Where to Place Your Google Review Card for Maximum Results

The card is identical whether it sits on a busy restaurant table or a dusty shelf by the door. What isn't identical is the result. Placement is the single biggest lever you control after the purchase itself, and most businesses get it wrong by defaulting to wherever there happened to be free space.

The rule that overrides everything else

Put it where a customer's hands are already free and their mind is already positive — not where it's visually tidy. A review card tucked behind the till, angled toward staff instead of customers, might look neat but will get tapped by almost no one.

The best spot is almost always the last physical touchpoint before someone leaves: where they pay, where they collect their order, or where they say goodbye.

Restaurants and cafés

On the table, propped up near the card reader, works better than a fixed spot by the entrance. The moment the bill arrives is when satisfaction is at its peak and hands are already busy with a phone or wallet — the card just needs to be within reach at that exact moment.

For counter-service spots, place it directly beside the pickup point, at eye level, not on the counter edge where it competes with menus and napkin holders.

Salons, barbershops, and spas

The reception desk beats the styling chair. Customers are focused during the service itself; the natural pause is at checkout, once they've seen the result in the mirror and are already reaching for their phone to pay.

A second card near the waiting area works well too — it catches people with a few idle minutes and nothing else to do.

Retail and shops

Beside the till, angled toward the customer's side of the counter, not the staff side. If you have a bagging area or a receipt printer, that's usually the exact right spot — it's where hands are still out and attention hasn't moved on yet.

What doesn't work

• Windows and entrances — customers here are arriving, not leaving satisfied. Wrong moment entirely.
• Behind glass or laminated under other signage — NFC needs a phone within a couple of centimetres; thick barriers can block the read.
• Anywhere staff have to point it out verbally every time — if it needs constant explaining, it's in the wrong spot. A good position is self-explanatory.

Multi-location businesses

Keep placement identical across every location. If one branch puts it at the till and another puts it by the door, you'll see a real difference in tap rates between locations that otherwise perform the same — and it'll look like a staffing or quality problem when it's actually just a placement problem.