How to ask for a review without breaking the rules
23 ready to send review requests for every channel you actually use, in English and German, plus 8 replies for the reviews you get back. Written against what Google, Trustpilot and the regulators actually say, quoted so you can check it.
- Templates
- 31
- Languages
- English and German
- Formats
- PDF and plain text
- Cost
- Free
What is inside
Written to be worked through, not skimmed. Print it and tick as you go.
- Four rules the platforms agree onAsk everyone on the same trigger, offer nothing in return, do not steer the rating, and only ask real customers. With the platform wording behind each one.
- The things people do without realisingNine common practices that breach at least one platform's rules, including the feedback form that quietly filters who sees your review link.
- What the law addsThe FTC rule in force since October 2024, and what EU and German law require of reviews you display on your own site.
- Get your link, then pick your momentWhere the review link and QR code live now, and how to choose one trigger that fires for every customer.
- 23 requestsIn person, SMS and WhatsApp, email, and print. Every one in English and again in German.
- 8 repliesFive stars with a story, five stars with no words, four stars, and the four kinds of bad review, including the one you think is fake.
- Before you send at scaleWhat changes when it stops being one message and becomes an automation: consent, the opt-out you have to include, and where Germany, the UK and the United States differ.
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Why the rules are half the pack
Most review templates you find online quietly break platform policy. The usual way is gating: asking only the customers you expect to be happy, sometimes through a friendly looking survey that shows the Google link to people who answer well and a contact form to everyone else. Google prohibits it in as many words, Trustpilot names the survey trick specifically, and it is the fastest way to have reviews stripped from your profile.
So the first four pages are the rules, quoted from the source, and every template after them is written to stay on the right side of them.
What is deliberately missing
Statistics. You will read that some percentage of customers leave a review if asked, or that Tuesday at 11am is the best time to send. We went looking for a primary source for any of it and found vendor marketing, not research. So this pack carries no response rate figures at all, and the only timing guidance in it is Trustpilot's own: give people time to experience the thing before you ask.
German included, not translated badly
Roughly half the businesses we work with operate in German, so the German templates are written as German, in the Sie form, with a note on switching to du. The pack also flags the part that catches German businesses out: a review request sent by email or WhatsApp is treated as advertising, and that changes what you need before you send it.
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