How to ask for a review in person or by text

Why does asking for a review in person feel awkward?

You finish a job, the customer says thank you, and the moment to ask passes because the words feel pushy. Later you mean to send an email and never do. Our own numbers hint at how common that is: on 3 November 2026, the 10 review sites that outside accounts run on Formgong had sent 0 review requests through us. We cannot see what anyone says at the counter, but nobody had sent a single link.

Not asking costs more than asking badly. BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, a panel of 1,002 US adults, found that 78% had been asked to leave a review in the past 12 months, and 83% of those who were asked went on to write one. Customers expect the question. The line to stay behind is pressure: ask once, plainly, and make it easy to say yes later.

Email requests have their own guides on this blog: the review request email templates and the article on when to send them. This page is about the two asks those leave out, face to face and by text message.

What should you say when you ask in person?

Say why you are asking and hand over the way to do it. One sentence will do. Use your own words, because a script read aloud sounds like one. Three versions to start from:

At the counter: “Glad you like it. If you have a minute later, a short review really helps a small shop like ours. The code on this card takes you straight there.”

After a home visit: “Thanks for having us, Emma. I'll text you a link tonight. If you're happy with the work, a couple of lines would help other people find us.”

At the end of a call: “I'm glad that's sorted, Jack. Would it be all right if I sent you a link to leave a review? Honest is fine, whatever you think.”

All three let the customer do it later. They write the review at home on their own phone with nobody looking over their shoulder, which suits them better, and Google's policy rules out pressing people to review on the spot anyway. Keep the “honest is fine” part if you can. People relax when they hear it, and it keeps you clear of the rules further down this page.

Leave out anything that tells them what to write. Asking a customer to mention your name, a product or the word “fast” feels harmless, but Google's policy for Maps reviews says merchants should not “request that specific content be included”.

When is the right moment to ask face to face?

Ask when the customer has just seen the result: the haircut in the mirror, the repaired boiler running, the order handed over and checked. That is the moment they are most likely to agree, and the moment the experience is clearest in their mind.

Do not ask while they are still waiting, paying or unhappy. If the visit went badly, deal with the problem and skip the question; sending a link the next day to everyone, happy or not, is fairer than choosing on the spot. Picking only the customers who smiled is called selective asking, and both Google's policy and Trustpilot's guidelines forbid it. Trustpilot's guidelines for businesses say to invite “everyone in the same way, regardless of whether they've had a positive or negative experience”.

If you sell online and never meet customers, the in-person moment is the parcel. A printed card with a review QR code does the asking for you. Our demo shop's review link is 55 characters, which our QR code library encodes as a grid of 33 by 33 squares; a link that also carries a location tag is 101 characters and needs 41 by 41. The shorter link prints cleaner at small sizes.

What should a review request text say?

A text has one job: remind the customer who you are and give them the link. Name yourself and the business, thank them for something specific, ask once, and put the link last so it is easy to tap. Here are three we measured:

“Hi Emma, it's Sam from Brightside Plumbing. Thanks for today! A short review would help others find us: [link]”

“Thanks for coming in today, Olivia! If you liked your cut, would you write us a quick review? [link]”

“Hi Jack, Grace at Fernway Ceramics. Hope the mug arrived safely! Once you've used it, a review helps: [link]”

With our 55-character review link in place of [link], these are 159, 149 and 157 characters. That matters because an SMS has a hard size. Under the GSM standard (3GPP TS 23.038), a message in the basic GSM alphabet holds up to 160 characters; any character outside it, such as an emoji or a curly apostrophe (’) instead of a straight one ('), switches the whole message to a wider encoding that holds only 70. When we typed the first message with a curly apostrophe, the same 159 characters needed three message parts instead of one, so one small character tripled the size of the send.

So write the template in a plain text editor that keeps straight quotes, leave out emoji, and count the characters before you save it.

Who can you text, and how often?

Text only people who gave you their number for messages about their order or appointment, and send one request per visit or order. If there is no reply, one reminder a few days later is the most that stays polite:

“Hi Emma, Sam at Brightside again. The review link, if you still want it. No worries if not: [link]”

That one is 147 characters with our link. After it, stop. A customer who ignores two messages has answered, and a third message starts to feel like spam. Rules on texting customers differ by country, so check yours before you send texts in bulk; this page is about wording, not legal advice.

Keep a simple list of who you asked and when, even a note on the job sheet. It stops you texting the same person twice, and it shows you whether texts or cards bring more reviews.

What must you never say when you ask for a review?

Four things get businesses into trouble, and each comes straight from the rules the review sites and regulators publish.

Do not offer a reward for a good review. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews (16 CFR 465.4) bans incentives “conditioned expressly or by implication” on a review with a particular sentiment. Google goes further and bans incentives of any kind for Maps reviews, such as discounts or free goods. Loox's blog post on the “please leave a review” step, read on 3 November 2026, suggests adding a coupon code or freebie to review texts for reviews left on your own site. That can be done within limits, which our article on discounts for reviews sets out, but the same offer for a Google review breaks Google's policy.

Do not pressure people on the spot. Google's policy says merchants “should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises”. In our reading, handing over your tablet and waiting while they type counts.

Do not ask only the happy ones, and do not ask on Yelp at all. Yelp's support page “Don't Ask for Reviews” tells businesses not to ask anyone, customers, friends or family, and warns that its software may not recommend reviews that look prompted. If Yelp matters to you, mention that you are on Yelp and leave it there. The FTC fake reviews rule article covers the US rules in full.

Where does Formgong help with in-person asks?

Formgong does not send text messages, so a review text goes from your own phone. What we provide is the link and the page behind it. Every review site gets a hosted review page and a QR code in the dashboard, and on the free plan you can add up to 10 locations, each with its own link and QR code, so a review left from the café card is tagged with that café. On our demo shop the page asks for nothing but the star rating; name, text, photos and video are optional, and there is no sign-in. Google's help page on adding Maps reviews, read on 3 November 2026, starts with signing in to Google, which is one more step for a customer standing at your counter.

To be fair about it, Judge.me's pricing page, read the same day, lists links and QR codes on its free plan too, and its paid plan sends review requests by SMS, which we do not do. We did not find location tags on that page. The reviews docs show where the link and the codes are in the dashboard, and the Google review link guide helps if you want the code to open Google instead.

What do you say when you ask?

If you have a line that works at your counter, or a text that customers answer, send it to support@formgong.com. We will test it and may add it here.