Where a customer goes after rating

Every customer rates the visit first: by replying to the review text with a number from 1 to 5 (or words the AI reads as a clear rating), or with one tap on five stars on the page an email links to. Where they go next depends on one thing: their rating against your store's Send to Google from setting.

The rule

• At or above the setting: the page offers Leave a Google review, and the other platforms you ticked as small links, with "Or tell us privately instead" underneath. A customer who rated by text is texted "Would you share that on Google?" with a link straight to your Google review box.
• Below the setting: the private form, and nothing else. The customer is not shown the Google link or any other platform. A customer who rated by text is texted "Sorry to hear that. Tell us what happened so we can make it right:" with a link to the private form. The Google link behind the button refuses a request rated below the setting, so typing it does not help either.

Send to Google from is chosen on Review Management Settings, from 2 to 5 stars. A store that has never chosen uses 4 stars. See Change which ratings go to Google.

The destination is decided when the rating is recorded and kept with it. Changing the setting moves customers who rate from then on, not those who already rated. The one reminder text goes before any rating, so it names no destination.

What does not change where a customer goes

• Sentiment - positive, negative or mixed, recorded on every private review. Reviews does not show it; it decides whether a 4-star review opens a follow-up, and it is in the Internal Review Submitted email. It is worked out by rule, not by AI. At the rating: 5 stars positive, 1 or 2 stars negative, 3 or 4 mixed. When the private form is sent it is read again: items ticked under "What could be better" count as negative, and the comment is checked for plain words such as "great", "friendly", "disappointed" or "poor"; 5 stars stays positive and 1 or 2 stay negative. Feedback from before late September 2026 also counted items ticked under "What did you like?" as positive.
• Compliance flags - raised on the comment of the private form, for you to read. See Compliance flags.

Repeat customers

With Prevent duplicate external review prompts on (the default), a customer at or above the setting who has ever completed a public review, or who clicked a platform link within the Time Window (Days) (default 90), is thanked instead of being asked again. With Track per platform on, they are only kept from the platforms they have completed. This only ever holds a customer back; it never shows the Google link to a rating below the setting.

Follow-ups

A follow-up opens on the private review when the rating is 1-3, when the customer ticked "A manager may contact me about this", or when a 4-star review reads negative: the review goes under Needs reply on Reviews, assigned to the default owner when one is set on Review Management Settings. The check runs when a rating below Send to Google from is recorded, so such a 1-3 opens its follow-up even if the customer writes nothing, and again whenever the private form is sent. A rating that goes to Google without the private form opens none, even a 2 or 3 at a store that sends those to Google. A review never gets a second follow-up, and nothing is sent to the customer.

Where you see this

• The review panel - the private comment, its flags and the follow-up in the thread.
• Review Management Settings - the Review Routing and External Review Prompts cards.
• What the customer sees