CentriWebAutomated review requests send every customer a short message with a direct link to your Google review page shortly after the job or appointment, and stop once they have acted or after one follow-up. The rule that keeps them safe is to ask everyone, not just the customers you expect to be happy.
That rule is where many review tools get into trouble, so we start with it, then cover the trigger, timing, wording and the checks a person does each month.
Why you ask everyone
Some review software asks customers how they felt first, then sends only the happy ones to Google and the unhappy ones to a private form. This is often called review gating. It is easy to build and it flatters your rating, which is why it is tempting.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has a page on online reviews for businesses. As at November 2026, that page says a business may mislead consumers if it suppresses or edits negative reviews, and that incentives for reviews must apply whether the review is positive or negative and be clearly disclosed. It does not use the word gating, so we are not going to claim it names the practice. But filtering who gets to leave a public review has the same effect as suppressing the bad ones, and it is hard to defend if someone asks.
Google’s own page on reviews says the same thing in plainer terms. Google’s guidance says businesses can ask customers to review them using a share link or QR code, that offering free or discounted goods in exchange for reviews is prohibited, and that reviews must reflect a genuine experience. It also advises businesses to value all reviews. Policies change, so read both pages yourself, and see our longer guide on whether review gating is legal.
The practical rule: the same message goes to every customer who finished a job with you, and nobody gets a reward for posting. Nothing in the automation looks at how someone feels before deciding whether to send the link.
The trigger: what starts an automated review request
The trigger must be an event in your records, not a judgement call by staff. Good triggers:
- A job is marked complete in your job management software or CRM.
- An appointment status changes to attended.
- An invoice is paid in full.
- A delivery is confirmed.
Each of these happens for every customer, which is the point. A trigger such as “staff tick a box when the customer seemed happy” brings the filtering back in through the side door.
A CRM or job tool makes this straightforward because the status change is already recorded. If you run on a spreadsheet and memory, review requests are one of the better reasons to move.
Timing: when to send it
Ask while the experience is fresh and the customer is not busy. There is no universal best hour, so test it, but these defaults suit most small businesses:
| Business | Suggested send time | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Clinic or practice | Same day, late afternoon | Visit is fresh, patient is home |
| Trade or repair job | The next morning | Customer has seen the finished work |
| Longer project (renovation, build stage) | At handover or a milestone | There is a clear moment of completion |
| Service with an invoice | After payment | Money conversations are finished |
Avoid sending when something is visibly unresolved, such as an open complaint ticket. Pausing for an open complaint is different from filtering by mood: the pause is about the state of the job, it is applied by a rule you can write down, and the customer is asked once the matter is closed.
Writing automated review requests that people answer
Keep it short, name a real person, say what you are asking and make the link one tap. Here are templates to adapt.
Text message:
Hi [First name], it’s [Name] from [Business]. Thanks for choosing us for [job]. If you have a minute, a Google review helps other people find us and tells us how we did: [link]. Thanks, [Name]
Email:
Subject line: How did we do, [First name]?
Hi [First name], thanks for letting us help with [job]. If you’re happy to, could you leave a short review on Google? It takes about a minute: [link]. Feedback of any kind is welcome, and if something wasn’t right, you can also reply to this email and I will read it myself.
Notice the second template invites private feedback in addition to the public link. That is fine. What matters is that the public link is offered to everyone, and the private route is an addition, and never replaces the public link.
Do not offer a discount, a draw entry or a free item for reviews. The ACCC and Google pages above both treat incentives as a risk, and Google prohibits them outright.
Follow-ups and stopping rules
One request and one reminder is plenty. Suggested sequence:
- Day 0 or 1: the first message, by text.
- Day 4: one reminder by email, only if the customer has not clicked the link.
- Stop. No third message, ever, for that job.
Add a global rule that the same person is not asked again for 90 days, even if they have a new job. Repeat customers can feel nagged quickly. Also respect any request to stop messages, and include a way to opt out in the text and the email.
Text messages that ask for reviews can count as marketing under spam rules in some countries. Check the rules for yours; for Australia, our guide to SMS marketing rules is a starting point and the regulator’s own pages are the authority.
Where the link should go
Every extra tap loses people, so send them to the review box itself and not to your home page or a page with three buttons.
Use the link Google gives you for your business profile, which opens the review box directly. Test it on a phone while logged out and while logged in, because a customer who has to hunt for the review button will give up. Your Google Business Profile needs to be claimed and accurate before any of this works.
If you are a regulated health professional, extra rules apply to testimonials and how you use reviews in advertising. See our guide to AHPRA advertising guidelines for a clinic website, and check the rules for your profession.
What a person does each month
The workflow sends the messages, but someone has to own the results. Put this on a recurring calendar entry for one named person, and give it twenty minutes on the first Monday of the month.
An automated review request still needs a human on the other end. A short monthly routine:
- Read every new review. Reply to all of them, positive and negative, in your own words and within a few days.
- Fix what is fixable. A pattern of comments about late arrival is a business problem, and the reviews just point at it.
- Check the sending log. Confirm the messages are going to the right people and no job was skipped. A gap in the log is a gap in the list you are asking.
- Spot-check the link. Click it from a phone.
- Look at the ratio. Compare the number of requests sent with the reviews received. A low response is a message or timing problem to adjust. It is never a reason to start filtering.
Never remove a review you simply dislike. The ACCC page above warns that removing genuine negative reviews may mislead consumers. If a review breaks the platform’s rules, report it through the platform, and reply to it politely and factually in public instead.
Building it: off-the-shelf or custom
Many CRMs and job tools can send a message when a status changes, and for a single location with one review profile that is enough. You may not need anything custom. Our guide to how to get more Google reviews covers the wider picture, and our notes on review management software compare the tools.
Custom work earns its place when you have several locations, mixed job systems, or want requests tied to your own records. CentriWeb builds many client systems on GoHighLevel and most client automations in n8n, and review campaigns with reporting are part of our marketing work. Whatever you use, the rule above is the test of any tool: if it asks how the customer felt before deciding who gets the link, switch that setting off.