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What is the Review Engine?

The Review Engine is an automated follow-up system that asks every customer to rate their inspection — and makes sure you actually hear what they have to say:
  • Higher ratings see a one-tap path to share their experience on Google, Facebook, or Yelp
  • Lower ratings come straight to your inbox as private, actionable feedback you can follow up on
It runs on its own after each inspection, so you never have to manually ask for a review again — and you never miss a piece of feedback that could improve your business.

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How it works

Each customer contact receives: The sequence stops the moment a customer submits a rating. SMS respects quiet hours in your organization’s timezone, so customers are never messaged late at night.
Note: “Inspection complete” fires only after the report is published, payment is collected, and agreements are signed — so review requests only go out for properly closed-out jobs.

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The customer experience

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The star rating screen

The email and SMS link opens a clean, branded rating page that shows the inspection address and asks one simple question:
How was your inspection? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The customer taps a star — and what happens next depends on the rating.

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Higher ratings: share publicly

When a customer leaves a strong rating, they’re offered a one-tap path to share their experience on:
  • Google (most impactful for local SEO)
  • Facebook
  • Yelp
Only the platforms you’ve connected appear. Every click is tracked, so you can see exactly how many people followed through.

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Lower ratings: private feedback

When a customer leaves a lower rating, they’re shown a text box — “What could have been better? (optional)” — and a Submit button. Their feedback comes directly to you so you can act on it. After submitting they see a thank-you screen and their notes are delivered to your team for follow-up.

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Lower ratings come straight to you

This is where the Review Engine pays for itself. The moment a customer submits a lower rating:
  1. A private alert email is sent to every inspector and admin in your organization
  2. The rating and written feedback are saved to your dashboard under “Private Feedback”
  3. You get an immediate window to follow up while the experience is still fresh
It’s real, actionable feedback you can use — to call the customer, address the concern directly, or improve a process internally. Without the Review Engine, most of this feedback is simply never shared with you.

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Example private feedback alert

Subject: Private feedback received — 123 Maple St, Austin, TX A client has left private feedback for the inspection at 123 Maple St, Austin, TX. Rating: 2/5 Feedback: The inspector arrived 40 minutes late and the report had two photos missing from the roof section. This feedback was not posted publicly. The client saw a thank-you message only.

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The dashboard

The Review Engine dashboard shows four key metrics at a glance:
  • Sent — total review requests delivered
  • Response Rate — percentage of customers who rated
  • Avg Rating — average across all submissions
  • Review Clicks — total clicks through to Google, Facebook, and Yelp
Below that, a Positive / Private Feedback breakdown shows how many ratings went public vs. stayed internal. The Recent Requests table shows every customer, their inspection address, current status (Pending, Sent, Reminder 1, Reminder 2, Rated, Expired), and their star rating once submitted.

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Setting it up

1

Connect at least one review site

Navigate to Business Tools > Review Engine > Review Sites and connect one or more of:
  • Google — search for your business or paste your Google Maps link. Have more than one Google Business Profile (several offices, or inspectors with their own listings)? Add each one with its own display name, such as “Austin Office” — clients see each as a separate button and pick the right one.
  • Facebook — paste your business page URL
  • Yelp — paste your Yelp business URL
The Review Engine will not send any messages until at least one review site is connected.
2

Subscribe and enable

From the Review Engine dashboard, click Disabled to start a monthly or annual subscription. Once subscribed, the engine is automatically enabled — every completed inspection from that point forward will trigger the workflow.

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Example messages

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Initial email (sent 2 hours after inspection complete)

From: Hive Inspect <reviews@hiveinspect.com> Subject: How was your inspection? Hi Sarah, Your inspection at 123 Maple St, Austin, TX is complete. We’d love to hear how it went — it takes less than 30 seconds. [ Share Your Feedback ] Thank you, Hive Inspect

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Initial SMS (sent at the same time)

Hi Sarah, how was your inspection at 123 Maple St, Austin, TX? Share your feedback (30 sec): https://reports.hiveinspect.com/review/a7c3f2…

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Reminder 1 — email (48 hours later, if no rating)

Subject: Quick follow-up — your feedback matters Hi Sarah, just a quick follow-up about your recent inspection at 123 Maple St. Your feedback helps inspectors improve their service. [ Share Your Feedback ]

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Reminder 2 — SMS (72 hours after reminder 1, if still no rating)

Hi Sarah, last chance to share your experience from 123 Maple St: https://reports.hiveinspect.com/review/a7c3f2…

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Key details

  • Emails are sent from Hive Inspect, not your company name. This keeps requests neutral, increases deliverability, and prevents your domain from getting flagged for review-solicitation patterns.
  • SMS is sent from the Hive Inspect shared toll-free number — not your organization’s dedicated number.
  • Quiet hours are enforced based on your organization’s timezone. SMS will not send overnight.
  • Only Customer-role contacts are messaged — agents and other parties are excluded.
  • A contact needs an email or phone number on file. Customers with neither are skipped.
  • One request per customer per inspection. Duplicate sends are not possible.

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Frequently asked questions

Check these in order:
  • Is the engine Enabled on the dashboard? (Requires an active subscription.)
  • Have you connected at least one review site (Google, Facebook, or Yelp)?
  • Does the customer have an email or phone on file?
  • Has it been at least 2 hours since the inspection was marked complete?
  • Was the inspection actually marked complete? This requires the report published, payment collected, and agreements signed.
You’ll receive an email alert the moment a customer submits a lower rating, sent to every inspector and admin in your organization. The same feedback also appears in your Review Engine dashboard under the “Private Feedback” card, alongside the customer’s name and inspection address.
Not currently. Messages are standardized across all inspectors to maintain deliverability and keep messaging concise. The address, customer name, and rating link are personalized automatically.
The request is marked Expired and no further messages are sent. The customer can still rate using their original link until that point.
The Disable toggle requires a quick chat with support so we can pause your subscription correctly. Use the in-app chat bubble and we’ll handle it.

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Last modified on September 7, 2026