Collect private feedback
How do I collect private feedback without filtering my reviews?
Two separate settings decide this, and only one of them carries any risk.
If you want feedback that never becomes a public review, create the campaign as Collect internally. Nobody is asked to review you anywhere, and everything stays in Synup.
Screening is the other one, and it is the review-gating decision. On a campaign that publishes to a directory, screening asks for a rating first. Ratings at or above the positive threshold are shown the public review sites. Lower ratings get a private feedback form in Synup instead. Sending people to different places depending on how happy they are is review gating, so read Synup's warning before using it. Synup ships screening switched off in the campaign builder and warns you on the same screen.
The positive threshold is 4★ and up for campaigns you build with Via Email/SMS. Only the Via Static URL builder lets you choose between 3★ and up (1–2★ stay private) and 4★ and up (1–3★ stay private).
Key facts
| Where it lives | Reviews → Invite → Acquire New Reviews. The choice is the first dialog of Via Email/SMS |
| What you need | A plan that includes review campaigns |
| Cannot change later | Whether a campaign publishes to a directory or collects internally |
| Screening | Off by default in the campaign builder, with a warning. On by default in the Via Static URL builder |
| Positive threshold | 4★ for email and SMS campaigns. 3★ or 4★ in Via Static URL |
| Where private feedback lands | Reviews → Invite → Responses → Internal |
| Counted in your rating | No. Private feedback is left out of your average rating, Review Health and the Reputation roll-up |
Steps
Open Reviews → Invite for a location, select Acquire New Reviews, then Via Email/SMS.
In Where does the feedback go?, choose Collect internally to keep feedback private, or Publish to directory to ask for public reviews. The dialog says you can't change this once the campaign is created.
If you chose Publish to directory, decide about screening in step 2, Content. The Screening section sits between Content and Destination. Leave Enable screening off unless you have decided to gate.
Finish the campaign as usual. See Create a review campaign.
After customers respond, read the private feedback in Reviews → Invite → Responses, then switch the view from Published to Internal.
The choice you can't take back
The destination dialog offers two cards.
- Publish to directory sends people to Google, Facebook or whichever sites you pick.
- Collect internally keeps everything first-party. No public review is requested at all. The card adds that the feedback is stored in Responses → Internal and shown on your review widget.
The dialog says plainly: "You can't change this once the campaign is created." Pick the wrong one and you build a new campaign.
If your question is "I want to hear from customers before it becomes public", Collect internally is the clean answer. It raises no gating question, because you are not choosing who to ask: you are not asking anyone. Screening inside an internal campaign only decides who sees the comment box.
Screening, and why Synup warns about it
On a campaign that publishes to a directory, screening is the setting that decides who gets asked.
Enable screening ships off, so by default your invite page shows everyone the same review buttons. Synup's warning stays on screen whether the switch is on or off:
"Screening (gating) is more likely to get your reviews removed under Google's and the FTC's updated review guidelines. Leaving it off is safest — turning it on is your choice."
Switch it on and the invite page changes shape. It asks for a rating first. With the threshold at 4, someone who rates you 4 or 5 gets the review buttons. Someone who rates 1, 2 or 3 never sees them. They get a private comment box instead, and what they write is stored in Synup. Someone who picks a low rating and closes the page without sending anything leaves no trace.
Sending people to two different destinations depending on how happy they are is what review gating means. Synup allows it, states the risk, and leaves the decision to you. The risk it describes is to the reviews you already have, not only the ones you are about to ask for.
In the email and SMS builder the cut-off is fixed at 4★. There is no threshold control there.
What each setup looks like to your customer
Publish to directory, screening off
- Asked first
- Nothing — the review buttons appear straight away
- Who gets the public ask
- Everyone
- Collected privately
- Nothing
- Gating
- None
Publish to directory, screening on
- Asked first
- A rating
- Who gets the public ask
- People at or above the threshold
- Collected privately
- A comment from everyone below the threshold, once they send it
- Gating
- Yes — this is what Synup's warning is about
Collect internally
- Asked first
- A rating
- Who gets the public ask
- Nobody
- Collected privately
- Every rating, and a comment when you ask for one
- Gating
- None — you aren't choosing who to ask
Two details sit under that table:
- With screening on and Publish to directory, a positive rating is recorded as soon as it is chosen, so happy customers also show up in your response counts. A low rating is recorded when the customer sends the form.
- With Collect internally and screening off, the comment box appears for everyone only if Ask for written feedback is ticked, which it is by default. With it cleared, the rating is recorded and the customer is thanked. The rating question itself can be 1–5 stars or Two options (a happy and an unhappy choice), which are counted as a positive and a negative score.
One place screening starts switched on
Acquire New Reviews → Via Static URL, the builder behind a shareable link and QR code, opens with Enable screening already on, and that screen does not repeat the warning. It also offers what the email and SMS builder does not: the Positive rating threshold choice (3★ or 4★), a Message shown to low-rating customers, and Hide the private feedback box (record the rating only).
Check that switch before you publish a static funnel, particularly if the QR code is going to be printed.
The permanent QR code & review link at the top of the Invite page is different again. When Synup first creates it for a location, it copies the settings of the location's last launched email or SMS campaign, including whether screening was on, and then it stays as it was. Changing a later campaign does not change it. If that last campaign had screening on, so does the printed code. See Share a review link and QR code.
Where the feedback you collect ends up
Go to Reviews → Invite → Responses and switch the view from Published to Internal. The page states what it is holding: "First-party feedback collected in-app. Never published to a directory; eligible reviews can appear in your widget."
The Internal table keeps the customer, the location the feedback is From, the Acquisition (campaign), the date, the rating with its sentiment and the written feedback. You can search the feedback and filter by rating, sentiment and whether there is written feedback. There is no public-reply action in this view; use the comment to identify the follow-up your team should make.
Private means not published to a directory. It does not mean invisible. Your review widget has an Include internal reviews checkbox. It is off by default, and the widget's minimum-rating filter still applies, but tick it and feedback someone gave you privately can appear on your own website. See Show your reviews on your website.
It stays out of your headline numbers either way. First-party feedback is excluded from your average rating, your Review Health and the Reputation roll-up, which read directory reviews only. In the review queue it is hidden until you select Internal as a review site, an option that appears once private feedback exists.
What you'll see when it's done
- Each response a customer completes appears under Internal with its rating, a Positive, Neutral or Negative label and any comment. A response is only recorded once the customer has actually submitted something on the page: opening the link, or choosing a low rating and leaving, records nothing.
Watch out for
- Screening is a gating decision. Leave it off unless you have decided otherwise. In the email and SMS builder it is off by default for that reason.
- The static-URL builder reverses that default. Check the switch before publishing.
- A printed QR code keeps its settings. Check what the permanent link does before it goes on a counter.
- Review campaigns are a paid-plan feature. On a free trial the Invite pages are replaced by a prompt to choose a plan.
Questions people ask
Can I switch a campaign from public to private later?
No. The destination is fixed when the campaign is created, so build a second campaign instead.
Does screening stop unhappy customers from reviewing me?
No. It only changes what your invite page offers them. Anyone can still open Google and write a review, and someone who intended to is unlikely to be stopped by a comment box.
Nobody has left private feedback yet. Is something broken?
Probably not. The Internal view only fills up once a campaign that collects internally, or a screened campaign, has gone out and someone has responded. Until then it says that no internal feedback has been collected yet and suggests launching a Collect internally campaign.
Can Sydekick turn screening on or off?
Use the builder, where the warning is on screen. Sydekick can read a campaign's stored settings, including screening, but changing who is asked for a public review is not something this article recommends doing from a conversation.