SMS
Useful when the customer has consented to appropriate messaging and a short, direct request fits the relationship. Timing and frequency should respect applicable messaging rules and customer expectations.
Our Approach
Review Generation Built Around Honest, Policy-Conscious Customer Feedback
A strong reputation workflow makes it easy for eligible customers to share genuine feedback, gives the business a clear response process, and avoids review gating, invented testimonials, or artificial rating targets.
Workflow
A Neutral Review Request Process
The customer should have the same opportunity to leave honest public feedback regardless of whether the business expects the review to be positive or negative.
01
Choose a legitimate trigger
Use a consistent business event such as completed service, fulfilled order, closed appointment, or another appropriate point in the customer journey.
02
Request honest feedback neutrally
Invite eligible customers to share an honest review without conditioning the request on a positive satisfaction score or predicting what rating they will leave.
03
Make the review path simple
Provide a direct link to the chosen review platform and clearly identify where the customer is being sent. Do not pre-fill sentiment or pressure a particular rating.
04
Keep support available separately
Customers should always have a private way to contact the business with questions or concerns, but that support path should not be used to suppress negative public reviews.
05
Respond consistently
Use thoughtful, privacy-aware responses to both positive and negative reviews. Escalate sensitive customer-service issues internally when needed.
06
Measure the workflow
Track request delivery, review volume, review recency, response completion, and operational issues without setting an artificial target rating or guaranteed review count.
Request Channels
Choose the Channel That Fits the Customer Relationship
Channel selection should be based on consent, customer expectations, operational fit, and the business's existing communication workflow—not an unsupported universal open-rate benchmark.
Useful when the business already communicates by email and wants room for context, support information, or follow-up instructions. Avoid unsupported open-rate assumptions.
CRM or Customer Portal
Can work when the customer already uses a portal or post-service workflow. The request should still be neutral and should not selectively exclude dissatisfied customers.
Review Response Principles
Thank reviewers for taking the time to share feedback
Avoid exposing private, medical, legal, financial, or account-specific information
Address factual misunderstandings carefully without arguing publicly
Move detailed service recovery conversations to a private channel when appropriate
Use a human-reviewed response instead of posting repetitive generic templates at scale
Do not offer compensation in exchange for changing or removing an honest review unless a platform explicitly permits the practice and all applicable rules are followed
Republishing Genuine Feedback
Confirm permission and platform terms before republishing a customer's words or likeness
Do not edit a quote in a way that changes its meaning
Do not invent names, ratings, testimonials, or customer outcomes
Label paid endorsements, incentives, or material connections when required
Preserve context when using review excerpts in ads, landing pages, proposals, or social content
Review Generation FAQs
What is review gating?
Review gating generally means filtering customers by satisfaction and only directing happy customers to a public review platform while diverting unhappy customers elsewhere. That practice can violate platform policies. Black Tie's recommended workflow asks eligible customers neutrally and keeps customer-support channels available separately.
Should we only ask satisfied customers for Google reviews?
No. A review request process should not be conditioned on a customer first giving a favorable satisfaction score. Use a consistent eligibility rule based on the customer interaction, and invite honest feedback without telling the customer what rating to leave.
How often should we send review reminders?
There is no universal cadence. Frequency should reflect the customer relationship, communication consent, platform rules, and the risk of creating annoyance or pressure. A limited, clearly documented reminder workflow is usually easier to govern than repeated automated requests.
Can we reuse Google reviews on our website or ads?
Potentially, but the business should consider the platform's current terms, customer permission, advertising rules, privacy requirements, and whether the excerpt preserves the original meaning. Do not treat a public review as automatic permission for every commercial use.
What should we measure?
Useful measures can include request delivery, review volume, review recency, response completion, recurring service issues, and review-source consistency. Average rating can be monitored as an operational signal, but it should not be manufactured through selective requests or promised as an outcome.
Get Started
Build a Review Workflow That Earns Trust
Make honest feedback easy, keep support accessible, and measure the process without filtering customers by expected sentiment.
No long-term contracts requiredResponse within 24 hoursTransparent reporting