Why the wording matters least
Businesses rewrite the message six times and never test the link. The link is where the response rate actually lives — a message pointing at a profile page instead of the review box loses well over half the people who intended to write something.
So the file below opens with five rules and only then gets to the text. Two of the rules are policy constraints that a badly chosen template will quietly break, and one of them — never suggest what to write — is the difference between reviews that read as genuine and a page of near-identical praise that readers discount on sight.
Download the messages
Six trades, English and Spanish, with follow-ups, timing notes, the health-context warnings, and a short section on what to do when a review is bad.
# Review request messages - twelve, by trade, in two languages
Rules first, then the messages. The rules matter more.
RULE 1 Send every customer the same ask. Choosing who to ask based on how
it went is selective solicitation and it is against Google's policy,
whether a person decides it or software does.
RULE 2 Link straight to the review box. Not your website. Not your profile
page. Test it on a phone that has never opened your business before.
RULE 3 One follow-up, several days later. Then stop, permanently.
RULE 4 Never suggest what to write. Reviews that mention the same three
qualities read as coordinated, because they are.
RULE 5 Never offer anything in return. A free coffee for a review is a
separate policy violation from gating and a clearer one.
Replace [BRACKETS]. Delete anything that sounds like marketing.
===========================================================================
SALON / BARBER send: same day, +2-3 hrs
===========================================================================review-request-messages.md · markdown · 6.1 kB
- 1.Test the link on a phone that has never opened your business profile. It should land on the box where a person types, in one tap — anything else is where the response rate goes.
- 2.Use the timing note for your trade rather than a single global delay. The gap between the garage row and the salon row is three to five days, and it is worth more than any rewrite of the sentence.
- 3.Read the health section before automating anything in a clinical setting. Referencing a procedure in a message that somebody else might read is a confidentiality problem, not a marketing one.
Channel, by what you are trying to do
Same message, very different outcomes depending on where it lands.
| Channel | Read rate | Where it works | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMS | Very high | Anywhere phone numbers are the norm | US business messaging needs registration and fees |
| Very high | Latin America, Brazil, southern Europe | Template approval, and a session window that governs replies | |
| Low | B2B and higher-value services | Read later, acted on rarely | |
| In person, then a message | Highest | Anywhere with a counter | Depends on a human remembering every time |
| QR code on a receipt | Low but free | Restaurants, retail | No way to follow up, no record of who was asked |
The fourth row wins on every measure except the one that matters — it stops happening. That is the whole reason this category exists.
Five things to check before sending the first one
Ten minutes, and it is the difference between a two per cent response rate and a ten per cent one.
- The link opens the review box in one tapTest on an unfamiliar phone. This is the single largest variable and it is the one nobody checks.
- The sender is recognisableA message from an unknown number asking for a favour reads as a scam, and the customer is right to think so.
- The send window is inside working hoursLate evening gets read and forgotten. Late morning and mid-afternoon both work.
- It goes to the person who was servedNot the person who paid. In family and business contexts these differ, and the payer has nothing to describe.
- The follow-up is scheduled once and only onceOne reminder recovers a meaningful share. A second annoys people, and a third is how a business acquires a reputation for pestering.
Questions
Can I use these verbatim?
Why is there a Spanish version but not Portuguese?
Should the message come from the business or the person?
What about the bad review section — is replying worth it?
The timing, per trade, explained
When the customer can actually tell it worked — which is not when the transaction ended.