Best Time to Ask for a Customer Review, by Channel

The same review request can be ignored or acted on depending on when it arrives. Too early, the customer hasn't finished their experience. Too late, they no longer remember it well enough to write. The right moment depends on the channel, the trade and the hour, but it follows one simple rule.

The short answer. The best time to ask a customer for a review is right after the experience ends, when they know the result and still remember it precisely: at payment or handover on site, the same day by text, within 48 hours by email. For a repair or treatment whose result shows later, wait a few days. And ask every customer at the same point.

The Core Rule: Experience Complete, Memory Still Sharp

A customer can write a useful review as soon as they've been through the whole service and know the result, and for as long as they remember the details. Those two conditions define a window that varies a lot from one trade to another.

• Immediate result (a meal, a haircut, a shop purchase): the window opens when the visit ends and closes within a day or two.
• Delayed result (car repair, building work, dental care, delivery): the window opens once the customer has seen the result, sometimes several days later.
• Stay (hotel, holiday rental, B&B): the window opens at departure, not during the stay.

Asking before the window opens produces vague reviews or none at all. Asking after it closes mostly produces silence.

The Right Moment for Each Channel

Each channel has its moment: the QR code and the spoken request work on site, while texts and emails catch customers after they leave. Combining them means you don't miss those who didn't scan.

For exact code placements, see our Google review QR code guide. Message templates are in our guides on review requests by text and review requests by email.

The Best Moment for Your Trade

The ideal moment follows the customer's real journey: spot the instant they're done and able to judge, then place the request right after. The table below gives a starting point per sector.

These slots aren't fixed rules: test two options for a month and keep the one that brings in the most reviews.

Time of Day and Day of the Week

For remote requests, send during the day, when customers check their phone without being tied up: late morning, lunch break, early evening. Avoid your own rush hours, because a customer who replies to your message should be able to get an answer.

For texts in France there is a framework: the af2m Business Messaging charter, applied by operators since 1 March 2026, allows promotional texts between 8 am and 9:30 pm, recommended Monday to Saturday, tolerated but discouraged on Sundays and public holidays (af2m's presentation of the charter).

For email, no magic day applies to every business. Schedule the send relative to the visit (the next day, during daytime) rather than batching all requests on a single weekday. Batching creates two problems: customers who came early in the week receive the request several days late, and a burst of reviews on the same day tells future readers little about your everyday service. A steady trickle, one request per visit at a consistent delay, is easier to run and easier to measure.

Special Cases

Some journeys don't fit the table: regulars, groups, remote orders or seasonal businesses. The core rule still applies to each, but the concrete moment shifts.

• Regular customers. No need to ask at every visit: one request is enough, ideally at a memorable visit (new menu, new treatment, end of a package). A regular asked every week ends up ignoring the QR code altogether.
• Groups and events. For a company dinner, a wedding or a seminar, send the request to the organiser the day after the event, once they've heard back from their guests.
• Takeaway and delivery. Customers judge at home: a card in the bag or a code on the packaging arrives at exactly the right moment, with nothing to schedule.
• Seasonal businesses. Keep the same request pace throughout the season rather than speeding up at the end, and maintain a minimum flow off-season if you stay open, so your recent reviews don't all date from the same month.

The Same Moment for Every Customer

Timing must never be used to filter customers. Delaying or skipping the request for those who had an issue amounts to selectively soliciting positive reviews, which Google's fake engagement policy prohibits.

In practice:

• Fix problems on the spot. A dish remade, a goodwill gesture, an explanation: that's your best response, regardless of any review.
• Let the request go out as usual. Same moment, same message, for everyone.
• Reply to the review if it comes. A calm, specific reply shows future customers how you handle an incident.

Our Google review response templates cover negative reviews too.

The Most Common Timing Mistakes

Timing mistakes are rarely about a few hours either way: they come from a request placed at the wrong point in the journey or repeated too often.

• Asking at arrival or during the service: the customer has nothing to tell yet.
• Showing the QR code only at the entrance: it's seen before the experience and forgotten after.
• Sending the email a week later: the memory has faded and the request looks like a campaign.
• Asking too early for a delayed result: a garage customer who hasn't driven yet can't judge the repair.
• Sending several reminders: one reminder at most, by email only.
• Sending at night or during your busy service: the message is ignored, or you can't reply.

Measure the Effect of a Timing Change

To know whether a new slot works, compare the number of new reviews over 4 weeks before and after the change, without changing anything else at the same time. Google says it can take up to 2 weeks for a new review to update the displayed score (Google help on review scores).

Timing is only one lever: the full setup, from the official link to a 30-day action plan, is covered in how to get more Google reviews. To place QR codes in the right spots and text opted-in customers from a single tool, discover Ma Belle Note review collection and try it with the free 7-day trial.