Keep three different requests separate.
Private feedback asks what happened and what could improve. A public review lets someone share an experience on a review platform. Permission to use a quote in your own marketing is a third decision. Completing one does not settle the others.
This guide helps you prepare a Google review-invitation process. It does not authorize contacting anyone, establish a required message schedule or mean that a review tool is included in your service. Use your actual communication permissions and approved operating instructions before a request is sent.
Start with one genuine customer experience and one proposed invitation. Work out how the team will know whether an invitation is appropriate, who owns it and whether another person has already asked. Keep the customer’s choice visible throughout.
Choose an eligibility rule that does not filter for praise.
Google requires genuine experience and prohibits selectively inviting positive reviews or discouraging negative ones. It also prohibits incentives for reviews, including changing or removing negative reviews. These are Google platform requirements, not a summary of every jurisdiction’s law. Read Google’s content policy.
Fictional example: A repair business proposes asking customers for private feedback, then showing the Google review link only after a positive response. That makes the private answer a gate to the public invitation.
A different process could use completion of a genuine repair visit as its service-event rule, without selecting by satisfaction. Apply the rule consistently alongside actual contact restrictions and duplicate checks. A complaint does not become a reason to hide the public-review route. Handle the service concern through its own process.
This fictional event is a process choice, not a claim that only purchasers or completed jobs can have a genuine experience. Choose a relevant event for your business and check the platform’s current requirements.
Give the request one owner and a verified destination.
Decide who checks the event and who sends the invitation through the approved route. Those may be the same person. If another team member receives the task, confirm they accepted it before assuming the handoff is complete.
Google supports review invitations using a Google link or QR code. Verify that yours opens the intended business destination before using it; do not submit a test review. Google explains review links and QR codes.
On a small screen, swipe or scroll sideways to read the full table.
| Keep visible | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Relevant experience | The actual event the invitation refers to. |
| Current request owner | The person responsible for checking and handling the next action. |
| Contact route and restrictions | How the business is permitted to contact this person, if at all. |
| Existing invitation status | Whether someone already asked, or whether that is still unknown. |
| Verified destination | The intended business review link and when it was checked. |
A missing status is a question to resolve, not permission to send another invitation. Keep customer details in the appropriate records rather than duplicating them in a general planning sheet.
Write an invitation the customer can freely decline.
Consider this fictional draft: “Loved the repair? Give us five stars and mention your technician.” It selects a positive experience and directs the answer. Replacing “five stars” with “a great review” would still steer the sentiment.
A neutral example is: “If you would like to share your experience with our repair service, you can leave an honest Google review here: [verified review link]. It is optional.” Replace the placeholder only after the destination has been checked. This example is wording for review, not a ready-to-send campaign.
Keep the invitation understandable without a sales pitch. Do not write the customer’s review for them or make service help depend on posting one. If they decline, record that choice where the responsible team can see it; do not pass the request to another employee to try again.
The customer may leave positive, mixed or negative feedback. A useful invitation process does not control that answer.
Check the process for pressure, not just the wording.
A neutral sentence can still sit inside a pressured process. Google’s policy also restricts requiring or pressuring on-premises reviews, requested review content, staff review quotas and requests to identify a staff member in the review. Check the current rating-manipulation rules.
For the fictional repair business, review both the message and what the team is told to do. The invitation owner checks that the approved process was followed; success is not defined as obtaining a particular rating or number of reviews from each employee.
Platform policy and law are separate. The FTC’s rule addresses incentives conditioned on a particular sentiment; its Q&A explains that other incentive arrangements raise different considerations. That does not override Google’s stricter incentive prohibition. See the FTC’s review-rule Q&A. This checklist is not legal-compliance certification.
Keep a short record and review it when the process changes.
Download the blank review-request checklist (CSV). It is a preparation aid, not a contact list or sending tool. Record the rule, owner, destination, proposed wording, unanswered questions and actual status when known.
Keep “prepared,” “sent” and “review observed” separate. Do not assume a sent invitation produced a public review or try to infer an anonymous reviewer’s identity. A duplicate request or wrong destination is an operating issue worth correcting without claiming any effect on sales or search position.
For feedback from the people operating the process, use the staff-feedback guide. If you later want to use someone’s words, name or image in marketing, treat the exact proposed use and permission as a separate review.
Official policy sources were checked on September 16, 2026. Recheck them when revising the invitation process; this worksheet does not freeze the rules in place.