Google reviews, the honest way.
A happy guest sometimes doesn't write a review simply because nobody asked, or because there were too many steps. The card shortens the path; the rest is a matter of asking honestly.
Google reviews sit next to your business's name on the map and in search. A guest choosing a konoba for dinner, a passenger looking for a taxi or a family choosing an apartment read what the people before them wrote. That is why reviews are worth something, and why they are easy to abuse.
How the card shortens the path.
Without a card, the path to a review goes like this: the guest opens Google, types the name of the place, finds the right result, scrolls to the reviews and looks for the button to write one. Each of those steps is a chance to give up. A review card or a table stand skips all of it.
- The guest holds the phone to the card or scans the QR code.
- Google's review window for your business opens, with the stars for a rating.
- The guest picks a rating, writes a few words if they like, and posts it.
The link in the card doesn't lead to your site or to some form of mine, but straight to Google. The guest writes the review to Google directly, under their own name, and Google publishes it under its own rules.
One thing to know: to write a review, the guest has to be signed in to a Google account. On an Android phone they usually already are; on an iPhone, Google sometimes asks them to sign in first.
A card is handed over; a stand sits on the table the whole time and waits. A card works when you hand it over with the bill or the keys. A stand works when the guest is sitting down and has time, say while waiting for a coffee or dessert.
How to ask.
The card opens the door, but you still have to ask. It works best kept simple, at the moment the impression is fresh and the phone is in hand:
- In a konoba: when you bring the bill, with the card beside it.
- In a taxi: at the end of the ride, while the passenger pays.
- In an apartment: on the day of departure, or in a thank-you message after the stay, with the link.
Thank you for coming. If you have a minute, leave us a review on Google, whatever it is. Just hold your phone here.
You can say a sentence like that, or have it printed on the stand. The most important part is “whatever it is”. It says you want a real opinion, not just praise.
Ask everyone, not only the guests who were laughing at the table. Your reviews then show what your place is really like, and future guests recognise that.
What isn't done.
Some services offer to ask the guest first whether they were happy, then send only the ones who say yes to Google and the rest to a private form. That is called review filtering, and Google's rules explicitly forbid it. Bought reviews are forbidden too, and so are reviews written in exchange for a discount or a drink on the house.
- I don't filter. The card takes every guest straight to Google.
- I don't sell reviews, and I don't recommend anyone who does.
- I don't advise a discount, a gift or a reward in exchange for a review.
- Owners, staff and family don't review their own business.
Google removes such reviews and can restrict the profile that collects them. And a guest who reads a string of identical compliments knows how they got there anyway.
A bad review isn't the end of the world.
When you ask everyone, the occasional bad rating will come. That's fine. Reply calmly, say thank you, explain what happened and what you've changed. Future guests read the replies too, and a calm answer to criticism says more about you than one more compliment.
Reply to the good reviews as well, briefly and personally, without the same sentence under every one.
Where the card goes.
A review card costs €25, and a table stand with a chip and a QR code €50. If you need something that sticks on, say on a counter or a door, there is a sticker for €10. A konoba puts the card on the table or brings it with the bill, a taxi on the back of the seat, an apartment by the door or next to the guest guide.
If you want to know whether the card is used at all, counting taps and scans helps: you can see how many times it was tapped or scanned, so you know whether it is in the right place.
I use the same route myself: I collect reviews for my own studio with the same card I make for you.
What I can make of this for you.
Order a review card on the NFC cards page and a table stand on its own page. Both lead straight to Google, with no filtering.