Google reviews: how to ask for them and how to reply
Reviews weigh heavily on a new customer’s decision. What’s allowed, what isn’t, and how to reply even to the bad ones.
To someone who doesn’t know you, your reviews are the closest thing to a friend’s recommendation. Google takes them into account too: they’re part of your business’s prominence in local results.
How to ask (the right way)
- Ask at the right moment: when the customer thanks you or leaves happy.
- Make it easy: your Google profile has a review link you can send on WhatsApp or print as a QR code.
- Ask everyone, not only the people you expect to leave five stars.
What Google doesn’t allow
Offering something in exchange for a review (a discount, a gift, a free service) is against Google Maps rules, and those reviews can be removed. Asking someone to change or delete a review in exchange for something isn’t allowed either.
How to reply
To reply, your profile has to be verified. After that, reply to every review, not only the bad ones:
- Good ones: thank them by name and mention something specific about the visit.
- Bad ones: reply calmly, don’t argue in public, and offer a phone number or email to sort it out.
- Never post a customer’s personal or health details in your reply.
Your reply is read by your next customers, not just the person who wrote the review. Write it with them in mind.