Ask a customer for a review

A review request sends your customer your Google review link. Everyone gets the same link, whatever you think they'll say, and nobody is offered anything in return for a review. How we ask lists the rules every request follows.

Send one

1. Open Customers and pick the customer, or add them first.
2. On their page, under Ask for a review, click Email a review request or Text a review request. With more than one location, pick the location first.
3. The request is queued and goes out within a few minutes, or when its sending hours next start.

To send to many customers at once, see Send requests to a list. For a sign at the counter, see Print a QR code card.

What the customer gets

• Email: from your business name, asking them to review you on Google, with a Leave a review on Google button. Replies go to your email. Each email includes your postal address and an Unsubscribe link.
• Text: a short message with your Google review link that ends "Reply STOP to opt out."

The link opens your review request page: your Google review link first and largest, with a private note to you below it. Every customer gets the same page. See Private notes and the page your link opens. Until that page is switched on, the link opens Google's review form for your location directly.

Rules for every request

• Once every 90 days. A customer can be asked once every 90 days. Chiffchaff tells you when you can ask again.
• Not after they've reviewed you. When Chiffchaff can tell that a customer already left a Google review for that location, their queued request is cancelled and the Requests page says "Already reviewed". It only counts as a match when exactly one customer on your list has the reviewer's first name and last initial and was sent a request (or tapped its link) in the two weeks before the review. A first name alone, or two customers who could both be the reviewer, is never enough, so nobody is skipped on a guess. Google keeps one review per person per place, so asking again would only ask them to change it.
• Sending hours for texts. Texts go out only between 9 AM and 7 PM in the customer's own time, Monday to Saturday. That follows the strictest state texting laws, so it applies everywhere and can't be turned off. Chiffchaff works out the customer's time from their area code. A text queued outside those hours waits for the next opening, for example 8 PM on a Saturday goes out at 9 AM on Monday.
• Sending hours for emails. Emails go out between 8 AM and 9 PM in your time zone, any day. Narrow the hours for both texts and emails in Settings → Review requests.
• A Google place ID. The location needs its place ID. See Connect your Google Business Profile.
• A postal address for emails. Use the location's address, or add a Mailing address for emails (a PO box works) in Settings → Review requests.
• Consent for texts. A customer can only be texted after they've agreed to it. See Texting needs consent.
• A steady pace. Google can pause new reviews on a profile that suddenly gets a lot of them. So each location sends up to 50 requests a day, or twice its usual daily number over the last four weeks if that's more, and never more than 200. A quarter of each day is kept for visits as they happen (from Zapier or a connected tool, or sent from a customer's page), so those go out that day even while a long list is going out. A list uses the other three quarters. Requests past that wait for the next day with room, in the order they were queued. Nobody is skipped. A request you send from a customer's page always goes out on time. This protects your profile, so it can't be turned off.

How many you can send

Email and QR code requests are unlimited on every plan. Texts count against a monthly allowance: 100 a month on Solo and 400 on Duo, firm limits; 1,500 a month on Crew under fair use; and 1,500 per location a month on Group under fair use. The count starts again on the 1st, and Billing shows what you've used. During the free trial texts stop at 200 for the whole trial, and they start once your business's texting registration is approved; email and QR codes work from day one.

Following up

The Requests page lists recent requests with their status: Queued, Sent, Delivered, Clicked (they tapped your review link), Reviewed (we tied a review to it, the same as the dashboard's Reviewed), Didn't send, Opted out or Cancelled. When one didn't send, the reason is underneath, such as "No consent to texts", "Already reviewed", "The address didn't accept it" for an email that bounced, or "Carrier didn't deliver it" for a text. A queued request that's waiting for its sending hours says so, for example "No texts on Sundays" with "Held until Mon 9 AM (customer's time)". One waiting for a day with room says "Spread out to keep your review pace steady" and when it goes out, and a note at the top of the page says how many are waiting and when the last goes out. You can Cancel a request while it's still queued. For every reason a request can wait, see Why a request hasn't gone out yet.

To pause a channel for your business, turn off Send review requests by text or Send review requests by email in Settings → Review requests. Queued requests wait.