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Put a review QR code on receipts

A receipt or invoice reaches every paying customer, which makes it one of the few channels with full coverage. This guide shows you how to get your Trustaroo QR code and short link onto that paperwork, whether it is printed by a till, generated by accounting software or emailed as a PDF.

Before you start​

Thermal receipts from a point of sale system​

Most till systems have a receipt footer that accepts a few lines of text and, in many cases, a logo or graphic. Upload the QR code PNG as the graphic and put a single line of text under it.

Thermal paper prints coarsely, so give the code room. Aim for at least 2 cm square, keep the code away from the tear-off edge, and never place it over a fold or perforation. If the printer only accepts monochrome bitmaps, export the PNG at the exact pixel size the system asks for rather than letting it scale the image down.

Thermal receipts fade

Thermal paper darkens in a hot car and fades within weeks. Treat a receipt code as a "scan it now" prompt, not something a customer keeps. That is another reason to pair it with a spoken ask at the counter. See How to ask customers for a review.

Printed and emailed invoices​

Invoicing and bookkeeping software normally lets you edit a footer or add a custom block to the template. Two things belong there:

  1. The QR code image, for a paper invoice that someone reads with a phone in hand.
  2. The short link as clickable text, for a PDF invoice that someone opens on a laptop.

A code alone is useless on screen, and a link alone is useless on paper, so include both.

For service businesses, the invoice arrives days after the work is finished, which is often the perfect moment: the job has been delivered, the result is proven, and the customer is already thinking about you.

Order confirmations and delivery notes​

Online orders give you two natural slots. The confirmation email is too early, because nothing has been received yet. The delivery note in the box and the "your order has arrived" message are much better, because the customer has the product in their hands.

If your webshop software supports it, put the QR code on the packing slip and the short link in the delivery notification.

One line of copy beats a paragraph

"How did we do? Scan to rate us in 30 seconds." is enough. A long paragraph on a receipt gets skipped, and space on thermal paper is expensive.

What not to do​

  • Do not offer a discount, entry into a prize draw or any other reward in exchange for a review. Google and most platforms prohibit incentivized reviews, and it can cost you your listing. See The review filter and platform policies.
  • Do not ask for a specific star rating on the receipt. Ask for feedback and let the customer decide.
  • Do not print the code on a document that only goes to customers with problems, such as a credit note.

Test before you roll it out​

Print one receipt and one invoice, then scan each with a phone. A code that is too small, too close to the edge or printed too lightly will fail intermittently, which is the hardest kind of failure to notice. Walk the full flow once using Test your review link redirect.

Because every visit records the device, operating system and browser, you can watch the Reviews table after the rollout to confirm interactions start arriving around your busiest payment times.