How it works
How more reviews lift you up Google — and bring more customers in
There's no trick to this and nothing to game. Google publishes what it looks at when it ranks local businesses, and reviews sit right in the middle of it. Here's the honest version of how a £40 card fits into that.
Step one: what Google actually measures
Three factors decide who shows up
When someone searches "barber near me" or "best café in town", Google ranks the local results on three things. Two of them are largely out of your hands.
Relevance
How closely your business profile matches what the person typed. You improve this by filling your profile out properly — categories, services, opening hours, photos.
Partly in your control
Distance
How far your business is from wherever the searcher happens to be standing. Short of moving premises, there is nothing you can do about this one.
Out of your control
Prominence
How well known your business is. Google says this is based partly on how many reviews you have and how good your ratings are — which makes it the factor you can genuinely move, starting today.
You can move this
"More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking."— Google Business Profile Help, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
Step two: why good businesses stay invisible
The reviews aren't missing. The moment is.
Most businesses aren't short of happy customers. They're short of happy customers who remembered, twenty minutes later, to go and write something.
Asking out loud is awkward
"Could you leave us a review?" is a hard sentence to say twenty times a day, and most staff quietly stop saying it after the first week.
QR codes ask too much
Open the camera. Hold it steady. Wait for it to focus. Tap the banner. Every one of those is a step where somebody gives up and puts their phone away.
"I'll do it later" means never
A card with a web address, a link in a text, a note on the receipt — all of it depends on someone doing the work later, when the goodwill has worn off.
Step three: what the card changes
From a tap to a customer walking in
Each stage below causes the next one. This is the whole chain, with nothing skipped and nothing exaggerated.
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The tap
Your customer holds their phone near the card while they're still with you — paying, waiting for change, finishing up. No app, no camera, no typing.
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The review
Your Google review box opens on their phone, already pointed at your business. They press the stars and post. The friction that used to lose you the review is gone.
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The signal
Your review count climbs and your rating settles at a real number. Both are part of what Google reads as prominence for your Business Profile.
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The customers
A more prominent profile has a better chance of surfacing in local searches and on Maps — and once it's there, a strong rating is what makes someone choose you over the shop next door.
Step four: getting the most out of it
Where to put it, and how to use it
The card only works if it's in front of people at the right moment. A few things that make the difference:
- Put it where money changes hands. Next to the card machine, on the counter, or on the table with the bill — the point where the visit has just gone well.
- Let the card do the asking. Staff only need one line — "tap your phone there if you've got a second" — instead of a speech.
- Offer it to everyone, not just the delighted ones. Google's policies don't allow filtering who gets asked, and a wall of reviews that all sound the same convinces nobody anyway.
- Never offer anything in return. Discounts or freebies for reviews breach Google's rules and can get your reviews removed. The card doesn't need a bribe to work.
- Reply to the reviews you get. It costs nothing, and it's the cheapest signal you can send that somebody is actually running the place.
Straight answers
The questions people actually ask
Will this guarantee I rank number one?
No, and be suspicious of anyone who says otherwise. Google says outright that there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Reviews are one real input into one of three ranking factors. The card makes the reviews happen — where that puts you depends on your area and your competition.
Does my customer need an app or an account?
No app. They do need to be signed in to a Google account to post a review, which almost everyone with an Android phone or a Gmail address already is. If they're signed out, Google prompts them.
Which phones can read the card?
iPhone XR and XS (2018) and everything since read NFC cards automatically — a banner just appears on screen. Older iPhones from the 7 onwards can read it using the NFC scanner in Control Centre. Most Android phones made in the last several years read it automatically when unlocked.
What if a customer leaves a bad review?
It can happen, and a profile of nothing but perfect scores looks fake to shoppers anyway. The practical answer is to reply calmly and publicly — people read how you handle a complaint far more closely than the complaint itself.
Do I have to pay anything monthly?
No. The card is £40 once. There's no subscription, no per-review charge and no account to keep topped up. It has no battery and no expiry.
Ready to stop losing the reviews you've earned?
One card, £40, programmed with your Google review link and posted out ready to use.