Setting when review requests and follow-ups go out

In this article, you'll learn how to choose when your review requests go out: which days, which hours, and how long each follow-up waits. Getting this right means customers hear from you at a sensible time, not at 6 a.m. on a Sunday.

To open the sending settings:

  1. In your dashboard menu, click Reviews.
  2. Click Review Templates.

The on/off switch and the schedule sit at the top of the page, above your text and email templates.

The sending schedule at the top of Review Templates
The sending schedule at the top of Review Templates
Note: Review Monster can hide the Review Templates page for your account. If you don't see it under Reviews, get in touch and we'll change your schedule for you or turn the page back on.

Turning review follow-ups on or off

The Enable review follow-ups switch decides whether your review request messages send at all.

  1. Click the switch next to Enable review follow-ups.
  2. It's green when it's on and grey when it's off. It saves right away, so there's nothing else to click.
Warning: While the switch is off, no review request texts or emails go out. If you use the CRM, its automation that asks for a review when a job is marked done is switched off along with it, and switched back on when you turn this back on.

Choosing your sending days

Under Sending Days there's a button for each day, Mon through Sun.

  1. Click a day to turn it on (green) or off (white).
  2. Leave on every day you're happy for messages to go out.

Setting your sending hours

Under Sending Hours you set one window that applies to every sending day. Messages only go out between these two times, in your account's timezone.

  1. Pick a time in Start.
  2. Pick a time in End.
  3. Click Save Sending Schedule. The button reads Saved once it's stored.

Your days and hours only save when you click Save Sending Schedule. If something goes wrong, a message shows up in red under the button.

Choosing sending days and hours
Tip: A message that comes due outside your window waits until the window next opens on a sending day. Something like 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. works well for most businesses.

Setting the delay before each follow-up

Each follow-up has its own wait time. The delay fields are inside the SMS Template and Email Template boxes further down the page. Each one has an hr box and a min box.

Text 2

  1. In the SMS Template box, click 2.
  2. Under Delay after previous SMS, type the hours and minutes next to Template 2 delay.

Email 1

  1. In the Email Template box, click 1.
  2. Under Delay after first SMS, type the hours and minutes next to Email 1 delay.

Email 2

  1. In the Email Template box, click 2.
  2. Under Delay after previous email, type the hours and minutes next to Template 2 delay.

Each delay saves when you click out of the box, and Saved shows next to it for a moment. Clicking Save SMS Template or Save Email Template stores the delay too.

Setting the delay before text 2
Note: A template only sends if it's switched on. The small circle next to each template number shows a green check when that template is on and a grey cross when it's off. Click the circle to switch it. It saves right away.

Delays still follow your sending window. A follow-up that comes due at night waits for your start time on the next sending day. Requests also go out one at a time: texts at least two minutes apart, emails at least two minutes apart, and no more than 25 review emails in a day.

Note: Review requests only start once your Google listing is connected. Until there's a working Google review link on your account, every request waits, whatever your schedule says.

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