If someone is selling you review software, ask these questions before you sign: how long the contract runs, how you cancel, what happens to your printed codes and your data when you leave, and whether anyone has promised you a number of reviews. This guide explains each question, what a good answer sounds like, and when you do not need the software at all.
We sell review software ourselves, so we tell you how we answer each question at the end. The checklist works for any company, including us.
Why these questions
We read a large number of low-star public reviews of review software and Google review stands. The same few complaints kept coming back. Owners could not cancel, or were charged after they thought they had cancelled. They paid for months and saw few new reviews. They could not reach support once the sale was done. They kept getting sales calls. And some found it hard to take their phone number or their data with them when they left.
1. How long is the contract, and how much notice do I give?
Ask for the length in writing. Some review tools sell a twelve-month contract that renews on its own, and some only accept a cancellation inside a short window before the renewal date. Miss the window and you can owe another full year.
Ask three things:
- Is it monthly, yearly, or longer?
- Does it renew automatically?
- If it renews, how many days before the renewal date must I tell you, and how?
If the salesperson says "you can cancel any time", ask where that sentence is in the contract. If it is not written down, it is not a promise.
2. How do I cancel: a button, or a phone call?
This one matters more than it sounds. A cancel button in your account works on a Sunday night. "Email your account manager" or "call us to cancel" depends on someone answering, and many of the complaints we read came from owners who said nobody did.
Ask them to show you the cancel screen during the demo. If there is no such screen, ask what the exact steps are, and save the answer.
Also ask: when I cancel, do I keep what I already paid for until the period ends, or does it stop the same day?
3. What happens to my printed codes and cards when I leave?
Many review stands and cards do not open Google directly. They open the vendor's address, which then sends the customer on to Google. That is useful, because the vendor can change where it goes without reprinting anything. It also means your stand works only as long as the vendor keeps that address running for you.
So ask: if I stop paying, does my stand still open my Google review page? Or does it open an error, a sign-up page, or the vendor's own advert?
If you have printed hundreds of table cards, this answer is worth more than any feature on the list.
4. What happens to my data, my number and my reviews?
Ask what you can take with you:
- Feedback and ratings. Can you download them, and is that included in your plan or only a higher one?
- Your phone number. Some tools that send review requests by SMS ask you to move your business number onto their system. Ask how you move it back, and how long that takes.
- Your Google listing. If the tool connects to your Google Business Profile, ask how you disconnect it yourself.
- Your reviews on their website. Some platforms show your reviews on a public page of their own. Ask what is published there, and whether it comes down when you leave.
5. Are you promising me a number of reviews?
Nobody can promise that honestly. A review is written by a customer, on Google, when they choose to. Software can make the review page easier to reach. It cannot make anyone write.
If a salesperson says "you will get 50 reviews a month", ask how that number is counted and whether you get your money back if it does not happen.
Also check how they plan to get those reviews. As of October 2026, Google's contribution policy says a business must not offer incentives such as payment, discounts or free goods in exchange for a review, and must not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers". It also says businesses "should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises". A tool sold on "blocks bad reviews" is selling you the thing Google forbids, and the reviews at risk are yours.
6. Do I need this at all?
Often not. Google gives you a free review link and QR code from your Business Profile, and as of October 2026 its help page on getting reviews says you can ask customers to "visit a Google link or scan a QR code". Print it, put it on the counter, and ask every customer. For a single shop that is a lot of the work done, at no cost.
Our guide to making a Google review QR code shows how, and how to get more Google reviews covers how to ask without breaking Google's rules.
Software earns its place when you want something the free link cannot give you: a private way for unhappy customers to reach you, an alert when someone rates you low, or numbers for each stand and card.
How Cardless Reviews answers the same questions
Here are our answers, so you can hold us to them.
Contract. There are three plans: Review Link, which is free, and Reviews+ and Reviews Pro, which are paid by the year. The pricing page says what each costs and includes.
Cancelling. Where a paid plan renews automatically, you stop it yourself from the Plan page in your dashboard. There is no call to make. You keep everything until the end of the year you paid for, and nothing you made is deleted. If you paid and changed your mind, our refund policy gives a full refund when you ask within 14 days of paying, renewals included.
Printed codes. Your stands and cards open a Cardless Club address, which sends people to your Google review page. If a paid plan ends, that address keeps sending people to Google. You lose the rating page, the private messages and the detailed counts, not the stand. The Review Link plan is free, so keeping a printed code working never needs a payment. The honest limit: the address runs on our servers, and it sends people only to a Google review link. If you want a code that depends on nobody, print Google's own.
Data. Stopping a plan deletes nothing you made. Downloading your feedback as a spreadsheet is part of Reviews Pro.
Numbers. We never tell you how many reviews you got from us, because we cannot know. We know a customer opened your Google review page. We do not know whether they wrote anything. So the dashboard says "Google review clicks", and that is the only claim we make. If another tool shows you "reviews generated", ask how it checked.
See how Cardless Reviews works · See the plans
Questions
Is it normal for review software to need a yearly contract?
Some tools sell monthly plans and some sell yearly ones that renew on their own. Neither is wrong. What matters is that you know the renewal date, the notice you must give, and how to give it, before you sign.
Can review software guarantee more Google reviews?
No. Only customers write reviews. Software can make your review page one tap away, and that helps, but anyone promising a fixed number is guessing or counting something other than reviews.
Is it allowed to send only happy customers to Google?
As of October 2026, Google's policy forbids selectively asking for positive reviews. Our rating page can send customers who pick a high rating to Google on their own. The lower rating screens keep a visible Google link, unless a Reviews Pro owner chooses to hide it. You can switch the automatic step off, and you should read the rules for your own business before you turn it on.
What if the software company shuts down?
Any code that opens the vendor's address stops working when the vendor stops. That includes ours. A code made inside Google opens Google directly and does not depend on any vendor, which is why we suggest it to anyone who only needs a link.