Ecommerce & retail
Using QR codes to get more Google reviews
Link directly to Google's write-a-review endpoint for your Place ID, so the star dialog opens immediately instead of your listing. Put the code on the receipt or bill, ask every customer, and never offer anything in return — incentivised reviews violate Google's policies.
The link that skips two taps
https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=YOUR_PLACE_ID
This opens the star-rating dialog directly. The common alternative — linking to your Google Maps listing — costs two extra taps, and a meaningful share of people stop at each one.
Find your Place ID with Google's Place ID Finder, or from the share link in your Google Business Profile.
Placement decides everything
| Placement | Works |
|---|---|
| Receipt or bill folder | Best. Customer is seated, finished, unhurried |
| Delivery packaging or thank-you card | Very good. Experience just completed |
| Table, at the end of the meal | Good |
| Exit, at eye level | Reasonable where there is no receipt |
| Door or window | Poor. The experience has not happened |
| Poster across the room | Poor. Nobody walks over to scan |
The pattern is simple: the customer must be stationary and finished.
The rules, which are enforced
Google prohibits:
- Review gating — screening customers and only routing happy ones to the public review.
- Incentivised reviews — offering a discount, entry to a draw, or anything else in exchange.
Both risk the reviews being removed and the listing being penalised. What is allowed is asking every customer, at the right moment, with nothing offered. That is also what produces a rating people believe.
Pair it with a private feedback route
Print two codes, clearly labelled: one for the public Google review, one for a private feedback form. The customer sees both and chooses, which is not gating.
Unhappy customers get a route that fixes the problem rather than a public argument, and you learn things a star rating never tells you.
Practical notes
- 2–3 cm of code on a receipt read at 25–30 cm.
- Thermal receipt printers are low resolution — check you are getting at least four dots per module, which at 203 dpi means modules of 0.5 mm or more.
- Receipt paper is direct thermal and fades; that is fine for a code used within minutes.
- Re-scan your own code after any change to your Google Business Profile. Place IDs are stable in normal operation but can change if a listing is merged, moved or re-verified.
FAQ
How do I get a QR code for Google reviews?
Find your Place ID with Google's Place ID Finder, then link to search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=YOUR_ID. That opens the star dialog directly.
Can I offer a discount for leaving a review?
No. Incentivised reviews violate Google's policies and risk both removal of the reviews and a penalty on your listing.
Is it allowed to only ask happy customers?
No. Review gating is prohibited. Showing a public review code and a private feedback code side by side is fine, because the customer chooses.
Where should the review QR code go?
On the receipt, the bill folder or the delivery packaging — anywhere the customer is stationary and has just finished. Codes across the room or on the door are not scanned.