Send a request from WhatsApp

Between jobs, you can ask for a rating without opening the portal. A request uses 1 notification, like one sent from the portal. Sending needs the Trial, Standard or Team plan, or bonus notifications from a referral. See What you can do on WhatsApp.

Send a request

1. Send RateMate your customer's number and first name in one message, for example 082 123 4567 Sipho. Or share their contact card. If the card has several numbers, RateMate prefers the one on WhatsApp and sets up 1 request at a time.
2. RateMate asks you to confirm: "Send a feedback request to Sipho (+27821234567)?" It has 3 buttons: Send Request, Add job note and Cancel. A new customer also gets "They will be added to your customers, with you confirming their consent."
3. Tap Send Request. RateMate replies "Done. ✅ Your feedback request to Sipho is on its way. You'll get an alert if they are unhappy." See What your customer receives.

Tapping Send Request records that your customer agreed to be contacted, the same as the consent tick in the portal. If you tap Cancel, nothing is sent.

If you have added staff, RateMate then asks "Who did the job?". Tap Who did it?, then pick a name or Skip. See Tag who did the job.

For a customer you already have, the number alone is enough. For a new one, RateMate asks for the name if you left it out.

Add a job reference

Put job: or ref: at the end of your message: 082 123 4567 Sipho job: geyser 3 Jul. Or tap Add job note and reply with the note. RateMate shows it on the card as "Job: geyser 3 Jul".

A reference is kept to 80 characters. It is for your records, and your customer never sees it.

If you do not tap

About 4 minutes after the card, RateMate nudges you with the heading "Still there?" and the same buttons. The card stops working 10 minutes after it was sent, or sooner if you start another request. Then you see "That confirmation has expired or was replaced. Send the contact again to start over."

If you asked recently

If the customer has an unanswered request from the last 48 hours, RateMate says "Already asked recently" and offers Send anyway or Cancel. If your request names a job, only a request for the same job, or one with no job, counts.

When it will not send

• The customer opted out: RateMate says so before the card appears.
• You have no notifications left, your plan does not include requests, or your subscription has lapsed: RateMate says which, and links to your billing page.

Replies in the chat are free either way. See Why can't I send a request?.