How to ask customers for Google reviews without breaking the rules

The safe way to ask customers for Google reviews is also the simplest: ask everyone, the same way, at a moment that makes sense, with a direct link to your review form, and give nothing back for it. Almost every rule a small business can break comes from trying to be cleverer than that.

What follows is what Google allows, what gets reviews removed, what the law in the US and UK now says, and some wording you can use at the counter tomorrow.

What Google lets you do

Google’s help for Business Profile owners says it plainly: to collect reviews, ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code. Your Business Profile has an option for asking for reviews that gives you that link, and the link opens the review form straight away, so the customer doesn’t have to search for you first.

You can share the link wherever it’s natural: on a card by the till, on your receipts, in the signature of your emails, or on a loyalty card. Google also encourages replying to reviews, good and bad, because it shows other customers that someone is listening.

What gets reviews removed

Google’s policy for contributed content lists the things businesses must not do. Four of them catch small businesses most often.

Giving something in return

Google forbids offering incentives, “such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services”, in exchange for posting a review, or for changing or removing a negative one. That covers the obvious bribes and the friendly ones alike: a stamp for showing a posted review, ten percent off the next visit, or entry into a monthly draw. Google’s Business Profile help calls this “fake & misleading content”, and it can take the reviews down.

Asking only the happy ones

The same policy bans businesses from discouraging negative reviews or selectively asking for positive ones. A common version of this is a little survey that asks “How was your visit?” and then sends the five-star answers to Google and everyone else to a private feedback form. It looks harmless and it is exactly what the rule forbids. Even wording like “if you loved it, leave us a review” leans the same way, so ask without conditions.

Targets for your team

Google specifically lists asking staff to collect a certain number of reviews, or reviews that mention particular content, such as a staff member’s name. Your team can mention reviews to customers. A leaderboard of whose name appears in the most reviews is where it goes wrong.

Writing or pressuring

It goes without saying that reviews written by you, your family, your staff or someone you paid are fake. Pressuring a customer to take down a negative review is no better: the US rule below names threats and intimidation used to remove reviews.

What the law says

In the United States

The Federal Trade Commission’s rule on consumer reviews and testimonials took effect on 21 October 2024. Among other things, it bans fake reviews and bans offering compensation or other incentives conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment, positive or negative. It also bars using groundless legal threats, physical threats or intimidation to prevent or remove a negative review.

In the United Kingdom

New rules banning fake reviews came into force in April 2025, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The Competition and Markets Authority published guidance for businesses on 4 April 2025 explaining what counts as a fake review, how incentivised reviews must be handled, and what businesses that collect or publish reviews are expected to do.

In the European Union

The EU’s update to its consumer protection rules, Directive (EU) 2019/2161, has applied since 28 May 2022 and includes rules on consumer reviews. If you trade in an EU country, your national consumer authority is the place to check how they apply to you.

When to ask

Ask when the customer has just had a good reason to think about you, and ask everybody at that point, not only the people who seem cheerful. Natural moments for a café or a salon:

1. As you hand over a reward from their loyalty card.
2. Right after a stamp, in the same way for every customer.
3. Once, by email, a day after an appointment, if they agreed to hear from you.

Ask once and let it go. A customer who said “not now” last week doesn’t need asking again tomorrow, and nobody wants to be asked at the till while the queue is building behind them.

What to say

Short and honest works best. A few lines you can borrow:

• “If you’ve got a minute, a Google review really helps a small place like ours. The link is on this card.”
• “We’re trying to get better at what we do. Would you tell people what you think on Google?”
• On a sign by the till: “Tell others what you think: scan to review us on Google.”

Notice what none of them say. None offers anything, none suggests what to write, and none asks only people who loved it.

How NextStamp handles reviews

NextStamp is ours, so here is how we built this part, against the rules above. Each outlet links its Google review form, and its Tripadvisor listing if it has one. Customers then see a “Leave a review” button on their loyalty card, and the scan screen may ask them right after the till approves a stamp or a reward. That ask follows the same rules for everyone: never in the first 12 hours after someone joins, and not again for 60 days after they tap a review button or choose not now.

Nothing on the card is ever tied to a review: no stamp, no reward and no campaign. If you type something like “review us for a free coffee” into a card or a campaign, the editor warns you before you publish. Insights counts taps on the review buttons, not reviews, because nobody can see whether a customer finished writing one. The help article on reviews shows how to set it up.

Questions owners ask

Can I run a prize draw for people who leave reviews?

No. An entry into a draw is an incentive, and Google’s policy forbids incentives for posting reviews of any kind. Tripadvisor’s guidance for businesses forbids rewarding reviews too.

Can I put a QR code for reviews on my tables?

Yes. Google suggests a link or a QR code, and a code on the table asks every customer the same way. Keep the words beside it neutral.

Can I reply to a bad review?

You can, and you should. A calm reply that thanks the customer, owns any real problem and says what you’ve changed often reads better to the next customer than the review itself. Keep private details out of it and don’t argue.