What the law allows, and what it forbids
Consumer law (in the EU, the Directive 2000/31/EC framework and national transpositions) guarantees the right of every consumer to publish an online review, and frames the obligations of the platform and the reviewed professional. None of these provisions forbid a professional from requesting a review, provided three conditions are met: do not select patients based on presumed dissatisfaction, do not condition care on a review, and do not draft or steer the content of the review.
Filtering by rating: what is allowed
Inviting a patient to write to the practice directly if they are unhappy, and to leave a public review if they are satisfied, is an accepted practice, provided the patient makes the choice themselves. The technique known as 'comment gating' — routing only the patients rated 4 or 5 by the practice to the public review form — is framed and not prohibited, provided it is transparent and offers a return path to every patient.
Filtering by rating: what is forbidden
Selecting which patients to ask for a review based on their presumed satisfaction to artificially inflate the rating, while ignoring the patients who complained, is a deceptive commercial practice sanctioned by consumer law. Transparency on the method is the only protection.
The GDPR frame
A patient's phone number and email are personal data. Using them to solicit a review is a personal data processing activity, and requires a legal basis (the legitimate interest of the practice to manage its reputation, generally) and prior information of the patient. An unsubscribe link ('if you no longer wish to receive this type of message, reply STOP') is not optional.
The codes of professional conduct
National codes of professional conduct (medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy, law) prohibit the practitioner from any direct or indirect advertising. Soliciting reviews, when done in an aggressive commercial frame (automated SMS, follow-up on non-response, financial incentive), can be reclassified as a commercial practice. Sober solicitation, integrated into the care pathway ('at your next visit, if you wish, you may leave a review'), stays within the frame.
What Revydo does, and does not do
Revydo generates a review-request link, signed by the practitioner, that is sent after the consultation via the channel you choose (SMS, email, WhatsApp). The link opens a feedback form that detects unhappy patients (rating < 4) and invites them to write to the practice; satisfied patients are routed to a pre-filled Google review form. The filter is explicit, documented, and configurable — it is transparency that protects.