Ten Minute Agents

How to ask every customer for a Google review in GoHighLevel (without review gating)

By The Ten Minute Agents Team · 21 October 2026

Short answer: after the job, text every customer the same Google review link. In GoHighLevel, start a workflow when an appointment is marked Showed, or when an opportunity moves to Won. Wait a short time, then send the link by SMS (and email if you want it). One polite reminder goes out later only if they have not clicked. If someone replies unhappy, you get an alert so you can help. That reply does not decide who is asked.

Ask everyone

Review gating means asking only the customers you expect to be positive, or sending a private score question first and sharing the public link only with the high scores. Do not build that.

Google's content policy says merchants must not discourage negative reviews, or selectively ask for positive ones. You may ask a customer to review a genuine visit, without a reward, and without telling them what to write or what score to give.

In the UK, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans publishing consumer reviews in a misleading way. The Competition and Markets Authority's fake reviews guidance says a business may infringe that rule by selectively promoting positive reviews, including by encouraging only satisfied customers to leave one. Asking every customer, with the same message, after the job, avoids that pattern. This page is a practical setup guide, not legal advice for your business.

Why the wait comes first

Google's policy also says you should not pressure someone to leave a rating while they are still on the premises. A short wait after the job, a couple of hours, means the text arrives once they have left.

Before you start

  1. A GoHighLevel account. Try GoHighLevel (affiliate link)
  2. A phone number on the account that can send SMS, if the request is a text. UK numbers may need a registration or compliance step before texts go out. Follow the prompts in your phone settings.
  3. A Google review link, saved where HighLevel can insert it. See the next section.
  4. One way you already mark a job as done: the appointment status Showed, or the opportunity status Won. Use the one you actually click. If one job sets both, pick one trigger so the customer is not asked twice.

Where the Google review link lives

  1. Open Reputation, then Settings, then Review Link.
  2. To send this message to Google, either choose Custom Link and paste your Google review URL into Setup your custom link, or under Get Reviews on Google choose the connected Google Business Profile page.
  3. Review Balancing spreads requests across the review sites you have connected. Use the custom link if every request should open Google.

If Google is not connected yet, HighLevel's help says to open Settings → Integrations, find Google Business Profile, click Connect, and choose the location. Other review sites are connected under Reputation → Settings → Integrations.

In an SMS template, the review URL is the merge field {{reputation.review_link}}. It uses whatever you saved under Review Link.

Build the review request

The send step is Send Review Request, not a plain Send SMS. HighLevel stops that channel's repeats once the review link is clicked. A plain text with the raw link does not record the click, so the reminder would still go out.

The message

  1. Open Reputation → Settings → SMS Requests and turn on Enable SMS Review Requests.

  2. Set When to send SMS after check-in to Immediately. The workflow below already waits. HighLevel counts this timing from the moment Send Review Request runs, so a delay here as well makes the text wait twice.

  3. Set Until clicked, repeat this every to a few days, and Maximum retries to 1. That is the one reminder.

  4. Create the first text. Insert {{reputation.review_link}}. For example:

    Hi {{contact.first_name}}, it's {{custom_values.business_name}}. Thanks for having us. If you have a minute, an honest Google review helps other people choose: {{reputation.review_link}}

  5. Create a shorter nudge for the retry. Same link, no new offer. For example:

    A quick nudge, in case the last message got buried. Here is the Google review link again if you would like to leave one: {{reputation.review_link}}

  6. Click Set SMS Templates. Set the thank-you as the live template and the nudge as the single retry. Save.

Optional email: open Reputation → Settings → Email Requests, turn it on, use the same timing and a maximum of one retry, and add the Review Link element in the email builder. Skip this if SMS is enough.

The workflow

  1. Go to Automation → Workflows → Create Workflow → Start from Scratch. Name it 'Google review request'.
  2. Click Add New Trigger and choose Appointment Status. Filter Appointment Status = Showed.
  3. If you mark work as won in a pipeline instead, use Opportunity Status Changed and filter Moved To Status = Won. Add the second trigger only when a job cannot fire both.
  4. Add a Wait. Choose A set period of time, about two hours.
  5. Add Send Review Request and choose SMS.
  6. If you turned on email requests, add another Send Review Request and choose E-mail.
  7. Open the workflow Settings and check Allow re-entry, so the next job asks again. Someone still waiting on the first reminder is not enrolled a second time until that run finishes.
  8. Publish. Draft workflows do not send.

Do not add a score, a tag, or an if/else that skips the send for unhappy customers. The link goes to everyone who had the job.

If they reply unhappy

A second, small workflow tells you. It does not stop the review request.

  1. New workflow. Name it 'Unhappy review reply'.
  2. Add New Trigger → Customer Replied.
  3. Add filters:
    • Replied to Workflow = Google review request, so this only runs for a reply to that message
    • Intent Type = the complaint intent. HighLevel's help lists complaint as one of the examples. If you do not see intent, use Contains Phrase for words such as "unhappy", "problem" or "disappointed"
  4. Add Send Internal Notification, type SMS, to yourself. The inbound-message help shows the reply as {{message.body}}. For example: "Unhappy reply from {{contact.first_name}}: {{message.body}}"
  5. Do not add Remove from Workflow, and do not point this at the review workflow to cancel it. You still send the link. You just know to get in touch and put the job right.
  6. In Settings, allow re-entry so a second reply alerts you again.
  7. Publish.

Message tips

  • One message for every customer. Do not keep a "happy" version and a "quiet" version.
  • Do not ask for five stars, and do not tell them what to write.
  • Do not offer a discount, freebie or prize for the review. Google does not allow incentives for reviews. A reward that the reader cannot see is also a problem under the UK fake-review rules.
  • Name the business, and keep it to two or three short sentences.
  • Use the same link in the reminder. Do not add a private feedback form that replaces Google for some people.

Test it

Use your own contact. Mark a test appointment as Showed, or move a test opportunity to Won. After the wait, the text should arrive and the link should open your Google review form.

Click the link from that test, and check the reminder does not follow. On a second test, do not click. Reply that something went wrong. You should get the internal text. In the review workflow's Enrollment History, that contact should still be enrolled. The unhappy-reply workflow only notifies you.

If it isn't working

  • Is the workflow published, and is Send Review Request actually on, with a live SMS template chosen under Set SMS Templates?
  • Open Enrollment History and Execution Logs. If the contact never enrolled, the status filter did not match. Showed and Won are the filters in this guide. A stage name such as "Job done" will not fire Moved To Status = Won unless that is the status you set.
  • If it enrolled and the SMS failed, check the sending number and its registration.
  • If the link opens your listing but not the review form, replace the custom link with the review URL from your Google Business Profile.
  • If people who clicked still get the nudge, check Maximum retries and that the repeat is "until clicked", and that you are not also sending a separate Send SMS with the same link.

Want it ready-made?

The Missed-Call Text-Back and Reviews agent from Ten Minute Agents includes this review request:

  • after the appointment, customers are asked how it went
  • everyone gets your Google review link
  • a low score alerts you as well

The review link still goes to everyone. It also texts missed callers and can book them in. It comes with a plain-English guide designed to take about ten minutes. You can buy it on its own for £29, or get it with all five agents in the Small Business Agent Pack.

Not sure it's the right one to start with? Take the 2-minute quiz.

FAQ

Is a private "how did we do?" question allowed first? Only if the Google link still goes to everyone afterwards. If a low score stops the public link, that is review gating.

Will the reminder send after they click? Not from this setup. HighLevel's help says the repeat for that channel stops once the click is recorded. An SMS click stops the SMS retries. Keep the maximum at one.

What if they had a bad visit? You get the alert and you can sort it out. The review request still goes. Stopping it because of the reply is the selective asking this guide is avoiding.

Do I need Google connected? You need a Google review URL. Paste it as the custom link, or connect Google Business Profile and choose the page under Get Reviews on Google.

Sources

Links marked (affiliate link) may earn Click Flow Grow a commission at no extra cost to you. Ten Minute Agents isn't affiliated with or endorsed by HighLevel.

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