How to Create Review Request Campaigns on SocialPilot Reviews?

Collecting reviews from your customers is a crucial part of maintaining and improving your brand’s online reputation. However, with a large customer base, manually managing review requests can be time-consuming. SocialPilot Reviews allows you to automate this process, making it simple to create and manage campaigns that request feedback and generate more 5-star reviews.

For instantly sending a review request or reaching multiple customers at once, there’s the Quick Review Request option. It makes it easy to send one-time requests or upload contacts in bulk without building a full campaign.  

Once reviews start coming in, you can also view and respond to them directly from the SocialPilot mobile app, helping you stay responsive to customer feedback and maintain a positive brand reputation. 

Check out how you can create Review Request Campaigns on SocialPilot Reviews in this quick video.

In This Article

1. How to Set up Your Review Request Campaigns?
2. How to Add and Manage Recipients?
3. How to Set up the Campaign Workflow on SocialPilot Reviews?
4. How to Find and Fix Campaign Issues?
5. How to Launch Your Campaign?
6. How to Enroll Contacts or Add a Message from the Actions Menu?
7. How to Manage Campaigns After Launch?
8. How to Automate Review Request Campaigns for New Customers?
9. How to Create a Campaign Using Quick Review Request?

How to Set up Review Request Campaigns?

Here is how you can set up a review campaign on SocialPilot Reviews:

1. Select the brand and location for the campaign from the dropdowns at the top of the page.

2. Go to Reputation in the left-side menu, then Review Requests, and select Campaigns.

   

3. Click Create Campaign at the top-right.

   

Note: The Create Campaign button also holds Quick Request. If Quick Request is pinned as the default, click the arrow beside the button and select Create Campaign.

4. Choose how to start:
   • Start from Scratch: build a new campaign. Its workflow starts with a default sequence of review request emails that you can edit.
   • Use Templates: start from one of your review request templates.

   • Duplicate Campaign: start from a copy of one of your existing campaigns.

     

5. On the Setup tab, check the Campaign Name. A name such as "Campaign #25" is filled in automatically, so change it to something you can recognize later.
6. Under Intermediate Feedback Form, select a feedback form if you want to collect feedback from customers before they are sent to leave a public review. The list shows each of your location's forms with its status, such as Published, Draft, or Unpublished. Leave it as None to skip this step. Once a form is selected, click Form Preview to see it.
7. Under Start Date, keep Start at launch to begin sending as soon as you launch the campaign. Start at launch sends review requests to the first 30 contacts immediately, and the remaining contacts follow the campaign schedule. To start on a later day instead, select Schedule and pick a date from the calendar.
8. Set the Time Zone, and the From and To times for sending.
9. Enter the Daily Contact Limit, the number of contacts who receive communication each day.
10. Under Enroll Contacts, choose what happens to contacts added to the location after the campaign is created:
    • When a new contact is available: new contacts are enrolled in the campaign automatically.

    • Manually: you choose which new contacts to enroll.

      Note: All contacts already in the location are enrolled when the campaign is created, whichever option you choose. You can remove any of them from the Recipients tab.

11. Under Unenroll Contacts, choose when a contact leaves the campaign: On clicking a link, On opening an email, or On workflow completion.
12. Adjust the branding of your review requests: check the Logo and choose its Logo Size (Small, Medium, Large, or Custom), then set the Review Button Color and Review Button Text Color. If you selected a feedback form, also choose the Feedback Button Type: Range, Thumbs Up/Down, or Stars. Click Reset to default at the bottom to go back to the default settings.

SocialPilot Reviews saves the campaign as a draft as soon as you make your first change, and keeps saving as you go. The cloud icon at the top shows "All changes saved". Anything that needs your attention before launch shows up right away, so you can fix it as you go.

How to Add and Manage Recipients?

The Recipients tab lists every contact enrolled in the campaign. The rest of the location's contacts are listed in the Enroll Contacts window. The Recipients tab shows up to 500 contacts per page.

How to Enroll Contacts in a Campaign?

The button at the top of the Recipients tab changes based on how many contacts are enrolled:

• No contacts enrolled: the button reads Enroll contacts. Search and Filter stay unavailable until at least one contact is enrolled, and the list shows "No contacts enrolled yet."
• Some contacts enrolled: the button reads Enroll more contacts.
• All contacts enrolled: Enroll more contacts is disabled. Hover over it to see "All existing contacts of this location are enrolled in this campaign. Create new contacts to enroll more." Add new contacts from Contacts under Reputation in the left-side navigation menu to enroll more. 

Here is how you can enroll contacts:

1. Open the Recipients tab of the campaign.
2. Click Enroll contacts (or Enroll more contacts).
3. In the Enroll Contacts window, select the contacts you want using the checkboxes. Use the checkbox at the top of the list to select every contact on the page.
4. Click Enroll.

Note: You can also open the Enroll Contacts window from any tab of the campaign. Click Actions and select Enroll Contacts.

How to Unenroll Contacts?

Here is how you can unenroll a contact:

1. Go to the Recipients tab within the campaign.
2. Hover over the contact you want to remove.
3. Click the Remove icon that appears at the end of the row.
4. In the "Unenroll Selected Contact?" window, click Confirm. The contact stops receiving messages from this campaign

To unenroll several contacts at once:

1. Hover over a contact row to reveal its checkbox, then select each contact you want to remove. Checkboxes appear only when you hover over the list.
2. To select everyone, click Select all [number] Contacts in the selection bar that replaces the Enroll button.
3. Click Remove, then click Confirm.

Unenrolled contacts appear again in the Enroll Contacts window if you want to re-enroll them. 

How Does Duplicate Request Prevention Affect Enrollment?

When enrolling contacts into a campaign, you may notice additional indicators next to certain contacts.

Lock Icon in the Enroll Window

In the Enroll window, some contacts may display a lock icon.

This indicates that Duplicate Request Prevention (DRP) is active for that contact.

Hover over the icon to view the message:

• If a date is displayed, the contact has already received a review request, and the waiting period is currently active. The date shown indicates when the contact becomes eligible again.
• If no date is displayed, the contact is part of a campaign where DRP applies, but the first review request has not yet been sent.

You can still select and enroll these contacts.

Red Warning Indicator After Enrollment

If you enroll a contact who is currently under Duplicate Request Prevention:

• A red warning icon appears next to the contact in the Recipients tab.
• Hovering over the icon displays the protection message and, if applicable, the date until which the contact is protected.

The contact remains enrolled in the campaign. However, review requests will not be sent to that contact until the defined waiting period ends. 

How to Set up the Campaign Workflow on SocialPilot Reviews?

Here is how you can set up the campaign workflow:

1. In the Workflow section, personalize elements such as the sender name, reply-to email, text sender for SMS campaigns, and WhatsApp Text From for WhatsApp campaigns.

2. To include Email, Text, or WhatsApp in the same campaign, click the Add button in the Workflow section and select Email, Text (SMS), or WhatsApp from the dropdown.

   You can also jump straight to this step from any tab of the campaign. Click Actions and select Add Message. The Workflow section opens with the Add dropdown already showing Email, WhatsApp, and Text.

   Note: A campaign workflow can hold up to 10 messages. Once 10 are added, Add Message is disabled.

3. If WhatsApp is not connected for the selected brand, select WhatsApp and click the Setup button. Complete the Meta connection flow without leaving the campaign. See How to Connect Your WhatsApp Business Account to SocialPilot Reviews for detailed steps.
4. Once connected, select one of your Approved WhatsApp messages. Hover over a message to preview it, or use the filter to narrow the list by message type, such as Image. To create or manage a message, click Manage Messages to open the WhatsApp Messages section in the Library.

5. Compose the email subject and body, or the SMS. 
   To personalize the subject, click Custom Fields above the subject line and select a field, such as First Name or Location Name. The field is added where your cursor is, for example {{firstName}}, and shows each contact's details in the email. Add a space before and after the field so the subject reads naturally.
   

   

   By default, there’s a one-day delay between two similar communications (e.g., two emails). If you prefer quicker follow-ups, switch the communication type from email to SMS to avoid overwhelming customers.

💡 A built-in spam detector analyzes your email for elements that could trigger spam filters. It ensures your email reaches the recipient's inbox by checking for excessive use of sales language, too many links, or other factors that could be seen as spammy.

⚠️ To send SMS messages through SocialPilot Review, you need to integrate Twilio, a cloud communications platform that provides APIs for SMS and other messaging services.

⚠️ You can create as many campaigns as you need on the Reputation and Reputation + Listings Bundle plans. Each review request email uses one email credit, and a campaign pauses automatically if your credits run out, until you add more.

For SMS-based campaigns, SocialPilot Reviews integrates with Twilio. If you are using a free Twilio account, there is a limited number of SMS messages you can send. With a paid Twilio plan, the number of SMS messages you can send depends on the plan you’ve purchased.

⚠️ To send WhatsApp messages, you need to connect a WhatsApp Business account and have at least one Meta-approved message template.

Note: At any time while creating a campaign, if you want to implement a different template, you can click the paper plane icon located at the top right corner of the Create Campaign page. Click on Choose Template and opt for the relevant template.

This will populate the workflow page with the content saved in the selected new template. Additionally, if the new template you have chosen has the intermediate feedback page enabled, it will also be enabled in the latest campaign you are creating.

How to Find and Fix Campaign Issues?

SocialPilot Reviews checks your campaign’s Setup, Recipients, and every Workflow step for anything that needs attention before launch. Issues appear as soon as the campaign is saved, so you can fix everything in one place before you launch.

You will see issues in these places:

• Issue badge: A red badge with the number of issues appears next to the campaign status at the top of the campaign.
• Side menu: A red dot appears next to Setup, Recipients, or Workflow. Hover over it to see how many issues that section has.
• Fields: A red dot appears on the exact field that needs attention. Hover over it to read the issue.
• Workflow steps: A red alert icon appears on any Email, Text, or WhatsApp step that needs attention.
• Campaigns list: A red alert icon appears beside the status of a live or paused campaign that has issues.

Here is how you can find and fix campaign issues:

1. Click the red issue badge at the top of the campaign to open the Needs Attention panel. You can also click View Issues in the message that appears after the campaign is saved.
   
2. Review the issues, grouped by Setup, Recipients, and each Workflow step, such as Email Day 1.
3. Click Show All to see every issue written below its field. Click Hide All to switch back to dots.
   
4. Click an issue to go straight to the step where it needs fixing. Hover over an issue to see a quick link to fix it, such as Manage.
5. Fix each issue. SocialPilot Reviews saves your changes as you go.
6. Once every issue is fixed, click Actions, then Launch.

Note: On a paused campaign, every issue is written out below its field from the start, so you can see right away what paused it.

Common campaign issues and how to fix them:

• Daily contact limit: Enter a daily contact limit between 1 and 1,000,000.
• Review link missing: Each email or text message needs at least one review link. Add one from Review Links in the message editor.
• Feedback form issue: The selected Intermediate Feedback Form needs to be published. Publish it from Feedback Forms or select another form.
• Google Business Profile verification: Hover over the issue and click Manage to verify your Google Business Profile. 

How to Launch Your Campaign?

Once your setup, recipients, and workflow are ready, here is how you can launch the campaign:

1. Always preview how the messages will appear to customers. You can also send a test email to yourself to ensure everything is set up correctly.

2. Click Actions and select Launch. SocialPilot will begin sending emails and texts according to the schedule you’ve defined.

   Note: Launch becomes available once every campaign issue is fixed. Hover over it to see what still needs attention.

   Keep in mind, the Start Date, Time Zone, Intermediate Feedback Form, and Location are locked once the campaign goes live. You can still edit the workflow and the other settings, then publish the changes.

What Happens if Recipients Are Under Duplicate Request Prevention?

If a campaign includes contacts who are currently under Duplicate Request Prevention, and you attempt to launch the campaign, a confirmation popup will appear.

The popup message states that some contacts are within the duplicate request prevention period and continuing will remove those contacts from the campaign.

You will see two options:

Manage Contacts

Selecting Manage Contacts opens the filtered Contacts view.

Here, you can:

• Review the contacts under Duplicate Request Prevention
• Check their availability date
• Manually unenroll them if required

Remove & Continue

Selecting Remove & Continue automatically removes all contacts currently under Duplicate Request Prevention from the campaign.

After removal, you can proceed with launching the campaign. 

How to Enroll Contacts or Add a Message from the Actions Menu?

The Actions menu at the top-right of every campaign gives you quick access to two key campaign tasks from any tab: Enroll Contacts and Add Message. Both are available for Draft, Live, and Paused campaigns. Ended campaigns do not show them. On a live campaign that is scheduled to start on a later date, the Actions menu shows Update, Pause, End, and Delete.

Here is how you can enroll contacts from the Actions menu:

1. Click Actions at the top-right of the campaign.
2. Select Enroll Contacts.
3. The Recipients tab opens with the Enroll Contacts window. Select the contacts you want and click Enroll.

Note: If every contact in the location is already enrolled, the Recipients tab opens with Enroll more contacts disabled. If the location has no contacts at all, a "No contacts available" pop-up appears instead.

Here is how you can add a message from the Actions menu:

1. Click Actions at the top-right of the campaign.
2. Select Add Message.
3. The Workflow section opens, scrolled to the Add button, with Email, WhatsApp, and Text already showing.
4. Select the channel and compose your message.

Note: Once a campaign has 10 messages, Add Message is disabled.

How to Manage Campaigns After Launch?

Once a campaign is live, you can update it, pause it, reuse it, find it quickly, enroll more contacts, and track how it performs. A red alert icon beside a campaign’s status in the Campaigns list means it has issues. Hover over it to see Campaign has issues.

How to Pause and Resume a Campaign?

To stop sending for a while, click Actions and select Pause. When you are ready to start again, click Actions and select Resume. 

If there’s an issue (e.g., running out of email credits), the campaign will automatically pause and alert you until the issue is resolved. Open the campaign and click the red issue badge to see what needs fixing in Needs Attention.

How to Update a Live Campaign?

You can edit a live campaign while it keeps sending. Your edits wait as pending updates until you publish them.

Here is how you can update a live campaign:

1. Open the live campaign and make your changes on the Setup or Workflow tab.
2. The LIVE status at the top changes to Pending updates. Hover over it to see "Changes made to this campaign will be live once you publish."
3. Click Actions and select Update. The message "Campaign updated successfully." confirms that your changes are live.

Note: Changes in the Sender's Info window and newly enrolled recipients apply right away. The Sender's Info window on a live campaign shows "Changes will apply in live campaign."

Note: Publish your changes before you leave the campaign. If you navigate away first, a "Discard unsaved changes?" message appears, and leaving drops the pending edits.

How to Duplicate and Archive Campaigns?

If a campaign is successful, you can duplicate it and make slight adjustments for future campaigns. You can also archive or delete campaigns as needed to maintain a clean workspace.

How to Save a Campaign as a Template?

You can save a campaign you have created as a template to use later, cutting down on the time it takes to create.

On the Create Campaign page, go to the top right side. Click on the paper plane icon and select "Save as Template."

How to Search and Filter Campaigns?

Use the Search bar to quickly find specific campaigns within your list.

You can also click on Filter to sort campaigns based on criteria such as the 'Status' of the campaign or based on the 'Feedback Forms' used in it.

How to Enroll More Contacts?

To manually enroll more contacts, open the Recipients tab and click Enroll more contacts, or click Actions and select Enroll Contacts from any tab of the campaign. Contacts can be enrolled automatically or manually, depending on how you set up the campaign in the Setup step.

How to View Campaign History?

Campaign History allows you to see all the review requests sent through your campaigns and Quick Review Requests in one place.

You can review delivery status, engagement activity, and platform interactions to understand how your campaigns performed over time.

To read about it in detail, refer to the campaign history document.

How to Check Recipient Status?

The Activity column in the Recipients tab indicates whether a contact is actively enrolled in the campaign. You can also check the Tags column to manage any specific labels assigned to the contacts, which can help in segmentation or targeted messaging.

By following these steps, you can efficiently manage your recipients within the campaign and ensure that review requests are sent to the right individuals at the right time.

How to Automate Review Request Campaigns for New Customers?

Follow the steps to see how to ensure all the new contacts are automatically added to an ongoing campaign

1. Go to Setup from the side menu and click on Integrations.
2. Choose the Zapier integration option. You can use this guide to connect your SocialPilot Review account to Zapier.
3. Once connected, go to Zapier and select your CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) as the trigger app within Zapier. This setup ensures new or updated contacts in your CRM are synced to SocialPilot.
4. Select New Contact or Updated Contact as the trigger event to capture and sync new contacts.
5. Now, authorize Zapier to access your CRM account and retrieve data.
6. Run a test to confirm Zapier can successfully retrieve contacts.
7. In Zapier, select SocialPilot Review as the app to send contacts to.
8. Select Create Contact in SocialPilot Review to import each new CRM contact.
9. Authorize Zapier to connect with SocialPilot Review, allowing the contacts to be imported automatically.
10. Align fields from your CRM with SocialPilot Review’s fields. For instance, match the First Name, Last Name, Email, and Phone Number fields. 
11. If you are managing multiple locations, ensure that location-based fields are mapped to identify which business or branch the contact is associated with.
12. If your contact organization in SocialPilot includes tags, make sure to map relevant CRM data to maintain organized tagging for easy filtering and segmentation.
13. If you need to restrict the contact import to certain criteria (such as contacts tagged with a specific label in your CRM), add Zapier’s filter steps here.
14. Run a test in Zapier to make sure that a sample contact from your CRM is correctly imported to SocialPilot Review.
15. Check the SocialPilot Review platform to confirm the contact was added accurately.
16. Once verified, turn on the Zap to enable automatic imports of new contacts from your CRM to SocialPilot.

Voila! Now, every time there is a new contact added to the CRM, they will be automatically added to the campaign of that particular location.

How to Create a Campaign Using Quick Review Request?

If you want to send a review request immediately without going through the full campaign setup flow, use Quick Review Request. It allows you to:

• Send a one-time request instantly.
• Send requests to multiple customers using bulk upload.
• Enroll contacts directly into a live campaign.
• Select New request with template to create a new campaign automatically.

Follow these steps to create a campaign using Quick Review Request:

1. Click the Quick Request button on the top bar, or go to Reputation, then Review Requests, and select Quick Request.

   

2. Enter the customer’s First Name, Last Name, Email, or Phone Number.

   

3. Select Add in existing campaign, then choose a live campaign from the Campaign dropdown.
   
4. Click Send Request and enroll the contact directly into an existing campaign.

Sending to Multiple Customers Using Bulk Upload

In addition to adding a single contact, you can use the Bulk Upload Contacts option in Quick Review Request to upload a CSV file and send requests to multiple customers at once. 

This is useful when you want to reach many customers quickly without manually adding each contact.

You can choose a template or an existing campaign, and eligible contacts will be processed instantly while the rest follow the campaign schedule.