Set up the automatic follow-up message that asks your guests to rate their visit — by email, by WhatsApp, or both.
After a guest has dined at your restaurant, EatNow can send them a short message asking them to rate their experience. That message is called the follow-up. It’s the engine of the whole Reviews feature.
Go to Settings > Notifications > General, then open the Guest tab and the Restaurant sub-tab.
2
Set the sending delay
In Follow-up sending delay (after the reservation), choose how long after the reservation time the message goes out. The default is 1 day; the minimum is 15 minutes.
The follow-up delay and the review collection channels sit on the same screen.
3
Switch on the email
Scroll down to the Email settings section and turn on Reservation follow-up.
Email settings — the last toggle is the review request.
4
Optional — switch on WhatsApp
Further down, in the WhatsApp settings section, turn on Reservation follow-up too. Both channels work independently: a guest with only a phone number gets WhatsApp, a guest with only an email gets the email, and a guest with both gets both.
5
Save
Click Save at the bottom of each section you changed.
The WhatsApp follow-up also needs a WhatsApp template of the Follow-up type approved by Meta, created in Settings > Notifications > WhatsApp templates. Without an approved template, only the email goes out. See WhatsApp templates.
A guest receives the review request only if all of these are true:
The guest actually came
The reservation status is one of: Arrived, Seated, Seated for drinks, Partially seated, or Done. Cancellations, no-shows and pending requests are never followed up. See Reservation statuses.
The follow-up is enabled on the reservation
Each reservation carries its own switch: Ask for a Google review after departure (D+1), in the reservation form. It is on by default for online bookings.
When you create a reservation manually in EatNow, this switch starts off, and it only appears once you’ve filled in the guest’s email address. Turn it on if you want that guest to be asked for a review.
You can reach the guest
The guest record has an email address, a phone number, or both.
It hasn't been sent already
Each reservation is followed up only once, ever.
EatNow checks for reservations to follow up every 15 minutes. A message set to “1 day” after a 8:00 pm dinner therefore arrives the next day between 8:00 pm and 8:15 pm.
The email thanks the guest for their visit and shows five clickable stars. Tapping a star opens the rating page with that rating already selected — one tap, and they’re done.
The rating page your guest lands on.
What happens after that tap depends on the rating and on your settings — that’s the negative review filter.
The follow-up email uses a standard EatNow template, translated into your guest’s language. You can replace its wording with your own in Settings > Notifications > Email templates, choosing the Follow-up category.
Keep the star links in your custom template — they are what carries the rating through to the page. If you’re unsure, ask the EatNow team to review your template before you activate it.
When a guest leaves private feedback, EatNow can alert your team. Go to Settings > Notifications > General, open the Restaurant owner tab and find the Customer reviews group, then set how you want to receive Customer review received.By default you get an in-app notification. Switch on email if you’d rather receive it in your inbox.
