How review collection works end to end

Review collection in Dispatch Bros is a funnel: after a job, the customer gets your smart link (by automated text, QR code, or a copied link), which opens a star-rating page called the feedback gate. High ratings — 4 or 5 stars by default — are taken to your Google review page to post publicly, after a short "hold on" screen; low ratings open a private feedback form that comes to your team instead of the internet. Every open, star pick, trip to Google, return, and submission is recorded, and the reviews report shows how far each customer got — including their own "did it go through?" answer, labelled as their word.

Before you start

• You need at least one active job source (what is a job source?).
• You need your Google review URL — the link that opens your Google Business Profile's "leave a review" box.
• To send review requests automatically, texting must be set up — see how texting works.

Step 1 — Save your review link

1. Open Automations in the sidebar, then the Sender Numbers tab.
2. In your source's row, use the Review Link column — click Add review link and paste your Google review URL. It must be a real web address; anything else is rejected with "Enter a valid URL (https://…)".
3. Once saved, a Smart Link appears under it with Copy and QR Code buttons — that smart link is what customers actually open.

If you run many branded phone lines, expand a source's number panel and give each number its own Google review link. As the panel notes, "Numbers without their own link fall back to the source review link above." There's also an Import review links button to paste a whole sheet of number-to-link rows at once — see importing review links.

Then click "Check review links". Not every Google link opens the review box: a Maps share link lands on the business's profile page (the customer has to find "Write a review" alone), and a direct link can go dead when a listing is removed or merged. The check follows every saved link, says what it really opens, and proposes the direct review-box link where a Maps link is saved — you confirm before anything changes. See per-source and per-number review links.

Step 2 — Get the smart link in front of the customer

• Automatically: the review request automation texts the smart link after a job completes — see review request automation. The link carries the job, so the response is attributed to the right customer and job.
• By QR code: the QR Code button next to any smart link generates a scannable code you can download; the Review QR page in the sidebar builds a printable leave-behind card — see the review QR card.
• Manually: press Copy and paste the smart link into any text or email.

Step 3 — The feedback gate routes the rating

When the customer opens the link, they see a dark, branded page headed "Rate your service experience" with five stars. What happens next depends on the rating:

• 4 or 5 stars (default): the page shows a full-screen "Please hold tight, Google is loading" screen — a thin gold ring drawing itself closed — for a couple of seconds while your Google review link opens; if the page has not moved within five seconds, a quiet "Not moving? Tap here" link appears. If the customer comes back, the page asks whether it went through: "Yes, I posted it" or "Not yet". If the customer called one of your lines that has its own review link, they go to that line's listing; otherwise the source's link is used.
• 1 to 3 stars (default): a private feedback form opens asking for their name, email, and what happened. Submitting shows "Thank you for your feedback" — nothing is posted publicly, and the message is delivered to your team.

The public/private threshold is per source; 3 stars and below staying private is the default.

Step 4 — Read the results

Every step is recorded: page opens, the star picked, whether the customer tapped through to Google, whether they came back and what they said, and which review URL was actually used. Private feedback arrives as a notification with the customer's contact details and message. The reviews report rolls up requests, opens, responses, average stars, Sent to Google, Said posted (the customer's own answer, never verified with Google), "Google count" (how far Google's public review count on your listings moved in the period — a floor on what got posted, not a tally of your customers), Verified (public Google reviews that matched a customer by name, stars and timing and that you confirmed — "Verified on Google") and Private per source, and each response row shows how far that customer got — see the reviews report.

What your customer sees

The feedback gate is a clean, mobile-first page with your source's name in a badge at the top — no login, no app install:

1. The star screen: "Rate your service experience" with the line "Your feedback helps us improve" and five tappable stars.
2. On a high rating: the light "Please hold tight, Google is loading" screen with a thin ring drawing itself closed, then Google, and the "Yes, I posted it" / "Not yet" question if they come back.
3. On a low rating: a short form (name, email, optional phone and service address, and a message) with a Send Feedback button, ending in "Thank you for your feedback".

The footer credits "Powered by Dispatch Bros".

Troubleshooting

• The customer sees "Feedback page not available" — the page says "This feedback link is no longer active or may have been removed." The smart link belongs to a job source; if the source was deactivated or its slug changed, old links stop resolving. Reactivate the source or share the current smart link.
• A 5-star customer got a thank-you instead of Google — the source has no review link saved, so the page falls back to "We really appreciate your positive rating. Thank you for your support!" Add the Review Link in Automations → Sender Numbers and the redirect starts working immediately.
• The redirect goes to the wrong Google listing — a number-level link outranks the source link for calls to that line. Check the source's expanded number panel: the line the customer called may carry its own Google review link.
• The review link won't save — it must be a normal web address starting with https://; the field rejects anything else with "Enter a valid URL (https://…)".
• No review request text went out — that's the texting side, not the review side: confirm the source has a sender number and the review request automation is enabled. Start with how texting works.