Send your first review invite
The first send teaches you the muscle memory you'll use every week. Here's how to pick the right person and get a 5-star review on the board.
Pick the right first customer
Your first invite should go to a customer where you already know the answer is "yes, I'd happily recommend them." Specifically:
- Someone who used your business in the last 7–14 days (recency matters — memory fades fast).
- Someone you spoke to in person or by phone, not a one-off online order.
- Someone who said something positive at any point — even a quick "thanks, this was great."
Don't overthink it. The point of the first send is to see the system work end-to-end, not to optimize.
Send via the dashboard
Open Reputation → Requests → Send. Fill in:
- Customer name. First name only is fine.
- Email and/or phone. If you have both, leave both — we'll send by whichever you choose below.
- Channel. Email, SMS, or WhatsApp. (SMS and WhatsApp require a phone number; email requires an email address.)
Click Send. The customer receives a branded message within seconds.
What the customer sees
If you sent by email, your customer gets a short message with your logo, your accent color, a one-line ask, and a big button. The button takes them to your review page, where they can rate you and — if they leave 4 or 5 stars — get bounced straight to your Google review form.
If they leave 1, 2, or 3 stars, they're invited to share details privately with you instead of being pushed to Google. This is intentional: it keeps low ratings off your public profile and gives you a chance to make it right.
Channel guidance
Best for B2B services, anything where you already correspond by email, and customers over 40. Highest deliverability, lowest cost, and our default for a reason. Typical open rate: 50–65%. Typical conversion to review: 8–15%.
SMS
Best for in-person services (salons, dentists, contractors, restaurants). Opens get above 95%, and reviews come in within hours, not days. SMS sends count against your monthly allowance — check your plan for limits.
Best if your customer base is outside North America or if you already use WhatsApp Business with them. Open rates similar to SMS, and many international customers prefer it.
Tip: If you have both an email and a phone, try email first. If they haven't responded in 3 days, our Auto-Send will nudge them through the second channel automatically.
Bulk sending
Once you're comfortable with single sends, upload a CSV from Reputation → Requests → Contacts. The file needs columns for name, email, and/or phone. We'll dedupe against people you've already invited and send out in a controlled cadence (no more than 50 sends per hour by default — slow enough to look human).
Tracking results
The Reputation → Requests page shows every invite, its status (sent, opened, clicked, completed), and what star rating they left if applicable. Use this to test wording changes and channel mixes.
Common questions
Can I send to customers I haven't worked with recently?
Yes, but expect lower response rates. Past 30 days is great. Past 90 days is fine. Past a year, response rates drop into single digits.
Do I need their permission?
In most jurisdictions, transactional review requests to your own customers are permitted under "legitimate interest" or implied consent (you served them, you're asking about that service). For SMS in the US, the FTC requires they opted in at some point — if you collected their phone number for service updates, that's typically enough. When in doubt, check your local rules.
Can I customize the message?
Yes — for individual sends you can edit the body before clicking Send, and you can set new default templates under Reputation → Requests → Templates. See Sending requests for the full reference.