Bulk Review Requests in HighLevel

Updated: February 4, 2026  | 
Author: Bill Stilwell

This post covers how Bulk Review Requests work, the difference between bulk sends and automated review workflows, how to filter contacts effectively, and how to maximize response rates without violating platform policies.

Reading time: about 8 minutes.

What Are Bulk Review Requests in HighLevel?

Bulk Review Requests let you send a review invitation to a large group of contacts at once rather than requesting reviews one person at a time.

Most businesses have a backlog of satisfied customers who were never asked for a review. Those customers are the most valuable untapped source of new reviews – they already had a good experience and just need a prompt.

The bulk send is designed for exactly that situation. Filter your contact list to target the right segment, write a short personalized message, and send it to all of them in one action.

Find it at Reputation, then Reviews in any HighLevel sub-account.

How Does It Work?

The bulk review request flow has three steps: filter, compose, and send.

You start by filtering your contact list to identify who should receive the request. The filter options include tags, pipeline stages, contact creation date, last activity date, and other standard contact properties.

Next you write or edit the message. The default template includes a direct link to your connected review platform – Google or Facebook.

You can personalize it with the contact’s first name and any other details that make the message feel less automated.

When you send, HighLevel delivers the message to every contact in the filtered list. Each send is logged in the individual contact’s conversation history so you can track who was reached and avoid duplicate requests in future campaigns.

SMS vs. Email for Review Requests

SMS review requests consistently outperform email for response rate in most local business contexts.

The reason is friction. A text message arrives on the phone the customer is already holding.

Tapping the link in the message opens the Google review form in seconds. The entire action – read, tap, rate, publish – takes under two minutes on mobile.

Email requires the customer to check their inbox, recognize the sender, decide to open it, find the link, and then navigate to the review form. Each step is a drop-off point.

SMS works best for customers whose phone numbers you have and who have opted in to receive messages. Email is the better option when phone numbers are unavailable or when the customer relationship is primarily email-based – B2B clients, for example.

Filtering Contacts for Better Results

A targeted send to a relevant segment outperforms a broadcast to your entire contact list in both response rate and review quality.

The best filtering approaches target recency and relevance. Contacts from the last 6 to 12 months remember their experience clearly enough to write a specific review.

Contacts from three years ago may not even remember the interaction.

Tag-based filters work well if your contact management is clean. A tag like “completed-service” or “closed-won” applied at job completion identifies exactly the right segment without needing date filters.

Pipeline stage filters are useful for service businesses with a defined completion stage – filtering for contacts in the “job completed” stage pulls only customers who finished a transaction, not prospects who enquired but never converted.

Avoid sending to contacts who have already submitted a review. Check the Reviews section first to build a suppression list if needed – or add a “review-sent” tag at send time so future campaigns can exclude them.

Bulk Send vs. Automated Review Workflow

Bulk review requests and automated review workflows serve different purposes. Both are useful and they work best together.

A bulk review request is a one-time campaign. You run it against a list of existing contacts – typically a backlog of past customers who were never asked.

It is a catch-up campaign that gets your review count moving quickly.

An automated review workflow handles ongoing review collection. A workflow trigger fires after each completed appointment, closed deal, or service completion and sends a review request automatically to every new customer at the right moment.

It builds reviews consistently over time without any manual action.

The typical approach is to run a bulk campaign first to establish a baseline review count, then activate the automated workflow to maintain steady growth going forward.

Platform Policies to Know

Google and Facebook both have policies governing how businesses can solicit reviews. Violating these policies risks having reviews removed or the account flagged.

No incentivizing reviews. Do not offer discounts, gifts, or any reward in exchange for leaving a review.

The message must be a simple request, not a transaction.

No review gating. Review gating means only directing satisfied customers to leave a review while filtering out unhappy ones.

Every customer should receive the same invitation regardless of perceived sentiment.

Only genuine customers. Only send review requests to people who actually had an experience with the business.

Sending to contacts who were never customers – prospects who enquired, cold leads, or contacts imported without a prior relationship – violates Google’s policies.

No bulk fake reviews. Review requests sent through HighLevel are to real contacts in your CRM.

Do not import lists of strangers to request reviews from people who have no relationship with the business.

What Can You Do With It?

• Build review count quickly from existing customers: Send a bulk campaign to past customers who were never asked for a review and generate a meaningful number of new reviews within days rather than months.
• Close the gap with competitors on Google: If competitors have significantly more reviews, a targeted bulk campaign to your full backlog of past customers is the fastest way to close that gap.
• Recover a review rating after negative reviews: When a bad review has dragged the average down, a bulk request to satisfied recent customers generates the positive reviews needed to dilute the impact of the outlier.
• Segment by recency for higher response rates: Filter for customers from the last 6 months first. More recent experiences produce more specific, detailed reviews – and those contacts respond at higher rates.
• Track which contacts were requested: Review request sends are logged in conversation history, so future campaigns can exclude contacts who have already been asked – preventing the annoyance of multiple requests to the same person.
• Combine with automated workflows for ongoing growth: Use a bulk campaign to establish an initial baseline, then set up an automated post-service review request workflow so the count grows steadily without any manual action going forward.

Key Definitions

Use Cases by Industry

Home Services

A plumbing company has 400 completed jobs in HighLevel from the past 18 months with a “job-completed” tag. The business has 22 Google reviews – far below their local competitors who average 150+.

They run a bulk review request to all contacts with the “job-completed” tag from the last 12 months. Within 48 hours they receive 35 new reviews.

Response rate was 9% – typical for a first SMS campaign to a warm, relevant audience.

Result: A 12-month backlog of un-asked customers generates more reviews in two days than the business collected in the previous three years.

Dental Practices

A dental practice has 600 patients in HighLevel. They filter for patients who completed an appointment in the last 6 months and whose appointment status is marked as “completed.” The bulk request goes to 280 contacts.

They exclude patients who have already left a review by cross-referencing their current Google review list and tagging those contacts as “reviewed” before running the filter.

Result: The campaign is precise – only genuine recent patients receive the request, which keeps the review quality high and avoids policy violations.

Restaurant and Hospitality

A restaurant using HighLevel for their reservation and loyalty program runs a monthly bulk review request to loyalty members who have dined in the previous 30 days.

The message is sent via SMS and references their most recent visit. Response rates run consistently above 12% because the timing is recent and the message feels personal rather than templated.

Result: A steady monthly cadence keeps the restaurant’s review count growing and the average rating fresh – reflecting current quality rather than experiences from two years ago.

Auto Repair Shops

An auto repair shop tags every customer as “service-complete” when the vehicle is picked up. They run a bulk review request monthly to all contacts tagged in the previous 30 days – keeping the campaign to recent customers only.

After six months they have moved from 18 Google reviews to 94. The improved review count lifts their local map pack ranking and increases inbound calls from Google search.

Result: Consistent monthly campaigns turn a routine operational tag into compounding review growth that directly impacts new customer acquisition.

Real Estate Agencies

A real estate agency runs a bulk review request after each deal closes by filtering for contacts in the “closed” pipeline stage added in the last 90 days.

Agents who personally send a follow-up text mentioning the review request on the same day see significantly higher response rates than the automated-only approach – the combination of automation and personal follow-up maximizes conversion.

Result: Each closing triggers both an automated and a personal touchpoint, and the review count grows in direct proportion to the number of closed transactions.

Who Is This For?

How to Send Bulk Review Requests

Step 1: Open the Reviews section

Go to Reputation in the left navigation, then select Reviews.

This is where both individual and bulk review requests are managed alongside your incoming review feed.

Step 2: Confirm your review platforms are connected

Before sending any requests, go to Reputation Settings and confirm that Google Business Profile and/or Facebook are connected.

The review request link points to whichever platform is connected and selected – requests sent without a connected platform have nowhere to link.

Step 3: Select the bulk send option

Click the option to send a review request and choose the bulk send route.

This opens the contact filter and message configuration interface.

Step 4: Filter your contact list

Apply filters to target the right contacts – recent customers, contacts with a specific tag, contacts in a completed pipeline stage, or contacts added within a date range.

A targeted segment produces better response rates. Aim for contacts from the last 6 to 12 months who completed a transaction or service.

Step 5: Choose SMS or email

Select the delivery channel. SMS is recommended for most campaigns because mobile users tap the review link directly without extra steps.

Use email when phone numbers are unavailable or when the contact relationship is primarily email-based.

Step 6: Write or customize the message

Use the message editor to write a short, personal request. Include the contact’s first name using the custom value token.

Keep SMS messages under 160 characters to stay in one segment. Include the direct review link and a clear, simple call to action – “Would you mind leaving us a quick Google review?” is more effective than a long explanation.

Step 7: Preview the recipient count

Before sending, confirm the recipient count matches your intended segment.

A filter that is too broad may include contacts who have already been asked, contacts without a genuine experience, or duplicates. Adjust filters as needed before confirming.

Step 8: Send the request

Click Send to deliver the review request to all selected contacts.

HighLevel logs the send in each contact’s conversation history so you can track who was reached and exclude them from future campaigns.

Step 9: Monitor incoming reviews

Check the Reviews section over the following 48 to 72 hours. Review activity peaks in the first day or two after a bulk send.

Respond to every new review – especially any negative ones – promptly. A business that responds to reviews signals active engagement to both potential customers and search engines.

How Does It Connect to HighLevel?

• Tag-Based Automation: Tag-Based Automation creates the segmentation that bulk review campaigns depend on. Tags applied at job completion, appointment close, or deal won identify exactly the right contacts to target for each campaign.
• Appointment Reminders: Appointment Reminders workflows can include a post-appointment review request step – automating the per-customer request so the bulk campaign only needs to handle the historical backlog.
• Workflow Builder: The most scalable approach pairs bulk requests for existing contacts with an automated post-service workflow in Workflow Builder that sends requests to every new customer automatically going forward.
• Yext Integration: A well-managed Google Business Profile with consistent NAP data from the Yext Integration ensures that reviews land on a verified, accurate listing – not a duplicate or outdated one that splits the review count.
• Conversation AI: When a customer responds to a review request with a question or complaint before leaving a review, Conversation AI can handle the initial response – routing genuine complaints to a human before they become negative public reviews.

Common Questions

What are Bulk Review Requests in HighLevel?

A feature that sends a review request SMS or email to a filtered list of contacts simultaneously. Found at Reputation, then Reviews.

Used to generate reviews from a backlog of past customers in one campaign rather than requesting one at a time.

Where do I find Bulk Review Requests in HighLevel?

Go to Reputation in the left navigation, then select Reviews. The bulk send option is available from this section alongside individual review request tools.

Which review platforms can I send requests to with HighLevel?

Google Business Profile and Facebook. Google is the most impactful destination for most local businesses due to its direct influence on local search rankings and visibility.

Can I send bulk review requests via SMS and email?

Yes. Choose SMS for higher response rates – the tap-to-review action is frictionless on mobile.

Use email when phone numbers are unavailable or for contacts where the relationship is primarily email-based.

Can I filter which contacts receive the bulk review request?

Yes. Filter by tag, pipeline stage, date range, or other contact properties before sending.

A targeted segment of recent genuine customers produces far better response rates than sending to your entire contact list.

Can I customize the message in a bulk review request?

Yes. Edit the message template before sending.

Include the contact’s first name using the custom value token. Keep SMS messages under 160 characters and use a clear, simple call to action.

How is a bulk review request different from a review automation workflow?

A bulk request is a one-time send to existing contacts – ideal for catching up on a backlog. An automated workflow sends requests to new customers automatically at the right trigger point going forward.

Use both together for the strongest results.

Does HighLevel track which contacts received a review request?

Yes. The send is logged in each contact’s conversation history, allowing you to see who was reached and exclude them from future campaigns to avoid sending duplicate requests.

Are there any rules about asking customers for reviews?

Yes. Google prohibits incentivizing reviews, review gating, and requesting reviews from non-customers.

Only ask genuine past customers. Do not offer rewards in exchange for leaving a review.

How many review requests can I send at once with HighLevel?

HighLevel does not publish a hard cap. Practical limits come from SMS sending rate rules – new accounts have daily limits that increase over time.

For large campaigns, spreading sends over multiple days avoids carrier throttling and looks more natural.

To Wrap It Up

Most businesses underestimate how many reviews they could have if they simply asked.

The majority of satisfied customers never leave a review unprompted. Not because they did not have a good experience – but because the thought never occurs to them and the action requires them to take initiative.

A bulk review request removes the initiative requirement. It puts a direct link in their hand and asks them once.

The filtration matters more than the message. A well-filtered campaign sent to 150 genuinely recent customers will outperform a poorly filtered send to 1,500 mixed contacts every time.

The response rate is higher, the reviews are more specific, and you stay within platform policies.

Run the bulk campaign once to clear the backlog. Then set up the automated post-service workflow so the count grows without manual effort going forward.

The combination is what produces consistent, compounding review growth over time.

Here is how to get started:

1. Go to Reputation, then Reviews and confirm Google Business Profile is connected
2. Go to Contacts and identify your target segment – recent customers who were never asked
3. Apply a tag to that segment if one does not already exist – for example, “bulk-review-candidate”
4. Return to Reputation, then Reviews, and open the bulk send option
5. Filter by the tag you just applied
6. Choose SMS and write a short, personalized message under 160 characters
7. Preview the recipient count and confirm it looks right before sending
8. Send and monitor the Reviews section over the next 48 hours
9. Respond to every new review that comes in – positive and negative
10. Tag sent contacts as “review-requested” to exclude them from future campaigns

Respond to every review that comes in after a campaign – including the ones that are four stars instead of five. A business owner who responds thoughtfully to a critical review demonstrates accountability in a way that no marketing message can replicate.