With review requests and return-visit reminders, timing is everything. Here is how to run campaigns that reach out at the right moment per customer group while a person still holds the send.
3 min read ·
Before asking for a good review, look at whether the service earned one. If the reply was late and the promised date slipped, asking makes it worse. Choosing who to ask comes before writing what to ask.
Michael Luca at Harvard Business School found that a one-star increase on Yelp raised revenue at independent restaurants by roughly 5 to 9 percent, and that the same effect barely appeared at chains. The sample is American, so the figure does not transfer. The direction does: the less known the business, the more its reputation moves its revenue.
Michael Luca, Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com, Harvard Business School, 2011 (US independent restaurants)
The FTC's Endorsement Guides require an endorser to disclose a material connection to the advertiser. Since 21 October 2024 a separate rule has banned fake and AI-generated reviews, undisclosed insider reviews, buying positive or negative reviews, and suppressing negative ones, with civil penalties of up to $51,744 per violation. In the EU, traders showing consumer reviews must state whether and how they verify that the reviews come from actual purchasers.
FTC, 16 CFR Part 255 (2023) and 16 CFR Part 465, in force 21 October 2024; UCPD as amended by Directive (EU) 2019/2161
Just after the problem was solved, just after the second visit, just after the delivery landed safely. That is where the request is welcome. You only catch the moment if what finished, and when, is written down.
Asking for a takedown usually earns it a larger audience. A short reply saying what went wrong and what changed is written for the next person who reads it. A complaint that recurs becomes next week's operating standard.
Sending a coupon to everyone who bought last month is not a campaign, it is a send. What they bought, and when they will need it again, is what divides the list. Bulk sends and discounts go out after a person has looked.
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Working from the channels and files you use today, we settle which work should be handled first, where a person has to approve, and which metric will show whether it worked.
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