Review Request Templates

Most local businesses know they should ask for reviews, but they either forget, ask too late, or use messages that feel robotic. This pack gives you a simple system you can use after completed jobs, appointments, purchases, consultations, repairs, bookings, events, and customer service interactions.

Use it to:

• Request reviews by email and by SMS when the business has permission to text.
• Ask after service completion, appointments, purchases, and from repeat customers.
• Ask event, hospitality, and professional service customers in industry-safe language.
• Ask with QR codes, receipts, and invoices.
• Send one polite follow-up, and respond to positive, neutral, and negative reviews.
• Track review requests and responses, and avoid incentives, fake engagement, and review gating.

This pack is not legal advice. Rules vary by platform, industry, state, country, and message type — have a qualified professional review your final process if you operate in a regulated industry or send automated marketing messages.

This pack is for local business owners, office managers, marketers, freelancers, agencies, reception teams, customer service teams, and operators who need a practical review request system. It is especially useful for:

• Contractors and home service companies, and service-area businesses
• Clinics, dental offices, medspas, wellness practices, and appointment businesses
• Restaurants, coffee shops, caterers, bars, food trucks, and hospitality businesses
• Retail shops, boutiques, showrooms, florists, and local product sellers
• Salons, spas, barbers, gyms, fitness studios, and personal service businesses
• Auto repair, towing, mobile detailing, and repair businesses
• Lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, consultants, real estate professionals, and professional services
• Multi-location businesses and new businesses building their first review process

• Review policy guardrails and a customer permission guide
• A six-stage review request workflow
• Email, SMS, in-person, receipt, invoice, and QR code templates
• Templates organized by industry and customer moment
• Positive, neutral, negative, privacy-sensitive, unknown-customer, and resolved-issue response templates
• A review request tracker and a monthly review report
• 12 AI prompts for customizing templates and analyzing review themes

This pack is not legal advice — rules vary by platform, industry, state, country, and message type. Use these guardrails, and have a compliance professional review your final process if you are in a regulated industry or send automated messages:

• Ask only real customers, and ask for honest feedback.
• Do not buy reviews or offer discounts, gifts, services, contest entries, loyalty points, or payment in exchange for reviews.
• Do not ask employees, owners, family members, or vendors to pose as customers, and do not write reviews for customers.
• Do not pressure customers to change negative reviews or offer an incentive to remove or revise one.
• Do not create a private feedback form that only sends happy customers to public review sites, and do not filter requests based on expected star rating.
• Do not send automated SMS without proper permission, and do not ignore unsubscribe, STOP, or do-not-contact requests.
• Do not quote private customer details, or reveal protected health, legal, financial, or personal information in responses.

Confirm permission before each channel:

• Before email: the customer gave you the address, the message relates to a real transaction, sender information is accurate, the subject line is not deceptive, business contact information is included where required, and opt-out requests can be honored.
• Before SMS: the customer gave you the number, you have appropriate permission for the type of text, the message identifies the business, the customer can opt out, STOP requests are tracked, and you have reviewed automated texting rules if using software.
• Before asking for a public review: the customer had a real experience, no incentive is offered, and the message does not require a positive review, ask for specific keywords, or pressure the customer.

A six-stage flow keeps every request honest and well-timed:

• 1. Complete the interaction — ask only after the job, appointment, order, event, consultation, or repair is genuinely finished.
• 2. Confirm there is no open issue — this is not to gate reviews; it is to avoid asking while a complaint, callback, billing, safety, or privacy concern is unresolved. Resolve it first.
• 3. Send the request — choose the best channel: email, SMS, receipt, QR card, invoice, in-person script, or chat follow-up.
• 4. Follow up once — one polite follow-up at most. Never send repeated reminders, pressure the customer, offer incentives, or ask for a specific rating.
• 5. Respond to reviews — reply professionally and protect privacy.
• 6. Track results — log requests, reviews received, response status, themes, and improvement ideas.

Use a follow-up only when the first request followed a real interaction, the customer has not opted out, you have permission to contact them, enough time has passed, and the message is polite. Do not follow up when the customer opted out, complained without a response yet, is in a sensitive or regulated situation, was asked recently, or when you cannot track who has already been asked. Suggested timing: email follow-up 5-10 days after the first request; SMS follow-up cautiously and generally once at most; no further follow-up after the second request.

Tailor the ask to the situation:

• Home services: ask after job completion, final walkthrough, paid invoice, or follow-up call. Avoid asking before the job is complete, while a punch list is unresolved, or with private address details.
• Healthcare and wellness: ask after the visit. Avoid treatment details, confirming patient status, health claims, or asking customers to include private details.
• Legal and financial: ask after a milestone or closed engagement with permission. Avoid case outcomes, financial results, and confidential or advisor-client specifics.
• Restaurants and hospitality: ask after a reservation, event, catering order, pickup, or delivery. Avoid incentives, asking only visibly happy guests, and fake claims.
• Retail: ask after a purchase, pickup, delivery, or support interaction. Avoid reviews from non-customers, discounts for reviews, and staff posing as customers.
• Email: use accurate sender info and clear subject lines, include business identification, honor unsubscribes, and never send repeated requests to the same person.
• SMS: use only with permission, identify the business, keep it short, include opt-out language, honor STOP, and check automated texting rules before using software.
• QR codes: place them on receipts, invoices, counter cards, leave-behinds, thank-you cards, and packaging. Never require a scan before service or connect a QR code to an incentive offer.