A review card is a small plastic card, about the size of a credit card, that sends a customer straight to your Google review page. You see them on counters, in service vans and handed over with an invoice. This guide explains how they work, what they cannot do, and the rules that apply to using one.
What is on the card
Most review cards carry two things that do the same job:
- An NFC chip. NFC (near-field communication) is the same short-range radio that phones use for tap-to-pay. A card chip holds a web address. When a phone touches it, the phone reads the address and offers to open it.
- A QR code. A printed square code that any phone camera can read. It holds the same web address.
Both are there because not every phone reads NFC, and not every customer knows to tap. The QR code is the backup that always works.
The address leads to your Google review page, the box where a signed-in Google user picks a star rating and writes a review. Skipping the search (“type our name into Google, find us, scroll to reviews”) is the whole point.
Which phones read the chip
- iPhone. Apple introduced background tag reading with the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR. After the phone has been unlocked once since it was switched on, it reads tags whenever the screen is on, except while a Core NFC session, Wallet or Apple Pay, or the camera is in use, or in Airplane Mode (Apple Developer, “What’s New in Core NFC”, read 2026-10-22).
- Android. Android’s documentation says phones are “usually looking for NFC tags when the screen is unlocked, unless NFC is disabled in the device’s Settings menu” (Android Developers, NFC basics, read 2026-10-22). Some owners have NFC switched off.
In practice: tell the customer to hold the top of the phone against the card for a second. If nothing happens, point them to the QR code.
What a card does not do
A card removes a step. It does not create a reason to leave a review. The customer still has to want to, be signed in to a Google account, and have a minute. So:
- You still have to ask. A card on a counter that nobody mentions mostly collects dust. Handing it over at the end of a job, with a short sentence, is what works.
- It does not choose who reviews. Anyone who taps reaches the same review box, whatever they plan to write.
- It does not affect ranking on its own. Reviews are one input into local results; a card only makes leaving one easier.
The rules that apply
Google’s policies set firm limits on how you ask for reviews (Google Maps user-contributed content policy and Google Business Profile help, “Tips to get more reviews”, both read 2026-10-22):
- No incentives. Google prohibits offering payment, discounts or free goods or services in exchange for a review, or for changing or removing one.
- No selective asking. Google prohibits discouraging negative reviews or selectively soliciting positive ones. Hand the card to every customer, not only the happy ones.
- No pressure on the spot. Google says merchants should not require or pressure customers to leave reviews while on the premises. Offer the card; do not stand over the customer while they write.
Watch for products that break these rules. Some cards and stands send the customer to a “How did we do?” page first, and only pass happy customers on to Google, while unhappy ones go to a private form. That is called review gating, and it is the selective soliciting Google prohibits. A good card goes straight to the review box for everyone.
Where a card fits for a trades business
Trades owners rarely have a counter. The card still helps in a few places:
- At hand-over. Give it with the invoice or at the end of the job: “If you have a minute, a review helps us a lot. Tap this and it opens our Google page.”
- In the van. Keep one on the dashboard for customers who come out to the truck.
- On paperwork. The QR code alone can go on invoices, estimates and yard signs. Our free review link and QR builder makes one for your own page.
A text with the review link, sent the same day, usually reaches more customers than a card, because it arrives when they have time. The card and the text work together. See how to get more Google reviews for the full method.
Check before you hand one out
- Test it on two phones, one iPhone and one Android, by tap and by QR.
- Make sure it opens your business, not one with a similar name.
- Lock the chip. Many cards can be rewritten by anyone with a phone app until the chip is locked. Locking makes the address permanent. A card whose address forwards through a link you control can still be re-pointed later without touching the chip.
- Keep a spare. Cards wear, crack and walk off.
How Review Wizard cards work
Review Wizard cards are Biz Up’s own tap-and-scan cards. Each card’s chip and QR code hold a fixed address on reviewwizard.us, and that address forwards to the review page of the business the card is assigned to. That design has three practical effects:
- A lost card can be switched off, and a card set to the wrong business can be corrected, with no reprint.
- Taps are counted per card, so we can tell whether a card is being used.
- Every tap goes to the same Google review box. There is no rating question in between.
Review Wizard cards are not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.
How you get one. We do not sell cards on their own today. Two cards come with the Review Wizard Autopilot plan, and with the plans that include it, and we bring them when we visit businesses in person. If that changes, this page will say so.
The cards are the smallest part of the Review Wizard. The larger part is asking every customer after every job, and replying to every review.