Review invitation timing: when to ask, how often, and why it matters

The 24-hour rule

Submission rate roughly halves for every 48 hours you delay after job completion. Invitations sent within 24 hours convert at a median 27%; sent at day 7 they convert at 11%; by day 14 you are below 6% and mostly hearing from customers with a complaint.

Sector-specific windows

Trades and clinics should send same-day. Hospitality converts best 12–36 hours after checkout. Professional services (accountants, law firms) do better 3–5 days after case closure because the customer needs time to feel the outcome.

Channel choice by hour of day

Email wins between 08:00 and 10:00 local time. SMS wins between 17:00 and 20:00. Sending both at the same time cannibalises response — stagger by at least 48 hours and cap total touches at two.

• Send within 24h of the transaction
• One channel per invitation, staggered
• Never more than two total touches
• Suppress on Sundays and bank holidays

The reminder that actually works

A single reminder at 72 hours lifts total submission rate by 6–9 points. A second reminder lifts it by less than one point and materially raises unsubscribe rates. Two touches is the ceiling worth paying for.

Frequency caps that protect your list

A customer who receives more than one invitation per 90 days will unsubscribe at 3× the base rate. ScoreReview UK enforces per-recipient frequency caps by default; disabling them is possible but rarely a good idea.

What the DMCC Act says about timing

The UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 does not regulate timing directly, but repeated unsolicited invitations without a clear unsubscribe route can breach PECR. Every ScoreReview UK invitation carries a one-click unsubscribe honoured across the whole platform.

Measuring what matters

Track submission rate by hour-since-transaction, by channel and by staff member. The three-way cut usually reveals a workflow gap — one team member sends invitations 4 days late and drags the whole business average down.