Review Machine use cases

How to get reviews from past customers without a spike

Most local businesses have hundreds of past customers who were never asked for a review. Asking all of them on one day creates a spike, and sudden spikes can get new reviews held back. In this video, Maya, who runs a gym (a demo account), uploads her list of past members, sees the problems before anything is saved, and invites them at 20 a day. If her listing grows faster than that pace explains, sending pauses by itself.

People and places in this video are generated by AI. Every Review Machine screen is real, on a demo account with invented customers. Watch it on YouTube
Transcript

0:00 Eight hundred members, forty reviews

Eight hundred people have trained here. We have forty reviews. Here's how to ask every one of them, at a steady pace. Emailing everyone on one day sounds efficient. But a sudden spike in reviews can get new ones held back.

0:16 Upload the list and see the problems

Maya exports her past members, most recent visits first. She uploads the file to Review Machine. Names and emails match up on their own. Before anything is saved, she sees the problems: duplicates, bad addresses, people who opted out. Nothing is sent yet. Seven hundred eighty-three members, ready.

0:40 Twenty a day, on weekdays

One click puts them all in the queue. They don't go out at once. Twenty a day, on weekdays, during business hours. At that pace, everyone hears from her in about eight weeks.

0:56 The built-in brake

And there's a built-in brake. If the listing gains more reviews than that pace explains, sending pauses by itself, then picks up again. Maya goes back to coaching.

1:09 Six weeks later

Six weeks later: fifty-one new reviews. A few more every week, and no spike. Six hundred members asked. The ones who posted wrote it in their own words. Invite everyone you served, not just the ones you expect to be happy. Run a free listing check at fractalic.studio.

What the owner does

Five steps, each shown in the video. The stills are frames from the video.

  1. The exported member list in a spreadsheet, with first name, last name, email and last visit columns and the note that name and email are enough.

    Export your client list

    Name and email are all you need. Sort by last visit, newest first, so recent customers hear from you first.

  2. The import check before saving: 783 new, 14 skipped and 3 invalid, with bad addresses and duplicates marked row by row.

    Upload and check

    Review Machine matches the columns and shows duplicates, bad addresses and people who opted out before anything is saved. Nothing is sent at this step.

  3. Import complete: 783 created, 14 skipped and 3 could not be imported, next to the button Invite all new (783).

    Queue everyone you served

    One click puts the new clients in the queue. Invitations leave only inside your sending hours and daily limit.

  4. A notice in the demo account: sending is on hold because the listing gained 10 or more reviews in one day, and invitations resume in a few days.

    Let the pace work

    Most businesses send 5 to 20 a day. If your listing gains more reviews than your daily limit explains, sending pauses and resumes on its own.

  5. Invitation activity for the last 90 days in the demo account: 600 clients invited, 284 opened their page and 98 went to the review site.

    Watch the listing

    Overview shows who was invited, who opened their page and the review count of the listing itself.

Check my Google listing →

Good questions. Clear answers.

Is it OK to ask old customers for a Google review?
Yes, as long as you ask everyone you served, not only the people you expect to be happy, and offer nothing in return. Google's rules forbid selective asking and incentives. Review Machine invites everyone on your list, gifts for reviews are off, and each customer writes and posts the review from their own Google account.
How many invitations should I send a day?
Most businesses send 5 to 20 a day. The daily limit is the only lever on the pace, and it counts every channel, including messages you send by hand. At 20 a day on weekdays, a list of 800 takes about eight weeks. A steady pace looks natural on your listing and leaves you time to read private feedback.
What happens if reviews come in faster than expected?
Sending pauses by itself. After 10 or more new reviews in one day it stops for a few days, and while the 7-day gain stays above what your daily limit explains, invitations wait. Nothing is lost: queued invitations stay in the queue and go out once the pace is back to normal.

More customer stories

Story cover with the words Asked after class. Automatically.: a phone on a wooden table showing the invitation email at 6:04. Ask for a review after the visit, without remembering to The best time to ask for a review is right after the visit. The worst person to remember is you. Watch the story (1:25) → A customer's hand holding a phone with a short review draft open for editing, in a living room in the evening. From "I'll do it later" to a posted review in a minute Most happy customers don't refuse to leave a review. They just never get to it. Watch the story (1:12) →

For your industry: Fitness studios. All use cases →

Further reading: Google's guidance on requesting honest reviews. Review Machine product page.

All customer stories on YouTube