When a payment lands in your PayPal Business account, Reviewflowz asks the customer who paid for a review, a few hours later and after the delay you set. Their review is matched back to that payment. See the PayPal integration.
How it works
A customer pays you through PayPal, and the payment completes.
Within about 1 to 4 hours, they become a contact in Reviewflowz.
The request goes out after your delay.
Their review is matched back to the payment.
What triggers a request
PayPal event | When it fires | What comes across |
A payment you receive completes | Within about 1 to 4 hours: we read PayPal every hour, and PayPal takes up to 3 hours to list a payment | The payer's email, first and last name and phone if they shared one, plus the amount and currency if you map them |
A pending payment, such as an eCheck, is asked about once it clears, if that's within 7 days. Fees, payouts, transfers, money you sent and failed payments never trigger a request. Each payment counts once, and a returning payer is one contact. When you save, we import your last 90 days of payments to match older reviews. None of those payers is messaged.
If you refund a payment before the request goes out, the request is cancelled, unless another payment from that customer still stands. A message that has already gone out isn't recalled.
Connect PayPal
In PayPal, sign in to the Developer Dashboard at developer.paypal.com with your Business account. Open Apps & Credentials, switch to Live and click Create App, choosing Merchant. In the app's settings, tick Transaction Search and save. Then copy the Client ID and Secret.
In Reviewflowz, open Integrations, go to Automate review requests and click the PayPal card. In the PayPal connection window, paste the Client ID and Client Secret and set Environment to Production. It's blank by default, and without it the connection can't reach PayPal.
Choose where payers go
You land on Configure PayPal integration. Map fields matches each payment's details to your contact attributes. Email, First Name, Last Name and Phone are matched for you, and fields left on "Skip" aren't saved. Under After every payment:
Send to. With two or more requests, pick the one PayPal customers join. With one, they join it. With none, saving creates "PayPal review requests", switched off until you turn it on.
Location. With several locations, pick the one requests come from. With one, it's set for you.
Click Save and connect.
The PayPal card on the Automate review requests tab then shows Active, Every paid payment, how many contacts it has added and when it last synced. If you connected but never saved, it shows Setup not finished: click Finish setup.
Set up the request
Timing. PayPal often takes payment before the lesson or the job, so time the first email to when the customer got what they paid for. Saltmarsh Surf School emails a day after the payment, then reminds 3 days later. Choose as soon as possible, 1 hour, 3 hours, or 1, 2, 3 or 7 days, with up to 3 messages. Follow-ups stop once a customer clicks, reviews or unsubscribes.
Channel. Use email. PayPal only shares a payer's phone when they gave one, and a customer without a phone is skipped on an SMS or WhatsApp request.
Message. Saltmarsh's From name is "Saltmarsh Surf School", its Subject "How was the surf, {{first_name}}?" and its Button text "Review us on Google". Wren reads "How was the surf, Wren?". Try yours with Send myself a test.
Direct reviews to. Smart routing shows one button and picks the site per customer for your objectives. Saltmarsh's is "Get as many reviews as possible" on Google. Show all options on the email gives each site its own button, on email only.
Turn it on
Click Turn requests on. Only payments made after you save, while requests are on, get a request. Payments made while requests are off, or while the PayPal source is paused, never get one later. A payment that reaches us more than 7 days after it was made is recorded but never asked about.
See what it brings back
The Requests page counts Contacts, Requests, Clicked CTA, Matched and Stopped. Click Matched to see every customer whose review was matched to their payment.
Good to know
If the card says PayPal refused the transaction search, turn on Transaction Search in your PayPal app, then reconnect. PayPal says that on an app you'd already used for other calls, the permission can take up to 9 hours to apply. A new app made for Reviewflowz shouldn't wait.
If the card says PayPal refused our access, the key may have been revoked or changed: disconnect PayPal, then connect again with a new key. The Requests page shows "PayPal needs attention" while the source can't send.
To change credentials, disconnect and connect again. Payments made in between get no request.
Each PayPal account connects once.
Disconnect stops syncing and keeps your existing contacts.
Nothing is written back to PayPal. The connection only reads.