How to ask customers for reviews without breaking the rules

What Google says you may do

Google's help page for businesses is titled "Tips to get more reviews," and it is encouraging. Its advice:

• "Remind customers to leave reviews." Ask them to visit a Google link or scan a QR code, which you can create from your Business Profile.
• Reply to reviews to "show customers that their feedback matters," including the negative ones.
• Remember that "honest and balanced reviews can help potential customers decide."

The one condition runs through the whole page: reviews "must reflect a genuine experience." Keeping the rest of your profile accurate helps too; see Google Business Profile hours.

What Google does not allow

The same tips page, and Google's policy on prohibited content, draw the lines. In Google's words, these are not allowed:

• Rewards. "Offering incentives, like free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for customers to post reviews" is "strictly prohibited." That covers changing a review or removing a negative one as well.
• Paid reviews. "Reviews or ratings that have been paid for, directly or in kind."
• Picking your reviewers. To "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers."
• Reviews that are not real. To "solicit or encourage the posting of content that does not represent a genuine experience."
• Running down a competitor. Posting on a competitor's listing "to undermine that business' or product's reputation."
• Insiders. The policy lists "current or former employment" as a conflict of interest.

The policy says such content "is not allowed and will be removed," and that for serious or repeated harm the response ranges from suspending account privileges to account termination. A raffle for reviewers or "10% off for a five-star review" is exactly what these lines describe. The same honesty applies to how you describe your own service; ours is laid out on how it works.

What the FTC's rule adds

Separately from Google, the Federal Trade Commission has a rule on consumer reviews and testimonials that took effect on October 21, 2024. We read the FTC's own questions and answers on it. It applies whatever site the review is on.

• No fake reviews. A business is liable if it "wrote or created fake or false reviews," or bought reviews it knew or should have known were false.
• No incentive that depends on the verdict. "You can't suggest to consumers that their reviews must be positive (or negative)" to get it.
• Insiders must say so. A relationship with the business has to be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.
• No bullying. No physical threats or intimidation, and no "unfounded or groundless legal threat," to stop a review or get one taken down.

It also says what stays legal. The rule "does not prohibit simply asking" customers, contacting someone who left a negative review to fix the problem is fine, and "organizing reviews is not suppressing reviews." Courts can impose civil penalties for knowing violations. Notice one difference: the FTC's rule allows incentives that are not tied to a positive review, but Google's policy bans incentives outright. On Google, follow Google. For the FTC's rules on phone calls to customers, see can a business call back a number on the Do Not Call list?

The trap of asking only happy customers

This is the rule most often broken by well-meaning businesses, because a lot of software is built to break it. The pattern is: ask the customer privately how it went, then send the review link only to those who answer four or five stars, and send the rest to a private feedback form.

Google's policy names that directly: "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers." If you use any tool to request reviews, check that it sends the same request to everyone.

Google gives the practical reason itself: "honest and balanced reviews can help potential customers decide." A clear record of every job, good and bad, is easier with one list of your customers; that is the job of a lead inbox.

When and how to ask

• Ask soon, while the work is fresh: the same day or the next.
• Ask everyone whose job is finished, in the same words.
• Make it one tap: your Google review link, not "search for us."
• Ask once, with at most one reminder. That is our suggestion, not a rule.
• Use a channel you have permission for. A text needs the customer's consent like any other business text; see what counts as consent to text a customer. A call or an email to a recent customer is simpler.

We could not find a public figure we would stand behind for the "best" hour or day to ask, so we give none. Soon and politely is the whole method.

Wording you can send

These ask for a review without steering it. The business name is made up; put in your own and your own link.

• "Thanks for choosing Northside Plumbing. If you have a minute, an honest review helps a small business like ours a lot: [your link]"
• "Hi, this is Dana at Northside Plumbing. Your job is finished. We'd be grateful for a review of how it went, good or bad: [your link]"
• "Thank you for your business. Reviews help neighbors decide who to call. Here is ours if you'd like to leave one: [your link]"

What to leave out: any mention of stars ("a five-star review"), any reward, and any "if you were happy" condition. Keep a text version under one message; the counting is in why a text is 160 characters.

Answering the reviews you get

Google's page recommends replying, and a reply is public, so write it for the next customer as much as for this one.

• Thank people by name and mention the job, briefly.
• On a bad review, stay factual. Say what you will do and offer a phone number. Never argue.
• Do not accuse the reviewer of lying unless you are certain; the FTC's rule bars false accusations about a reviewer.
• Fix the problem if you can, then leave it to the customer whether to update the review. The FTC's rule allows that kind of contact.

A fast, polite first reply prevents many bad reviews in the first place: how fast a business should respond to a new lead.

How NewFrontDesk handles review requests

Our review feature is on the Premium plan and it is deliberately plain. When you mark a job Won, the lead page shows a ready-to-send message with your own review link. You send it yourself. The app sends nothing to the customer, offers no reward, and does not ask how many stars first.

The full list of what works today is on the status board, and plans are on compare plans. To talk it through, call (346) 913-7215 or request setup.

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help: tips to get more reviews
• Google Maps user-generated content policy: prohibited and restricted content (fake engagement, rating manipulation)
• Federal Trade Commission: the Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, questions and answers (November 2024)

Sources read on October 9, 2026. Other review sites have their own rules; check each one. The FTC notes its Q&A is not comprehensive and gives no safe harbor. General information, not legal advice.