Asking for a Google review via WhatsApp: the complete guide with scripts
You ask for a Google review over WhatsApp with a short, personal message and a direct review link, inside the conversation you already have with that customer. It works because it is not a campaign but a message from someone the customer knows. This guide covers how a message like that is built, which scripts work per trade, when to send it, how to follow up once without pushing, and which mistakes can damage your profile.
- Unzip the file into
~/.claude/skills/(or.claude/skills/in your project). - Claude will then recognise the skill automatically as soon as you have it write a review message.
- You can also call it directly, with
/whatsapp-reviewbericht-schrijver.
- Go to Customize and then Skills.
- Upload the zip there as a skill.
- Or paste the contents of SKILL.md into the project instructions of a Project.
- Open
AGENTS.mdin your repo. - Paste the contents of SKILL.md into it, or place SKILL.md alongside it as a separate file and refer to it from
AGENTS.md. - Codex reads that with every session.
Five parts, and not one sentence more
reg. W.001A good review message is almost always built the same way. Not because a template is sacred, but because every part has its own job: recognition, the reason, the question, the link and the way out. Take one away and the message gets vague, add something and it turns into marketing.
Why WhatsApp is the best channel for this one request
You have just helped a customer. The job is done, the treatment finished, the order delivered. You know it went well. And yet no review shows up, not because the customer does not want to but because they forget. That is what WhatsApp solves, and the reason is simpler than most marketing stories suggest.
It is not about a channel with a high open rate
It is about the fact that with WhatsApp, you are not starting a new conversation. The customer already has that number: they booked an appointment with it, sent a photo of the damage over it, gave the go-ahead on the quote through it. A message in that conversation is a follow-up, not an approach. An email is not that: it lands between newsletters and invoices, and that is exactly where this request disappears.
On top of that comes the practical advantage
One message has room for the direct review link, and that link puts the customer on the star screen with a single tap. No search, no detour via your website, no form. And because WhatsApp works both ways, the customer can reply immediately if anything is still wrong. That is not a side benefit but the core of it: a request that can become a conversation feels different from a request that can only be ignored.
So the channel does the job it needs to do, and the rest depends on what you put into it
If you want the whole system this message is one part of first, from the moment you ask to how you respond, read getting more Google reviews NL. If you just want to know where you stand today, the free local visibility checker NL looks at your Google Business Profile.
The review link: finding it, saving it and testing it once
Everything in this article stands or falls on one thing: the direct link. A message without a link is a request for the customer to do work themselves, and almost nobody does. A message with a link that does not work is even worse, because then you have asked the customer and got nothing back for it.
How to get it
Log in to the management of your Google Business Profile with the account linked to your business. Go to the reviews section and choose the option to ask for or share reviews. You will find a short link there that puts the visitor straight onto the ratings screen. Copy that link and keep it somewhere you always have it to hand.
Then do these three things, in this order:
Save it as a shortcut on your phone
In WhatsApp Business that can be a quick reply, so you can insert it with a couple of taps. Without a shortcut, you will look it up every single time, and by the third time you will stop sending it.Put it in the passive places too
In your email signature, in the footer of your invoices and as a QR code on a card at the counter. Those channels catch the customers who nodded yes in the moment and then forgot about it.Test it once on a phone that is not your own
A device where you are not logged in as an administrator, ideally someone else's. A link that opens the admin screen for you but shows a customer a login screen quietly costs you reviews every single week, and you will never notice.Whether the rest of your profile is in good shape is the question that comes next. Category, services, opening hours and photos determine whether your reviews even get shown to anyone at all. The full list is in optimising your Google Business Profile, and specifically for the smaller business in optimising Google Maps for small businesses.
Only send it once the customer knows
reg. W.002Most advice names a number of hours. Hours are the wrong unit here. What counts is the moment: the point at which this customer knows for sure whether it went well. That point sits in a different place for every service, and the bars below show, schematically, how far it lies from the moment the job finished. It is a way to think about it, not a measurement.
Scripts per trade, ready to use
Below are written-out messages for five common situations. All five follow the structure from FIG.01. Replace the placeholders, adjust the form of address and, above all, cut something out if you think it is too long. What you never do is reuse them word for word for everyone: one sentence that is genuinely about this customer makes the difference.
Hairdresser and salon
The relationship is familiar and the result is visible straight away. Keep it light and send it shortly after the visit, after announcing it out loud.
Tradesperson, plumber or roofer
Here the work has to prove itself first. So start with a check-in and keep the tone brief and professional.
Healthcare and treatment programmes
Here a request is more sensitive. Always ask at the end of the programme, never partway through, and put the emphasis on helping others who are looking for the same care.
Note: extra privacy boundaries apply in healthcare
Never mention medical information in your message, and never ask customers to put medical details in their review either. Ask about the experience with the practice, the practitioner and the contact, and always make it explicit that a review is voluntary.
Garage or fitting company
The result is visible, but the customer has to use it first. Send it after the first drive or the first day.
Online shop or delivery
Wait until the customer has unpacked and used the parcel. Only send this if you already had contact via WhatsApp, for example about the delivery.
You will notice every script ends the same way
On purpose. The way out at the end is the part that makes the most difference and that gets left out most often. If you want a script tailored per customer instead of these five, use the free skill at the top of this article: it writes the message plus the one-off follow-up based on your situation.
Following up: one reminder, then let it go
Not everyone replies to the first message. That is normal, and it says nothing about how happy someone is. People read the message, think they will do it later, and later never comes. One polite reminder still catches a good chunk of that group, and more than one is not needed.
The rules are short
Wait a few days, not one day. Word the reminder differently from the first message, because a copy of the same message reads like an automated sequence. Make it clear in the reminder that this is the last time you will bring it up, because that takes the pressure off, and it is also true. And then really stop.
Two messages is the ceiling, and that ceiling is firm
By a third reminder, the customer has already written you off as annoying, and in the worst case they block you or leave a lower rating out of irritation. The relationship is worth more than one review, and there is always the next customer too.
Do keep track of who you have already asked
Nothing looks as unprofessional as approaching the same customer again two weeks later as if nothing happened. In WhatsApp Business, you handle that with labels: one label for asked and one for received. Once your customer volume grows and keeping track by hand becomes a job in itself, that is the moment to look at having it sent for you, as covered further down in DOC.07.
Five mistakes that cost you dearly
reg. W.003These five come up most often, and the first two can cost you more than a missed review: they go against Google's policy and can lead to removed reviews or a warning on your profile. The other three mainly cost you the customer relationship.
Setting up WhatsApp Business for this work
You can perfectly well send review requests with an ordinary WhatsApp account. WhatsApp Business is free and just makes it a lot less cumbersome, especially if you have more than a handful of customers a week. These are the four features that matter for this purpose:
Quick replies
Save your scripts as a quick reply and insert them with a short command. That way you send the right message in a couple of taps, and that is exactly the difference between keeping this up and not.Labels
Mark conversations as review asked, review received or follow-up needed. That way you avoid duplicate requests and see at a glance who is still outstanding.Business profile in the app
Fill in your business name, address, opening hours and website. The customer sees your name next to the message, and that turns a request from an unknown number into a request from a known business.Greeting and away messages
Especially handy because a review message sometimes prompts a reply. Get a response on a Friday evening, and the customer knows you will answer on Monday, and the conversation stays open.There is one thing you should not do with the business features: use broadcast lists to send everyone the same review message at once. Technically you can, and it is exactly the mistake from FIG.03. Everything that makes WhatsApp strong for this request disappears the moment it becomes a mass message.
The chat button on your Business Profile: the other side of the same channel
Review requests are outgoing traffic over WhatsApp. There is also incoming traffic, and for many local businesses that is at least as valuable. Google offers the option to link a chat button to your Business Profile, so someone who finds you on Google or Maps can message you directly instead of calling.
For anyone who cannot pick up during the day, that is the difference between an enquiry and a missed call
You are up on a roof or under a kitchen unit, your phone buzzes and you do not hear it. By the end of the afternoon, the caller has already found someone else. A message just sits there until you have time, and the customer knows that.
Setting it up takes a few minutes: log in to your profile's management, go to your contact details, choose the option for chat or messages and link your WhatsApp number. Verify the number with the code you receive and set a welcome message with an honest response time. The full guide, including the five mistakes made most often with this and how privacy works, is in WhatsApp on your Google Business Profile NL.
The two sides reinforce each other
Someone who comes in via the chat button is already in your WhatsApp by the time the job is finished, and that is exactly the customer you will later find it easiest to send a review request to. The fact that your profile is also increasingly the first impression, including for AI systems, is covered in your Business Profile as an AI business card.
Ten minutes on Wednesday, every week
reg. W.004Sending it costs almost nothing in itself. What makes people drop it is that it has no fixed slot and so always loses out to something more urgent. Hence this rhythm: small, with fixed spots in the week. The blocks describe your work, not what Google does with it or when.
a week in the threadthe day sits next to the message
Four blocks on four moments in the week. Pick a block to read what you do then.
Send it yourself, or have it sent for you
Typing a message yourself is always stronger in substance. You know the customer, you know what was going on, and you can let that show in one sentence. A system cannot do that, and you can feel that difference in the message. But there is a catch: sending it yourself only works as long as you remember to, and in a busy week that is exactly what gives first.
In practice, forgetting is the biggest cause of too few reviews, bigger than the quality of the message
A slightly less personal message that always goes out therefore usually delivers more than a perfect message that does not get sent half the time. So the trade-off is not which version sounds better, but which version you actually keep up.
The line sits at how many customer contacts you have per week
If you have a handful, you can perfectly well keep doing this yourself with a quick reply and a fixed block in your week. If the number climbs, you share customer contact with colleagues, or you notice you regularly skip a week, it is time to hand off the sending. That is what the WhatsApp review tool NL was built for: it automatically sends a personal message with your review link after a finished appointment, through your own WhatsApp Business number.
If you automate, hold on to three things
First: keep the message personal, with at least the name and the service in it. Second: send it to everyone, not a selection, because otherwise you build selective asking into your process, and that is not allowed. And third: keep sending your special customers a message yourself. In practice, the combination of a reliable base and a hand-written message where it counts is the strongest setup.
Privacy and the rules: where the lines are
Two sets of rules touch this topic everywhere, and in the UK a third one joins them: Google's own rules on reviews, the ordinary rules around personal data and business messages, and UK consumer law on fake and misleading reviews. None of them get in each other's way, but it helps to know where the lines run.
Google's rules.
Asking is fine. Paying or rewarding someone for a review is not, not even in the form of a discount, loyalty points or a prize draw. Asking selectively is not allowed either: approaching happy customers only and skipping unhappy ones is banned, including the version where you ask for a score first and only pass on the high ones. You are also not allowed to tell customers what to write. What you may do is ask whether someone is willing to say which service they used: the words stay the customer's own. This is stated as such in Google's policy for user-generated content, checked on 24 August 2026. The full breakdown of those limits is in getting more Google reviews NL. In the UK, this overlaps with the law too: since 6 April 2025, fake and misleading reviews have been a banned practice under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority, with fines of up to ten per cent of worldwide turnover. Everything this section describes, asking honestly and treating every customer the same, sits on the right side of that line.
The channel itself.
A review message belongs inside a conversation that already exists: someone who gave you their number to book an appointment or sort out the job. That is ordinary business communication, just like calling back or sending an email. What you do not do is use numbers from a list, a system or the internet to approach people who never sought contact with you.
A few more practical things
Secure the phone that holds the business number with a passcode. Actually delete a conversation if someone asks you to. Make internal agreements if several people have access to the business number. And never put information in your message that the customer would rather not have on their screen if someone glances over, which counts extra heavily in healthcare.
Finally, a simple test for everything that is not spelled out in so many words
Would this customer write the same thing if I had given them nothing? And would I do it the same way with a customer who is unhappy? If either answer is no, you are on the wrong side of the line, however innocent it feels.
Frequently asked questions about asking for reviews via WhatsApp
Can I ask customers for a Google review via WhatsApp?
Yes, as long as you ask everyone and nothing is offered in return. Google's policy bans paid or rewarded reviews and bans asking selectively, so approaching only your happy customers is not allowed. For the channel itself, your message needs to belong in a conversation that already exists: someone who gave you their number for the appointment or the job. Never send a request to a number you pulled from a list or the internet.
When is the best time to send the message?
At the moment the customer knows for sure whether it went well, and that differs by service. For a haircut or a visit to the shop, that is almost immediately. For something the customer has to use first, it comes after first use. For work that has to prove itself, such as roofing or pipework, you wait until it is clear it holds up. And for a treatment programme, you ask at the close, never halfway through.
How many messages can I send if someone does not reply?
Two. The request itself, and then a friendly reminder once, in different words from the first time. If someone still does not reply after that, they do not want to write a review right now, and you let it go. A third message reads as spam and costs you more than the review would have been worth, because the customer relationship is worth more than a single rating.
Can I send a group message to all my customers?
Do not do that. A group chat or a broadcast where everyone gets the same text with no name misses exactly what makes WhatsApp strong: it feels personal. Customers see instantly that it is a mass message, and in a group they also see each other's numbers. Always send a separate message per customer, with their name and the specific service in it.
Does an automated message work as well as a personal message?
A personal message is stronger in substance because you can name the customer, the job and the context. The big advantage of automation is that you never forget, and in practice, forgetting is the biggest cause of too few reviews. If you choose automation, make the message as personal as possible with the name and the service, and keep sending your most special customers a message yourself on top of that.
Do I need WhatsApp Business?
It is not required, but it is handy. WhatsApp Business is free, shows your business name to the customer and gives you quick replies, labels and opening hours. With quick replies you have your review text ready in two taps, and with labels you track who you have already asked, so you never approach anyone twice.
What do I do if someone leaves a negative review after my request?
Reply publicly, briefly and calmly: thank them for the feedback, acknowledge the point if it is fair, and offer to sort it out further. Then continue the conversation on WhatsApp, away from the public profile. Never ask for the review to be removed and never argue publicly. A well-handled complaint often convinces onlookers more strongly than a row of five-star reviews without a single critical note.
Can I give a discount if someone leaves a review?
No. Offering something in exchange for a review counts as a rewarded review under Google's policy, and that is banned, even if you are not asking for a positive rating. A discount, loyalty points, a free service or a chance to win a prize all fall under that. The reviews can be removed, and your profile can get a warning that every visitor sees.
Send three today, and put Wednesday in your diary
You do not need a system to start, just your review link and the customers you have already helped this week. Look up the link in your Business Profile management, save it as a quick reply, and send three messages today following the structure from FIG.01: name, the reason, the question, the link and the way out. Then put a recurring ten-minute block on Wednesday in your diary and keep it up for a few months.
Stay within the two boundaries that really matter: offer nothing in exchange for a review, and skip nobody. If you want to keep building your local visibility after that, start with the free local visibility check NL on your profile and the free SEO scan on your website.
The broader review system is covered in getting more Google reviews NL, getting more customers from your area in more customers for your local business NL, and ranking higher in the map pack in ranking higher in Google Maps. Should we take it on for you? Improving your SEO covers how that works and pricing NL covers what it costs; you can always book a call through the contact page. Would rather keep reading yourself first? The rest is in the knowledge base, and you will find every free download under skills NL.