Reputation management by text, without review gating
Reputation management by text means asking your customers for a review while the visit is still fresh, using the channel they already answer. It does not mean choosing which customers get asked.
That distinction used to be a nicety. Since April 2026 it is the whole subject. Google updated its review policy to prohibit businesses from selectively soliciting positive reviews, and it now enforces it. Where Google finds evidence of the practice it can remove the reviews, and in some cases a business's entire review history.
So the ask Textstr sends is the same for every customer. One request, one link, no sentiment check in front of it.
What review gating is, and why vendors sold it
Gating is the two step message. First the business texts "how was your visit, one to five?". Four and five stars get the Google link. One and two stars get a private feedback form and never see the link at all.
It worked, in the sense that it lifted average ratings. It is also now banned by Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, G2, Capterra and treated as deceptive by the FTC. A dealership that runs it is risking the review history it has spent years building, and most of the tools that offer it do not say so.
Podium, the largest vendor in this category, publishes its own position against gating. The compliant version of this product is the one worth buying.
What Textstr does instead
The private reply option matters and it is not gating. Gating is showing the review link only to the happy ones. Offering everybody both a public and a private route, in the same message, is just giving people a choice.
- One request per customer, sent by text after the visit
- Sent inside your opening hours, never late at night
- The same message to everyone, whatever the conversation looked like
- A review link and a way to reply privately, shown side by side to every customer, not routed by mood
- Nobody is asked twice
Google reviews
Google permits a business to ask for reviews. It prohibits asking selectively, incentivising reviews, setting staff review quotas, telling customers what to write, and standing over them while they post. Textstr sends one link to everyone and leaves the writing to the customer.
Facebook recommendations
Facebook recommendations work the same way and asking for them is permitted. The request points at your Page instead of your Google listing.
Yelp
Yelp forbids businesses from asking for reviews at all, through any channel, and advises them not to work with vendors who do it on their behalf. Textstr sends no Yelp requests. See why we do not offer a Yelp review tool.
Why texting is the right channel for this
The request has to arrive while the customer still remembers the visit, and it has to arrive somewhere they look. A business that already answers its customers by text is already in the right place. The number on your sign is the number they know, and the review request goes out from it.
Frequently asked questions
Is asking customers for reviews allowed?
On Google and Facebook, yes. Asking is permitted. What is prohibited is asking only some customers based on how happy they seem, offering anything in exchange, or directing what the review should say. On Yelp, asking is not allowed at all.
What is review gating?
Surveying customers first and showing the public review link only to the ones who answer positively, while routing unhappy customers to a private form. Google prohibits it and began enforcing that in April 2026.
What happens if a business gets caught gating reviews?
Google can remove the affected reviews, and where there is evidence of the practice it can remove a business's whole review history. Yelp can apply a ranking penalty or post a consumer alert on the business page.
Can I still handle an unhappy customer privately?
Yes, and you should. The difference is that the private route is offered to everyone in the same message rather than shown only to the people who rated you poorly. Choice is fine. Filtering is not.