REVIEWS · 6 MIN READ

The review velocity playbook: how San Remo Pizza added 587 Google reviews in 9 months

Published 24 April 2026

A multi-location pizza chain in Perth went from a trickle of organic Google reviews to 587 new reviews in 9 months, lifting their average rating and – more importantly – intercepting 121 negative reviews before they ever hit Google. Here’s the exact play, which we now run across every 10X Reviews client.

Step 1: Ask at the moment of peak happiness

For hospitality, that’s 15 to 60 minutes after the customer leaves. For service businesses, it’s 2 hours after job completion. For ecommerce, it’s 3 days after delivery. Don’t guess – measure satisfaction by NPS at the ask point, then optimise the timing.

Step 2: Use SMS, not email

SMS open rates sit near 98% with response within minutes. Email response rates for review requests hover around 2 to 5%. San Remo’s SMS flow drove a 28% response rate across all sends.

Step 3: Filter before routing

This is the bit most “review software” gets wrong, and that Google explicitly permits. Ask the customer a satisfaction question first. If they rate 4 or 5, route them to Google. If they rate 1 to 3, route them to a private feedback form that alerts the owner. You turn negative reviews into service-recovery opportunities before they become public 1-star reviews.

Note: you can’t stop anyone from leaving a public review – that would violate Google’s policies. You’re just not inviting unhappy customers into public channels. They can still go direct. Most don’t.

Step 4: Respond to every review inside 24 hours

Public responses to reviews are a ranking signal in the Map Pack and a trust signal for future readers. Personalise where possible. AI-drafted responses are fine as a starting point – have a human review before posting.

Step 5: Measure velocity, not just total count

Track reviews-per-week as your primary metric. A flat line is a dead system. Target at minimum 5% of monthly transactions converting to reviews for service businesses, 2% for ecommerce.

See how 10X Reviews runs this play on autopilot, or book a free audit to see how your review velocity compares to your top competitors.