NFC Review Cards: How Tap-to-Review Works

An NFC review card is a card or small stand with a chip inside that stores a web link. When a customer holds a phone near it, the phone reads the chip and opens the link, which leads to your Google review form. There is no app to install and nothing to type. Most review cards also carry a printed QR code that opens the same link, for phones that cannot tap. This guide explains how the tap works, which phones support it, where to place a card, and what to check before you pay for one.

What is an NFC review card?

NFC stands for near field communication. It is the short-range technology people use when they pay by holding a phone or a bank card against a payment terminal. A review card uses it for a much simpler job: handing a web address to a phone.

The card itself is passive. It has no battery and no screen, and it needs no power and no pairing. It can sit on a counter for years. All the work is done by the customer's phone.

Review cards come in a few shapes: a flat card the size of a bank card, a small stand that sits upright beside the register, a sticker, or a plaque for a wall or a table. The shape changes where you can put it. It does not change how it works.

How does the tap open a review page?

The chip stores a short message in a standard format called NDEF. Android's developer guide to NFC basics describes it: the data sits inside a message made of one or more records. On a review card, the record is a web link.

When a phone is held close to the chip, it reads the message, finds the web link, and offers to open it in the browser. From the customer's side the sequence is:

1. Hold the phone near the card.
2. Tap the prompt that appears.
3. Land on the review page.

No app is involved. The link opens as an ordinary web page.

Which phones can tap a card?

Most phones in use today. For our own cards, iPhone XS and newer read the card without any setup, and most Android phones made since 2015 do too, as long as NFC is switched on.

Two details about Android are worth knowing, both from Android's own documentation. First, Android phones usually look for NFC tags only while the screen is unlocked, and not at all if NFC has been turned off in the settings. Second, newer Android versions are more careful with tags that hold web links. The documentation says that beginning with Android 17, scanning such a tag shows an open link notification, and the person has to tap it before the page opens. That adds one tap, and it means customers are never sent to a page without choosing to go.

The practical lesson is that a tap will not work for every customer every time. Someone will have NFC switched off or a phone that is too old. This is why a printed QR code on the same card matters.

Should you use NFC, a QR code, or both?

Both, on the same card. They fail in different situations, so together they cover nearly everyone.

• NFC is quicker. There is no camera to open and nothing to aim. It suits a counter where the customer already has a phone in hand to pay.
• A QR code works on any phone with a camera, works from further away, and can be printed on things a chip cannot go into: receipts, invoices, menus, the back of a business card.

Google treats the QR code as a normal way to ask. Its instructions for creating a review link or QR code suggest printing the code and displaying it in your store.

Where does the card send the customer?

That depends on what link is stored on the chip, and it is the most important thing to understand before you buy.

Straight to Google. The simplest card holds your Google review link. A tap opens the review form for your business. You can get that link from your Business Profile, or build one from your Place ID with our free Google review link generator.

To a page first. Other cards open a page run by the card provider, which then passes the customer on to Google. That page is what makes extra features possible: counting taps, showing your logo, and changing the destination later without touching the card.

Smart Review Stand works the second way. The card opens a rating page with your logo and five stars. A high rating opens your Google review form. A low rating offers the customer a short private note to you first, and the link to Google stays on the page. The how it works page shows each step.

If you use any page that sits between the tap and Google, ours included, check it against Google's rules yourself. Google's content policy for Maps forbids discouraging negative reviews and selectively soliciting positive ones. Every customer should be able to reach your Google review form, whatever they think of you. We go through the rules in Google's review policy explained.

Where should you put a review card?

Where the customer already has a phone in hand and a moment to spare.

• At the payment point. Beside the card machine is the natural spot.
• On the table. In a restaurant or cafe, a small stand near the bill.
• At reception. For clinics, salons and offices, where people wait to pay or rebook.
• In the technician's pocket. For trades and home services, the card travels to the customer.

Add a line of text that says what to do. "Tap your phone here to review us" works better than a logo on its own, because not everyone knows a card can be tapped. And have staff point to it. A card nobody mentions is easy to overlook.

One physical note: if a card reads poorly where it is, try it somewhere else before blaming the card. Lift it onto a stand or move it to a different surface, and test again with two or three phones.

What should you check before you buy?

• Can the link be changed? If your Google listing changes, you want to update the destination without replacing the card.
• Does it have a QR code as well? A card with a chip only leaves some customers out.
• Can you see what each card does? Separate reporting per card tells you which counter or table is working.
• What happens if a card is lost? You should be able to switch it off.
• What does it cost over time? Some cards are a one-time purchase and others come with a subscription. Know which you are buying.
• Can you use a card you already own? Many NFC cards can be rewritten.
• Who controls the link? If the card points at a provider's page, ask what happens to the card when you stop paying.

For reference, our own prices are simple. The subscription is $25 per month for one location and includes no card, because we can rewrite an NFC card you already have. A card from us is $15, paid once, so starting with one card costs $40 in total. The one-time membership is $500 and includes five cards. With either plan, each card has its own link, so you can see which counter or table earned the tap, and a lost card can be switched off from the dashboard. The pricing page has the full list.

Can you set up a card yourself?

Yes, if all you want is a tap that opens your Google review link. You need the link, a blank tag, and a way to write the link to the tag, which a phone can do with a tag-writing app. Test the finished card with at least one iPhone and one Android phone before you put it out.

Keep one thing in mind about links built from a Place ID. Google's documentation on Place IDs says an ID may change over time, and may become obsolete if a business closes or moves to a new location. If you relocate, test every card and every printed code again.

What you do not get from a do-it-yourself card is the reporting, the branded page, or the ability to change the destination later. Whether those are worth paying for depends on how many cards you run and how much you want to know about them. Our features page lists what the dashboard shows.

What goes wrong, and how do you fix it?

• Nothing happens on tap. NFC is switched off, the phone is locked, or the phone is too old. Point the customer to the QR code.
• The customer does not notice the card. Add clearer wording and ask staff to mention it.
• The link opens the wrong page. Test after every change, and again after any change to your Google listing.
• Taps happen but reviews do not. The card removes steps. It does not replace the request. Ask in person as well, and see how to get more Google reviews for wording.

Do NFC review cards follow Google's rules?

A card is only a way to open a link, and Google itself recommends sharing a link or a QR code with customers. The rules apply to how you use the card, not to the chip. Do not offer anything in return for a review, and do not hand the card only to customers you expect to be pleased. Put it where every customer can reach it, ask everyone in the same words, and let each person write what they think.

That is the whole idea behind a review card. It does not make customers like you more. It makes it easy for the ones who were going to say "sure, I will" to do it before they leave.