How a Google review QR code works
The code opens Google's review form for your business directly, so customers do not have to search for you, pick the right listing and look for the review button. With the Google Review platform selected, you enter your Place ID, and the code contains https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJ… with your ID in place of the dots.
There are two ways to fill the field. The first is the Place ID: search for your business in Google's Place ID Finder, part of the Google Maps Platform documentation, and copy the ID, which usually starts with ChIJ. The second is the review link from your Google Business Profile: open your profile, choose the option to ask for reviews and copy the short link it shows. A full link that starts with https:// is accepted as it is.
On scan, the phone opens the form in Google Maps or the browser. The customer needs to be signed in to a Google account to post, and they choose the stars and write the review themselves. The code is static and contains only a public link, so it keeps working as long as your listing does.
Where it helps
- A small card by the register, where customers have a moment while paying.
- The bottom of a printed receipt, which goes home with the customer.
- A thank-you card left after a delivery, a hotel stay or a service visit, once the job is done.
- An A4 poster near the exit made with Print sheet / PDF, with a short headline you can edit.
Tips before you print
- Scan the code yourself and check that the form shows your business name. Businesses with similar names in the same city are easy to mix up in the Place ID Finder.
- Ask in plain words, such as “Tell us how we did on Google”, and place the code where people have a free moment, not where they rush out.
- Google's policies do not allow discounts, gifts or other incentives in exchange for reviews, so keep the card to a simple request.
- Ask every customer the same way. Google also prohibits review gating: inviting only satisfied customers, or sending unhappy ones somewhere else first.