What should trigger an automated review request?

Finished work, such as a job marked complete. A booking or a quote hasn't given the customer an experience to review yet.

How many messages should one customer get?

One request and one reminder is a sound default. Stop as soon as the customer clicks or replies.

Can I text every customer?

Only customers who opted in to texts. STOP ends it, and the message should say who it is from.

What must a review request email include?

An accurate sender identity, a physical postal address and an opt-out you honor within 10 business days. The FTC cites penalties of up to $53,088 per violating email.

Does the same flow work on Yelp?

No. Yelp tells businesses not to ask anyone for reviews, so keep this flow to Google and your own page.

Google review automation: a safe setup

You can automate Google review requests safely if the automation only does the neutral steps. Trigger one ask when a job finishes, send one reminder, honor opt-outs, and give every customer the same link.

Don't expect software to enforce Google's rules for you. Google bars incentives, selectively soliciting positive reviews, and pressuring customers on the premises. Texts need opt-in, and emails need a sender identity, a postal address and a working opt-out.

The catch is measurement. A click on your link is not a published review, and a sent message is not a delivered one. Count each step separately and test the odd cases before you switch it on.

What should the automation send, and when?

One request when the work is finished, and at most one reminder. Finished work is the trigger, because Google wants reviews that reflect a genuine experience.

A sensible default is one request and one reminder a few days later, with a click or a reply stopping both. For customers you serve every week, set a quiet period so nobody is asked at every visit. I can't point you to a Google number for it, so pick one you'd tolerate as a customer.

How do I keep it neutral?

Send every customer the same link, with no satisfaction question in front of it. A flow that routes happy customers to Google and the rest to a private form is gating. What is review gating explains why Google bars it.

Offer nothing in return, which the incentives page covers, and don't script what the customer says. The link itself comes from your Business Profile, as the link and QR code guide shows.

Who can I text or email?

Text only customers who opted in, and treat STOP as final. The message should say who it is from.

For email, the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide asks for an accurate sender identity, a physical postal address and a clear opt-out. You must honor an opt-out within 10 business days. The FTC says each separate email that violates CAN-SPAM can draw penalties of up to $53,088. The grey areas are a question for your carrier platform and a lawyer.

How do I know it worked?

Track four things apart: requests sent, messages delivered, links clicked and reviews published. A link click is not a review, and platforms differ on what they confirm as delivered.

Before you switch it on, test a bad answer, a repeat customer, a failed send and a STOP reply. Don't assume the software retries failures or catches duplicates for you.

What do I do next?

Write down the trigger, the one reminder and the opt-out on a single page, then build exactly that.

If you'd rather not build it, ProveWorth sends one request and one reminder by default, three days apart, and a click or a reply stops them. Its emails carry a postal address and a working unsubscribe link. Its texts end with "Reply STOP to opt out." You can get your free page or see how the review requests work.

Google review automation: how do you set it up safely?