How to Ask Customers for a Review the Right Way

Ask every customer for a review with the same sentence, at the moment they have received the service, and with a direct link to the review form. Do not make it conditional on satisfaction, do not offer anything for it, and do not wait at the register until the customer has finished writing. If you send the request by SMS or email, it can count as a commercial communication, so you need consent, labelling and an opt-out.

Most businesses do not have a problem with never asking for reviews at all. They ask too late, only some customers, or with a link that leads to a search instead of to the form. Below you will find when to ask, what to say, which templates to use and what to avoid.

Three things that decide it: when, how and through what

1. When to ask

The best moment is when the customer has just received the service and has their phone at hand. In every industry it is a different moment, usually the one when the customer sees the result.

A few rules that apply everywhere:

• Ask everyone, not only the customers who looked satisfied. More on that below.
• Not in the middle of the service. Asking for a review over a half-eaten lunch or during a repair feels like you want to get rid of the customer.
• Not at night. An automatic message sent right after closing time can arrive while the customer is asleep.
• A few reminders are enough, a few days apart. Someone who does not react to those does not want to write a review.

2. How to ask

What works

• The same sentence for everyone. Staff and messages use one text that does not depend on how the visit went.
• A specific thank-you. “Thank you for leaving your car with us” sounds better than “Thank you for your custom”.
• A reason. Reviews help people who are looking for you. That is true and the customer will understand it.
• A way to decline. “Whenever suits you, even at home” or “if you ever get round to it” takes the pressure off.

What does not work and what Google prohibits

Google's content policy has a section on rating manipulation (Google). For review requests it produces four prohibitions:

• Selecting the satisfied. The policy rules out anything that would “discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers”. That includes the sentence “if you were satisfied, write a review”, requests only to customers who gave praise, and a form that sends five stars to Google and lower ratings to an internal survey.
• Rewards. Google prohibits offering “incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services” in exchange for a review. A discount on the next purchase, a free coffee, a prize draw.
• Pressure on the premises. Merchants “should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises”. A tablet handed over with the receipt and waiting until the customer has finished writing is exactly that.
• Influencing the rating. The policy lets you ask for a review, but not influence how many stars or what the customer writes. “Please rate us five stars” or a prescribed review text belongs here. Ask for a review and leave the rating to the customer.

And one thing Google does not prohibit but which does not work:

• A request without context. “Give us a review” without a thank-you and a link makes the customer move on.

3. Through what channel to deliver the request

A detailed comparison of the two messages, including SMS length and how to chain them, is in the article SMS vs email for collecting reviews.

Ready-made lines for asking in person

Anyone on the team can say them and none depends on whether the customer was satisfied.

At the register or when paying:

“Thank you for visiting us. If you would like to write us a Google review, the link is on the plate here. Whenever suits you, even at home.”

When handing over a car, a job or finished work:

“Here is your car and the invoice. If you would like to write on Google how the repair went, the link is on the invoice.”

When a customer compliments you:

“That is lovely to hear. If you would like to write it on Google too, it helps people who are looking for us. The link is here.”

A compliment is just a natural moment for the request. Other customers get the same request.

When a customer complains:

First deal with the problem while the customer is still with you. At the end they get the same sentence about reviews as everyone else. Do not tell them not to write a review, and do not offer anything for not writing one. If a negative review does come in, we cover how to respond to negative reviews separately.

When a customer declines or has no Google account:

“No problem at all, thank you for coming.”

Nothing more. Do not repeat the request. To write a review the customer has to be signed in to a Google account, and someone who does not have one will not create one for you.

SMS and email templates with customer consent

The rules in this section are Czech. In the Czech Republic the Office for Personal Data Protection (ÚOOÚ) says that requests for reviews or ratings can be considered commercial communications (ÚOOÚ). Under Czech Act No. 480/2004 Coll., every message therefore has to:

• go only to someone who gave consent, or to a customer under the customer exception (a contact from a sale, a message about your own similar services, a free option to refuse when handing over the contact and in every message). The ÚOOÚ does not explicitly say that the exception covers a review request, so the safest route is a provable consent checkbox at the order or reservation,
• be marked as a commercial communication: for an SMS, “OS:” at the start (the Czech abbreviation for obchodní sdělení) is enough, for email it has to be recognisable from the subject line,
• state who sends it, including the registered company name of the operator,
• offer a free opt-out. For an SMS a link alone is not enough, the ÚOOÚ also wants an option for people without internet access, for example a toll-free phone number. A regular mobile number, where the customer pays under their own tariff, does not meet this condition.

Other countries have their own rules on electronic marketing, so check the ones that apply where you operate. In general, mark the message clearly as a commercial or advertising message, say who sends it and let people opt out for free.

Anyone who writes “I do not want this” has to be removed from your mailing. On what basis you hold the contact under GDPR is a separate question to settle in your privacy policy. I am not a lawyer. Have the templates checked by someone who works with commercial communications.

SMS (plain characters, so that it fits into as few parts as possible):

OS: [Company name] ([registered company name of the operator]) thanks you for visiting today. You can write a Google review here: [link]. Free opt-out: [link] or call free of charge on [toll-free number].

Email:

Subject: Commercial message – thank you for choosing [Company name]

Hello,

thank you for visiting us on [date of visit / we completed your job].
Google reviews help people who are looking for us. If you would like
to tell us how it went, you can add one here:

[review link]

[First name and surname or the [Company name] team]
[registered company name of the operator], [address], company ID [ID], [phone]

This email is a commercial message. Do not want to receive more?
You can unsubscribe free of charge here: [unsubscribe link]

The wording of a consent checkbox for a form and details on consent are in the templates section of the article how to get more Google reviews for a restaurant. It applies outside food and beverage too.

Five mistakes businesses make

1. They ask too late

A request a week after the visit arrives when the customer no longer remembers what the mechanic was called or what they had for lunch. If you send messages manually, it is the first thing that gets postponed when things are busy. That is why it makes sense to automate sending.

2. They complicate the way to the form

The link leads to the Google home page or to the whole profile instead of straight to the review form. The customer has to look for the business, click around and gives up along the way. You create a direct link in your Google Business Profile.

3. They ask only after a good experience

Filtering satisfied customers, known as review gating, breaks Google's rules, whether it is the sentence “if you were satisfied” or a form that sends only high ratings to Google. Ask everyone in the same way.

4. They do not reply to reviews

Google says about replies that they show you value feedback (Google). A customer who browses your profile before writing a review sees whether anyone is there on the other side. Reply to positive and negative reviews, ideally all of them.

5. They ask as a one-off

A “this month we are collecting reviews” campaign ends as soon as the busy season or a sick leave arrives. Reviews arrive steadily only where the request is part of normal operation: a sentence at the register, a link on the invoice, a message after every visit. Why customers do not write reviews even when they want to is covered in the article why customers do not write reviews.

Checklist before the first request

• You have a direct link to the review form, not to the whole profile.
• The whole team knows one sentence for all customers.
• A plate or QR code is at the register, on the table or on the invoice.
• The order or reservation form has an unticked consent box and you record who gave consent and when.
• The SMS starts with “OS:” (where that applies), names the operator and offers an opt-out, also through a toll-free number.
• The email has the commercial-message label in the subject, and company details and an unsubscribe link in the footer.
• Neither message contains “if you were satisfied” or a reward.
• You know who replies to new reviews and how quickly.

How to automate it

Manual requests usually last as long as things are quiet. Then they are forgotten, or you swing to the other extreme and a customer gets a message even after they have already written a review. The whole process from automatic requests to replies is in the guide to review automation.

In Reputive it works like this:

• After the visit an SMS goes out, followed by up to three emails in a sequence.
• Contacts you add manually, upload as a CSV, or send through the API or Zapier.
• A review is recognised by the author's name. When the name matches the customer, further messages stop. If the name on Google does not match, for example with a nickname, the review may not be matched and further messages may continue.
• Reply drafts for new reviews are prepared by AI and you approve them before they are published.

How many reviews you get depends on your customers and on how often the request reaches each of them. Nobody can guarantee it.

Try how the requests would look for you. You can try Reputive free for 14 days, no credit card required.