Some review tools ask a customer how happy they are first, and only send the happy ones on to Google. Unhappy customers get a private form instead, and never see a public site. This is called review gating. ReviewComet does not do it, has no setting for it, and will not add one.
What the review page does
Every customer who opens your review page sees the same thing:
- every review site you listed, in your order;
- below the sites, if you turned it on, a private feedback form.
There is no question before the sites, no star rating that decides what comes next, and no way to show a site to some customers and hide it from others. A customer who wants to post a public review can always do so, whatever they think of you.
A review page showing the Google and Facebook buttons first, with the private feedback form below them.
Why
It breaks the rules of the sites you want reviews on. Google's review policy does not allow you to discourage or block negative reviews, or to ask only satisfied customers. Other review sites have the same rule. A location caught gating can lose reviews or have its profile flagged.
It can break consumer protection rules. In several places, a rating built by keeping unhappy customers away is treated as misleading. In the United States, the FTC's guidance for businesses that ask for reviews says not to ask only the customers you expect to be happy.
It makes your rating worth less. People trust a rating because it reflects everyone. A profile with only five-star reviews reads as filtered, and a few honest four-star reviews with good answers do more for you than a wall of perfect scores.
It hides what you need to hear. An unhappy customer who is turned away from a public site usually tells someone else instead. One who can reach you in the open, or privately if they prefer, gives you the chance to fix it.
What private feedback is for
Private feedback is a choice for the customer, not a filter for you. Some people would rather tell you directly than write in public. The form is there for them, next to the public sites, never instead of them. What they send reaches your reviews feed as private feedback, so you can answer it by email.
What you can do instead
- Ask every customer, not a hand-picked few. The 30-day limit per customer keeps it polite.
- Answer every review, the critical ones first. A calm, specific answer is read by everyone who reads the review.
- Fix what the reviews point to. That is what raises a rating for good.