Send yourself a test request

Before you ask customers, you can send a review request to yourself and see exactly what they get. It's the last step of setting up, and it's also at the bottom of Requests under Send yourself a test. Owners and managers can send one.

Send one

1. Leave Email it to me ticked to get it at the address you sign in with.
2. To get it as a text too, type your mobile number and tick the box to agree to this one test text. Chiffchaff never texts without that agreement, even you.
3. Click Send me a test.

The email usually arrives within a few minutes. Texts only go out 9 AM to 7 PM, Monday to Saturday, in your phone's time, the same as for customers, so a test sent in the evening arrives the next morning and Chiffchaff tells you when.

Walk through it

Click Open the page your customers see, or the link in the email or text. You get the same page a customer gets, with a box on top saying it's a test. Two things work differently in a test:

• The Leave a review on Google button goes straight to the thank-you screen instead of opening your Google review form, because Google doesn't let owners review their own business.
• You can fill in the private note form, but nothing you send is saved or sent to anyone.

The unsubscribe link in a test email says what it would do for a customer and changes nothing.

Tests don't count

A test isn't a real request, so it's kept apart:

• It isn't in the list on Requests, and it doesn't count in your dashboard, your monthly recap or your texts for the month.
• It doesn't add you to your customers, so you'll never be asked for a review yourself.
• It doesn't affect how often your customers can be asked, or how many requests go out a day.

It does tick Send yourself a test request on your setup checklist. You can send a few tests a day.

If something didn't send

• Texting comes once carrier registration clears. US carriers approve business texting first, and a test text goes out from your own registered number. Until your registration is approved, the test is by email. See Register for texting and What's switched on today.
• Request emails aren't switched on yet. You can still open the page and walk through it.
• Paused in Settings. If you've paused texts or emails in Settings → Review requests, tests on that channel don't go either.

After a test, Chiffchaff also says if real requests still need something: a location matched to its Google listing, or your postal address for the email footer. Add both in Locations.