm that each link will be marked as paid.
How do you put the six together?
Start with reviews, because they work on your own product pages. Add earned features through journalist queries, then paid features through newsletters or creators once you know which product sells. Links come last, when you have pages worth linking to. Our launch checklist sets the order of the gates, and our comparison of launch platforms covers release day itself.
Measure each route on its own. Our list of analytics mistakes for digital products explains why blended numbers hide which spend works. And if you sell courses, compare these routes with the course marketing tools you already pay for.
Common questions
Can I give a discount in exchange for a review?
Not if the discount depends on the rating. The FTC rule bans incentives conditioned on a review being positive or negative.
Is a newsletter sponsorship a paid link?
It is a paid placement. Any link in it must be marked as paid.
Can I send free copies to bloggers and creators?
You can, but the post that results is not independent. Google's spam policies treat a product sent in exchange for a post with a link as a paid link, so that link must be marked as paid. Ask the writer to mention the free copy in the post as well, and keep a record of who received one.
Which route costs nothing?
Senja's and Trustpilot's free plans and Source of Sources. They cost time, not money.
