Ask satisfied customers for reviews

When to use

A job, project or delivery for a customer has just been completed and closed. Not for a customer with an open complaint or unpaid invoice — resolve that first via ops.customer-complaint or money.chase-overdue-invoice. Not for setting up the place reviews land — that is growth.google-business-profile. Not for responding to a single review as a standalone task — that happens here in S7, or via ops.customer-complaint if it is a serious complaint in review form.

Before you start

• The review destination exists and the direct link works (open it once before any ask).
• The invoice for the job is paid, or the engagement closed cleanly.
• The owner has approved the standing wording at least once; per-run approval is still required in S3.

What a run requires3

The trail9 steps

1. S1

   Pick the candidatesagent

   From completed jobs in the last 7 days, list customers whose invoice is paid and who have no open complaint or refund in progress.

   Done when a candidate list exists with payment status and a yes/no on each.

2. S2

   Draft the askagent

   One short message: thank them, one sentence on what was delivered, the direct link, one line that a review helps a small company. Personal, from a person's name, not "the team".

   Done when a draft exists per candidate, each with the correct link.

   ⛔ No incentives ("leave a review, get 10% off") and no gating (only asking customers you pre-screened as happy) — both breach Google's review policies and can mislead under EU consumer rules.

3. S3

   Approve wording and recipientsownerneeds approval · owner

   Approval · S3 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision

   Show the drafts and the candidate list.

   Done when the owner has approved or corrected the wording and named the recipients to send to.

4. S4

   Sendagentneeds approval · owner

   Approval · S4 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision

   Send via the mail module from the agreed sender, one message per customer.

   Done when each message shows as sent in the mail module, logged against the customer record.

5. S5

   Wait, then remind onceagent

   After 7 days, check which reviews have appeared. Send at most one short reminder to those who have not reviewed.

   Done when every candidate is marked: reviewed · reminded · left alone.

6. S6

   Log new reviewsagent

   Check the review destination (and any other platform the company uses). For each new review, record in the growth module: rating, text, reviewer name, link, date.

   Done when every new review has a row with a working link.

   ⛔ Google sometimes withholds new reviews for days — a missing review is not a refusal; do not re-ask.

7. S7

   Approve public responsesownerneeds approval · owner

   Approval · S7 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision

   Draft a response per new review: thank a positive one by naming the job; for 1–2 stars, acknowledge, offer to fix, and route the substance to ops.customer-complaint.

   Done when the owner has approved each reply.

   ⛔ Never argue in a public reply or mention contract details — the reply is public and permanent.

8. S8

   Post responses and recordagent

   Post the approved replies on the platform; record response date and link.

   Done when every new review shows a company response on the platform.

9. S9

   Feed the numbers forwardagent

   Update ask count, review count, response rate and average rating; link the run to growth.monthly-growth-review so the next monthly review sees it.

   Done when the month's numbers are current in the growth module.

Checks — how we know it worked

• Every ask in S4 was sent only to a customer with a paid invoice and no open complaint (read back the S1 list).
• Every sent ask contains the correct direct link — open it from the sent message, not from the draft.
• Every review found in S6 has a logged row and a posted response.
• No ask message contains an incentive, discount or conditional offer (search the sent text for "discount",

If it goes wrong

What each step leaves behind

1. S1a candidate list exists with payment status and a yes/no on each.
2. S2a draft exists per candidate, each with the correct link.
3. S3the owner has approved or corrected the wording and named the recipients to send to.
4. S4each message shows as sent in the mail module, logged against the customer record.
5. S5every candidate is marked: reviewed · reminded · left alone.
6. S6every new review has a row with a working link.
7. S7the owner has approved each reply.
8. S8every new review shows a company response on the platform.
9. S9the month's numbers are current in the growth module.

Evidence to keep

Candidate list from S1 · the owner's approval in S3 (who, when) · sent message ids from the mail module · each review's link, rating and date · posted response links · the month's counts in the growth module.

How this playbook improves

After every 20 asks ask: what share produced a review, and how many days did it take? Did any ask go to a customer with an open complaint or unpaid invoice? Did any response need rewording after posting? A new version changes the step that caused the miss, and says so in its change note.