How do you run an in-store prize draw to get Google reviews?

The mechanic that works is simple: a QR code at the till, the customer scans it, they leave a Google review if they want to, then they play (wheel, raffle, scratch card) and find out their prize. The key point is to place the gesture at the right moment: right after the purchase, when the customer is happy, not three days later by text. You display the game clearly near the till, your team mentions it in a few words ("we have a little game on, fancy a go?"), and the prize is collected in the shop to create a second visit. Everything has to run in the phone's browser, with no app to install, otherwise you lose three quarters of your players.

Is it legal to give away a gift in exchange for a Google review?

Offering a gift to reward a POSITIVE review is banned: Google's rules prohibit incentivised or bought reviews, and under consumer protection law, tying a benefit to a flattering review counts as a deceptive commercial practice. The nuance that makes the operation clean: you never reward the content of the review, you liven up your shop with a game, and you invite people to leave a free, unconditional review. The review can be good, bad, or non-existent: the customer plays anyway and can win anyway. It is this separation between the prize and the nature of the review that protects you legally and respects Google's rules.

Do you need written rules and a bailiff for an in-store raffle?

Written rules, yes, always: they list the organiser, the dates, the prizes, the entry conditions, the draw and collection terms, and they must be available free of charge. In France, a bailiff is no longer a legal requirement for most games and competitions open to the public since the end of the declaration regime, but the rules remain your protection in the event of a dispute. For a digital in-store game, the rules can live on a web page linked to the QR code, which makes them accessible in one tap. Keep things honest: no phantom prizes, real probabilities, a prize that can genuinely be collected. Setting up a clean game costs nothing and keeps you out of trouble.

What is the ideal length for an in-store prize draw?

Between two and four weeks. Any shorter and you do not have time to reach your regulars or build word of mouth: a three-day game goes unnoticed. Beyond a month, the novelty wears off, your team gets tired of mentioning it, and the activation turns into furniture. The two-to-four-week window lets you cover several visit cycles (a customer who comes once a week sees it two to four times) while keeping the urgency that pushes people to play now. If it takes off, it is better to close it and relaunch a different format a month later than to let the same game drag on until people are sick of it.

What prizes should you offer to get customers to play and come back?

The best prize is not the most expensive one, it is the one that brings the customer back to you. A gift voucher, a house product, a free drink, a discount on the next visit: anything collected IN THE SHOP turns the scan into a second visit. Avoid the instant win such as "5% off right now", which gets used up on the spot without creating anything, and steer clear of off-topic prizes (the tablet that attracts competition hunters, not your customers). Plan for lots of small winning prizes rather than one rare big prize: a customer who wins a coffee comes back to claim it and buys something alongside it, whereas a customer who wins "nothing" leaves disappointed and does not talk about you.

Does the prize wheel collect participants' emails?

No. The Pépite Pass prize wheel captures no email address and no phone number: it is only there to liven up the shop and invite people to leave a Google review, then let the customer play to win a prize. This is a deliberate choice, both to keep things simple for the customer (nobody likes handing over their email just to play) and to stay on the right side of GDPR. If you want to build a customer base and reach people again through notifications, that is the job of another tool, the digital loyalty card, which sits in the customer's Wallet. The wheel itself deliberately collects no personal data.

How do you stop one person from playing several times?

On a paper game, it is unmanageable: people play again, grab several tickets, cheat. This is exactly where digital changes everything. A well-built digital wheel limits play to one spin per device, runs the draw server-side (the result is not calculated on the phone, so it cannot be forced) and blocks replays. You keep control of the prizes and their probabilities, and you can see the number of spins in your statistics. In concrete terms, the same customer cannot empty your prize stock by refreshing the page, and your participation figures stay reliable. It is the difference between a controlled activation and a free-for-all.

Can a prize draw really raise my Google rating?

Indirectly, yes, and this is the point that is often misunderstood. The game does not raise your rating by buying positive reviews (that would be banned and counterproductive). It raises it by prompting the act of scanning among happy customers who, without that invitation, would never have gone off to write a review. Your satisfied customers are silent by default: it is the unhappy ones who write spontaneously. By creating a fun moment at the point of purchase, you give a voice to the satisfied majority, and it is mechanically that volume of sincere, positive reviews that pulls the average up and makes your profile more credible.

In-store prize draw: the app that brings in up to 95 Google reviews a month

An in-store prize draw is the oldest activation in the world, and yet still one of the most effective around in 2026 for waking up a shop and pushing your Google reviews up. The problem is that one flaw in the mechanic, just one, tips you over onto the wrong side of the law and of Google's rules. I am going to show you how to do it cleanly: the mechanic that collects reviews without ever buying them, the legal framing, the right duration, and what turns a one-off player into a returning customer.

My name is Léo, I run Pépite Pass. We operate Apple Wallet and Google Wallet loyalty cards, digital menus, and a prize wheel whose whole job is to liven up shops and collect Google reviews. Every month I see dozens of business owners who want to launch an in-store game, and the same question always comes up: "am I allowed to give something away in exchange for a review?". The answer is subtler than a yes or a no, and it is exactly what makes the difference between an activation that takes off and one that lands you in trouble.

1. Why the prize draw is still the king of activations for reviews

Let us start with the real problem, the one every business owner shares: your happy customers do not leave reviews. It is an almost universal law of local retail. Satisfied people leave happy and silent. The only ones who spontaneously take five minutes to write on your Google Business Profile are often the unhappy ones. The result: your rating does not reflect the reality of your shop, it reflects the frustration of a minority.

To fix this, you have to prompt the gesture among the satisfied majority. And here the prize draw is unbeatable, because it works on three levers at once:

The perfect timing. The customer has just paid, they are happy with their purchase, they are physically in your shop. It is the only moment when they are both available and in a good mood. A text sent three days later falls flat: the customer has moved on.
The playful side removes the awkwardness. Asking for a review head-on is uncomfortable, for the customer as much as the business owner. "Try your luck!", nobody is afraid of that. The game turns an awkward request into a fun moment.
The reward creates a reason to act now. People do not act "later", they play right away because there is something to win and it is quick.

Raffle, prize wheel, scratch card, prize box: whatever the format, the principle is the same. You create a small event at the counter that makes people want to take part, and within the flow of that participation, you slip in the invitation to leave a review. What was impossible to ask for becomes natural to offer.

2. The only rule that matters: never tie the prize to a positive review

This is the heart of the article, read it twice. Many business owners think the game works because it "buys" the review. That is wrong, and it is this reasoning that puts them on the wrong side of the law. The game works because it creates the act of scanning at the moment the customer is happy, not because it pays for a flattering review.

The line is clear:

Mechanic	Status	Why
"Leave a 5-star review and win a gift"	Banned	Incentivised review conditioned on its content: contrary to Google's rules and comparable to a deceptive commercial practice.
"Review required to take part"	Risky	You are buying review volume, Google can filter or penalise the profile, and participation becomes coerced.
"Try your luck! (and by the way, a review helps us)"	Clean	The game is open to everyone, the prize depends neither on the review nor on its rating. The review stays free and optional.

In concrete terms, the wording and the mechanic must guarantee three things: the customer can play without leaving a review, they can win even if they leave a negative review, and you never check the content of the review before handing over the prize. If these three conditions are met, you are in the clear. If one of them fails, you are in the red zone.

It may seem counterintuitive: "but then people are going to leave negative reviews?". In practice, no, and that is the whole beauty of the system. You offer the game to customers who have just bought and are happy. The majority, gently invited, spontaneously leave a good review because they are satisfied. You force nothing, you simply give a voice to the silent majority. And statistically, that majority is positive. This is exactly the mechanism I detail in my guide on how to get more Google reviews in 2026.

3. The rules and the bailiff: what is really required

This is the part that frightens people and has no reason to. Let us separate the real requirements from the myths.

The rules: yes, always. Any game or competition open to the public must have written rules, available free of charge. They must state:

the identity of the organiser (you, your business);
the start and end dates;
the entry conditions (who can play, how many times);
the nature and number of the prizes;
how the draw and the handover of the prize work;
the fact that entry is free and requires no purchase if you want to stay within the classic prize-draw framework.

The bailiff: no, no longer required for the vast majority of games open to the public since the end of the declaration regime in France. You no longer have to lodge your rules with a bailiff for them to be valid. That said, the rules remain your safety net in the event of a dispute: they are what proves you played fair. Do not neglect them just because a bailiff is no longer required.

Good news when the game is digital: the rules live on a web page linked to the QR code. The customer reaches them in one tap, you print nothing, and they are always up to date. Three honesty rules to follow scrupulously: no phantom prize (what you advertise genuinely exists), real probabilities (no wheel rigged to zero chance of winning), and a prize that can actually be collected under the stated conditions. Setting up a clean game costs nothing and puts you permanently in the clear.

Not sure how to frame your game? Just ask me

4. The ideal length: two to four weeks, no more

Duration is the most common mistake, in both directions. Too short and the game reaches no one. Too long and it becomes furniture that nobody looks at any more, your team included.

The window I see working everywhere: two to four weeks. Here is why:

Under two weeks, you do not cover enough visit cycles. A customer who comes once a week only sees it once or twice: not enough time to settle the activation into people's habits or to trigger word of mouth.
Between two and four weeks, you reach your regulars several times, you give the "did you see, they have a game on?" time to spread, and you keep the urgency that pushes people to play now rather than next time.
Beyond a month, the novelty fades. Your team gets tired of mentioning it, and a game nobody talks about is no longer any use. Better to close it cleanly and relaunch a different format a month later.

A tip from the field: announce the end date clearly, on the poster and in the rules. A visible deadline creates urgency. "Until the 15th" is a hundred times more motivating than an endless permanent game, which becomes invisible precisely because it is always there.

5. The prize that brings the customer back: why in-store collection wins

This is where the real difference is decided between a gimmicky activation and one that drives revenue. The goal is not just to collect a review, it is to close the loop of scan, review, return visit. And for that, the nature of the prize is decisive.

Let us compare the two approaches:

Type of prize	What happens	Value for you
Instant win (5% off right now, a free sweet)	Used up on the spot, the customer leaves, end of story	Low: a review, but no second visit created
Prize to collect later in the shop (voucher, product, free drink)	The customer has to come back to you to claim their win	High: a near-guaranteed second visit, and often a purchase alongside

A prize collected on the premises turns a scan into a visit, and a visit into a buying opportunity. The customer who wins a coffee comes back to claim it and leaves with a pastry. The one who wins a 10-euro voucher comes back and spends 35 euros. It is this second visit that counts: in retail, it is often on the third visit that the habit forms. The game gives you a legitimate excuse to prompt an extra visit you would not otherwise have had.

A few principles for choosing your prizes:

Lots of small winning prizes, not a single rare big prize. A customer who wins something, however modest, leaves happy and talks about it. A customer who wins "nothing" leaves disappointed and does not spread the word for you. Plan for a high win rate with prizes that cost you little.
Prizes that reflect you, not universal ones. The tablet attracts professional competition hunters, not your customers. A house product, a discount at your shop, a free drink: these only appeal to people who like your shop. Those are the ones you want to keep coming back.
A real cost you keep under control. A free drink costs you a few tens of cents and triggers a visit worth several euros. The ratio is unbeatable, exactly like the loyalty mechanics I break down in the loyalty programme mechanics that actually work.

6. Why digital changes everything (anti-cheating and zero friction)

You can run a paper raffle with a box and tickets. It works, but it has three deal-breaking flaws: people cheat (they drop in several tickets, they play again), it is heavy to manage (printing, counting, drawing, contacting the winners), and it does nothing for your Google Business Profile. The customer who slips a ticket into the box does not leave a review in the process.

A digital wheel solves all of that in one go:

Zero friction for the customer. They scan the QR code at the till, the wheel opens in their browser, they play. No app to download, no account to create. This is crucial: every extra step loses you half of your players.
The review invitation built into the flow. Before or after the spin, the game naturally offers the option to leave a Google review, without it being a condition for winning. The gesture happens as a natural continuation of the game, not as a separate chore.
Serious anti-cheating. One spin per device, the draw calculated server-side (so impossible to force from the phone), and replays blocked. The same person cannot empty your prize stock by refreshing the page.
The prizes and probabilities under your control. You set what people win and how often, and you track the number of spins in your statistics. The activation stays fully controlled from end to end.

One important point I want to make clear, because I am often asked about it: our prize wheel collects no email address and no phone number. It is only there to liven up the shop, invite people to leave a Google review, and let the customer play for a prize. This is a deliberate choice: nobody likes handing over their contact details to play, and it spares you all the GDPR weight of a database. If you want to build a customer file and reach people again, that is the job of another tool (the loyalty card in the Wallet), not the wheel.

7. The full scenario, from scan to review to return visit

Let us put it all together so you can picture the whole loop in a real shop. Say a delicatessen, but it holds for any neighbourhood business.

Step 1, the purchase. The customer has just paid for her cheeses, she is happy. On the counter, a small poster: "Try your luck, scan here". Your salesperson slips in a word: "we have a little game on at the moment, fancy a go?".
Step 2, the scan. She scans the QR code with her phone. The wheel opens in the browser. No app, no account, two seconds.
Step 3, the review (optional). The game offers her the option to leave a Google review. Happy with her cheeses, she gives five stars and a couple of words. She could have written nothing and played anyway: that is what makes the operation legal.
Step 4, the spin. She spins the wheel and wins a free bottle of wine on her next visit. A little hit of dopamine, a smile, she is already telling her partner about it.
Step 5, the return visit. The following week, she comes back to collect her bottle. While she is at it, she picks up some cheese and a bit of charcuterie. You have just created a second visit and a basket you would not otherwise have had.

Five steps, and you have turned a one-off purchase into a sincere Google review plus a second visit with a purchase. That is what closing the loop means. The game is not a gimmick: it is a frequency engine. It is the same spirit as what I describe for other trades, like turning a bubble tea shop's Instagram into Google reviews or collecting the reviews of a beauty salon's clients.

8. And after the game: replying to reviews and keeping the rhythm

Collecting reviews is only the first half of the work. Once they start coming in, two habits make all the difference.

Reply to every review, good and bad. A review with no reply is a conversation left hanging in front of your future customers. A careful reply to a negative review earns you more credibility than ten five-star reviews, because it shows how you treat people when things go wrong. I have written a whole guide on this: how to reply to Google reviews without falling into the classic traps.

Keep the rhythm without wearing people out. The prize draw is a burst, not a permanent state. Run it for two to four weeks, close it, let it breathe for a month, then relaunch a different format. This alternation keeps the element of surprise and stops your Google Business Profile from slipping back into the silence of satisfied customers. A good rhythm is three or four operations a year, timed around your key moments (back-to-school, the holidays, the shop's anniversary).

9. If I had to sum up

An in-store prize draw works for Google reviews not because it buys the review, but because it creates the act of scanning at the exact moment the customer is happy. The winning mechanic invites a review without ever making it a condition, hands out a prize the customer has to come and collect in the shop, and thereby closes the loop of scan, review, return visit.

Three guardrails never to let go of: the prize is never tied to a positive review (this is what keeps you legal), written and honest rules frame the operation (no bailiff, but with real probabilities and prizes that exist), and the format stays digital to eliminate cheating and friction. Do these three things well, choose prizes that bring the customer back to you, and your game becomes the wake-up call your shop deserved.

If you want us to look at your specific case, message me on WhatsApp at +33 6 03 90 27 83. I will tell you honestly what works for your type of business, and whether a prize wheel is the right tool for you or not. It is free, with no commitment, and you can also see a demo before you decide.