Inviting only the customers you know are happy
Review gating is any way of letting only satisfied customers reach your public reviews. The most common forms:
- A survey first asks “how satisfied are you?”, and the link to Google or Skroutz appears only after 4 or 5 stars.
- Low scores are sent to a private “tell us what happened” form, and never to the public page.
- The team sends invitations only to customers it knows are happy.
It looks clever, because the rating goes up. But it is exactly what platforms and the law treat as misleading prospective customers, and the shop carries the risk.
What Google and EU law say
- Google. Its review policy prohibits discouraging negative reviews or selectively asking for positive ones. It also prohibits offering something in return for a review, such as a discount or a gift. Reviews that break the policy may be removed.
- European Union. Directive (EU) 2019/2161, known as Omnibus, added submitting fake reviews and misrepresenting consumer reviews to the list of unfair commercial practices. Anyone who displays reviews must also say whether and how they check that reviews come from real customers.
This guide explains the rules in plain words and is not legal advice. For your own case, ask your legal adviser and read each platform’s current policy.
Same message, same moment, to everyone
| Instead of | Do |
|---|---|
| A review link only after a high score | A review link for every customer, whatever their score |
| Inviting the “good” customers | Inviting every delivered order |
| “If you were happy, leave us a few words…” | “Tell us how it went” |
| A coupon for writing a review | No reward for the review |
| Three reminders | One invitation and at most one reminder |
When: a few days after delivery, once the customer has tried the product, not on the day of purchase. How: with a direct link to each platform’s review page, so they do not have to search. Where: in the post-delivery email or SMS, as a QR code on the receipt or packaging, or on the thank-you page of a survey.
An invitation text you can use
Subject: How was your order?
Hello,
your order was delivered a few days ago. It would help us a lot if you wrote a review of your experience, whatever it was, good or bad. We read it to improve, and other customers read it before they buy.
[Link to review us on Google]
[Link to review us on Skroutz]
If something went wrong, reply to this email and we will look at it right away.
Thank you,
[The shop team]
The last sentence before the signature is not gating: it offers help to anyone who needs it, without closing the way to the public review. The review link stays in the same message, for everyone.
The unhappy customer gets both the invitation and a call
If you learn the score before the review, for example from a post-delivery survey, a low score is no reason to hide the invitation. It is a reason to do something extra:
- The review invitation appears as usual, as it does for everyone.
- At the same time, someone on the team contacts the customer within one or two working days to fix the problem.
A customer whose problem was solved quickly often writes about it. And a negative review with a calm, specific reply underneath persuades more than a page full of five stars.
You measure clicks, not reviews
On your side you can measure how many people clicked the link. How many actually wrote a review only the platform knows, so compare clicks with the new reviews on your profile over the same period, without treating them as the same number.
How Sightelle does it
- The thank-you page of every survey can invite a public review, on up to three platforms. The invitation appears for every respondent, whatever their score, and there is no setting that hides it.
- The invitation text is neutral and written by us, so it cannot accidentally become “if you were happy…”.
- It counts clicks per day, and the screen calls them clicks, not reviews.
- A low score can open a recovery case with an owner and a deadline, if you turn on the rule, next to the invitation and not instead of it.
See the page for e-shops and retail, or read how to read your reviews once they start coming in.
Surveys and invitations, in the free audit
In every plan, together with the analysis of your comments.