Generate Reviews On Google

Turn customer feedback into gold. Send a quick 5-star survey to your attendees - happy customers get directed straight to Google or your preferred review site.

In this article,

• How Review Campaigns Work
• Activating the Campaign
• Configuring Your Review Redirect (Google or External Site)
• Viewing Feedback & Reviews
• Understanding Your Review Stats
• FAQs

How Review Campaigns Work

24 hours after someone attends your class or experience, they receive an email asking them to rate their experience on a 5-star scale.

This way, you're capturing positive reviews where potential customers can see them, while also getting early warning signals on experiences that need improvement.

Activating the Campaign

Ready to start collecting reviews? Here's how to turn on your Review campaign:

1. From your Occasion workspace, click Campaigns in the left panel.
2. Find and click on Reviews Campaign from your list of campaigns.
3. In the top right corner of the campaign page, click Settings.
4. In the Settings menu, you'll see a toggle next to Generate Online Reviews. Click the toggle to turn it ON.

That's it! Your campaign is now active.

What happens next:

The first email will automatically go out to your customers 24 hours after they attend an event. From there, they'll rate their experience on a 5-star scale, and depending on their rating and your redirect settings, their feedback will either be collected directly in Occasion or sent to Google/your chosen external review site.

Configuring Your Review Redirect

When a customer selects 4 or 5 stars, you have three options for what happens next:

Option 1: Collect Positive Feedback Directly (Default)

The simplest approach - customers who rate 4-5 stars see a thank you message, and their positive feedback stays with you in Occasion. You don't have to take any action. This is the default setting, so if you like it this way, you're all set.

Option 2: Connect to Google

Send customers straight to your Google Business Profile to leave a review.

To set this up:

1. From your Occasion dashboard, go to Campaigns in the left panel
2. Click Review Campaigns
3. Click Settings
4. Click Edit under Generate Positive Reviews Online, this will open a pop-up window
5. Select the On Google tab
6. Search for your business name or Google address, and click Save

Occasion will auto-connect to your Google Business Profile. Once connected, customers who rate will be taken straight to your Google profile to write a review.

Option 3: Manually Add an External Site

Prefer Facebook, Yelp, TrustPilot, or a different platform? You can manually paste a custom URL.

To set this up:

1. From your Occasion dashboard, go to Campaigns in the left panel
2. Click Review Campaigns
3. Click Settings
4. Click Edit under Generate Positive Reviews Online, this will open a pop-up window
5. Select the Enter URL Manually tab
6. Paste the full link to your review page (e.g., your Facebook page URL, Yelp business page, etc.), and click Save.

Viewing Feedback & Reviews

Email Notification

Whenever you receive feedback directly (whether it's positive or negative), Occasion sends you an email notification so you don't miss it. This way you'll know right away when customers share feedback.

The notification includes:

• The customer's star rating
• Their feedback comment
• A link to view it in full on your dashboard

You can also view all feedback anytime by going to Campaigns → Reviews Campaign in your Workspace. Everything is stored there for your reference.

Public Reviews

Once customers click through and leave reviews on Google, Facebook, or your chosen platform, they'll appear there automatically. You don't need to do anything - Occasion simply directed them to the right place.

Internal Feedback

Feedback from customers who rate 3 stars or less shows up as internal comments in your Workspace. Only you and your team can see these notes.

To view internal feedback: Go to Campaigns → Review Campaigns

Each comment shows:

• The star rating they gave
• Their written feedback (if they added any)
• The date they submitted it

Use this feedback to spot patterns and reach out to customers if something went wrong.

Understanding Your Review Stats

Your Reviews Campaign page shows four stats for the time period you select. Here's what each one counts:

• Rating – The average star rating and how many customers chose each star level. If a customer changes their rating, only their latest rating is counted.
• Feedback Received – The number of bookings that received a rating. Each booking can have only one rating, even if the customer (or someone they forwarded the email to) uses the link again.
• Emails Sent – The number of review request emails sent to your customers.
• Sent to Google (or your chosen review site) – The number of times a customer was taken to your review page after choosing 4 or 5 stars.

Why "Sent to Google" can be higher than your review count

Sent to Google counts every visit to your review page, so one booking can be counted more than once. This can happen when:

• A customer clicks a star more than once – for example, they open the email again later, or open it on both their phone and computer.
• A customer changes their rating – if they first choose 5 stars and later change it to 3, their visit to Google is still counted. Their rating will show as 3 stars.
• An email is forwarded – the link is tied to the original booking, so anyone who uses it updates that booking's rating and may add another visit to Google.
• Email security tools – some workplace email systems automatically open links in incoming emails to scan them for safety, and these automatic clicks may be counted as visits.
• Test clicks – if you or your team click the star links in a review email to preview it, those clicks are counted too.

Sent to Google also counts visits by the date of the visit, while Feedback Received counts ratings by the date the rating was first left. If a customer from an earlier period clicks the link again, the new visit can appear in the current period without a new rating.

FAQs

Q: What's the difference between public reviews and internal feedback?

A: Public reviews go to Google, Facebook, or wherever you directed them - customers see those. Internal feedback stays private in Occasion so only you can see it and respond if needed.

Q: Can I reach out to someone who left negative feedback?

A: Absolutely. You'll see their internal comment in your dashboard. Consider sending them a direct message or email to understand what happened and offer to make it right. Turning a 3-star experience into a loyal customer is worth the effort.

Q: What if I don't have a Google Business Profile?

A: You can redirect customers to any review platform you use - Yelp, Facebook, TrustPilot, or even your own website's review section. Just paste the link into the campaign settings.

Q: Can I change the redirect link after I launch the campaign?

A: Once a campaign is live, you can't edit the link. Create a new campaign next time with the updated redirect. For future campaigns, test the link in the preview step to make sure it works.

Q: Are feedback emails sent for private events?

A: Yes, feedback emails are sent for all events if enabled.

Q: Does "Sent to Google" mean a customer left a Google review?

A: Not necessarily. It means the customer was taken to your Google review page. Occasion can't confirm whether they finished and posted a review. Check your Google Business Profile to see the reviews that were actually posted.

Q: Can a customer change their rating?

A: Yes. If a customer clicks a different star in the same email, their new rating replaces the old one. Only the latest rating appears in your stats and feedback list.

Q: Why does a low-rated review show "Sent to Google"?

A: The customer first chose 4 or 5 stars and was taken to Google, then went back and changed their rating. The review shows their latest rating, but their earlier visit to Google is still recorded.

Q: A customer forwarded their review email to someone else. Can both people leave a review?

A: Both people can use the email, but each booking holds only one rating in Occasion. The review email is linked to the original booking, so if someone else rates from a forwarded email, their rating and comment replace the original customer's in your Reviews Campaign. You'll still get an email notification for each comment they submit. If they choose 4 or 5 stars, they'll be taken to Google, where each person can post their own review from their own Google account.