3 messages that turn today’s patients into Google reviews in 48 hours
A same-day text, a next-morning email and one short nudge – copy them, change the names, and send.
Better Reviews team · August 2026
Three messages are usually all it takes to turn today’s patients into Google reviews within 48 hours: a short text on the day of the appointment, a friendly email the next morning, and one final nudge before the 48-hour mark. Each message does one job – it puts a direct review link in front of a patient while the visit is still fresh. Below are all three, written so a practice manager can copy them today.
Why 48 hours is the window
Patients are most likely to write a review while the appointment is still a clear memory. Leave it a week and the moment has passed; the visit blurs into everything else. That is why the practices with busy Google pages ask quickly and simply – and why it matters more than ever now that NHS.uk closed its public star-ratings in 2025, leaving Google as the main public rating for UK practices.
The audience is real: 71% of patients check online reviews as the first step in finding a new doctor (Software Advice), and 76% of consumers regularly read online reviews when browsing local businesses (BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2023).
Message 1: the same-day text
Send this by SMS within a few hours of the appointment. Short is the point – it should read like a human wrote it.
- “Hi [first name], thanks for visiting [practice name] today. If you have 20 seconds, we’d really value your feedback: [link]. Thank you – [practice name].”
Two rules. First, send it to every patient you legitimately can, not just the ones you think were happy – picking and choosing (sometimes called review gating) breaches Google’s review policy. Under the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act – in force for reviews since April 2025, with CMA guidance in CMA208 – hiding negative reviews or selectively soliciting positive ones is a banned practice in its own right, not just a Google-policy issue. Second, never offer anything in return; incentivised reviews also breach Google policy and can get reviews removed.
Message 2: the next-morning email
Email catches the patients who don’t act on texts. Send it the following morning, when people clear their inboxes.
- Subject: “How was your visit to [practice name]?”
- “Hi [first name], thank you for coming in yesterday. We’re a local practice and honest feedback genuinely shapes how we work. If you can spare a moment, you can leave your rating here: [link]. If anything wasn’t right, the same link lets you tell us directly. Best wishes, [manager name], Practice Manager.”
Notice the last line. Inviting honest feedback – good or bad – keeps the request fair, and it means problems reach you as well as praise.
Message 3: the 48-hour nudge
One polite follow-up, sent only to patients who haven’t responded, and then stop. Nagging does more harm than a missing review.
- “Hi [first name], just a gentle reminder from [practice name] – if you meant to leave us feedback and life got in the way, here’s the link again: [link]. No pressure at all, and thank you either way.”
“No pressure” is not filler. Patients respond to requests that respect their time, and a relaxed tone is what makes a second message acceptable rather than annoying.
What to do with the reviews you receive
Reply to them – briefly, politely, and without discussing any clinical detail, because a public reply must never confirm someone is a patient or reveal anything about their care. It is worth the two minutes: businesses that respond to reviews are seen as 1.7× more trustworthy (Google/Ipsos). A simple “Thank you for taking the time – we’ll share this with the team” is enough.
Making it stick
The messages work; the hard part is sending them every day when reception is stretched. Give the job to one named person, keep the templates saved where they can paste them in seconds, and use one link that goes to a single “Review us” page rather than a long Google URL. If the link takes more than about 20 seconds from tap to stars, fewer patients will finish.
None of this guarantees a particular number of reviews – no honest method can. What it does is remove every excuse between a happy patient and the review they were willing to leave anyway.
Want the link and the page done for you?
Better Reviews builds and manages the “Review us” page these messages point to – every patient rates you privately, then gets the same choice of a Google review or private feedback, with low scores alerting you instantly.