When you ask customers for a review, the channel you use has a big effect on how many actually respond. In Belgium, messages that reach people where they already talk tend to get read and acted on quickly, while email mostly gets ignored. WhatsApp and SMS both do far better than email for this. Getting the channel right is one of the most important parts of collecting reviews, and it is trickier than it looks. ReviewNow is built to handle that side for you.
Here is what is worth understanding about the two channels and why the choice matters.
Why the channel matters more than the message
A review request only works if the customer sees it and taps the link. You can write the perfect message, but if it lands somewhere people never look, it does nothing.
That is why the channel is not a minor detail. It is one of the biggest factors in how many reviews you collect, ahead of the exact wording. This is also why email struggles for review requests. It is not that the messages are bad. It is that they get buried and never opened.
What WhatsApp brings
WhatsApp is how a huge share of people in Belgium communicate every day, and that familiarity does a lot of work.
Messages get opened, and usually fast, because people check the app constantly. A WhatsApp message also feels like it came from a person rather than a marketing system, which makes people more willing to help. And because it is a two-way channel, a customer can reply if something went wrong, which gives you a chance to sort it out privately instead of reading about it in a public review.
For a lot of local businesses here, WhatsApp is the channel where customers are most likely to respond.
What SMS brings
SMS has one big strength: reach. There is no app to install and no account required. If someone has a phone number, they can receive a text. Open rates are high, and it is about as simple and reliable as a channel gets.
Where it earns its place is with the customers WhatsApp cannot reach. Not everyone uses WhatsApp, and you will not always have a number that works with it. For those people, SMS makes sure the request still gets through.
Why this is harder than picking one
The obvious question is "so which one should I use," and the honest answer is that it is not a clean either-or. Each channel is stronger for different customers, and knowing which channel suits which customer, sending accordingly, and keeping track of who responded is a lot to manage by hand across a full customer list.
This is the part most businesses underestimate. It is not just choosing a channel once. It is doing the right thing for every individual customer, every time, without messaging anyone twice or letting people slip through. That is fiddly enough that it is really a job for software, not a spreadsheet and good intentions.
Common questions
Is WhatsApp better than SMS for reviews? For getting a response, WhatsApp often does very well in Belgium. But "better" depends on the customer. If someone is not reachable on WhatsApp, then SMS is the better channel for that person, because it is the one that actually reaches them. Neither wins outright for everyone.
Can I send review requests over WhatsApp for my business? Yes, using WhatsApp's business tools. You should be messaging your own customers about the service they just received, keep it relevant, and always give them a way to opt out.
Is email ever worth using? It is the weakest of the three for review requests, mainly because so many messages go unread. It can serve as a last resort for customers you have no phone number for, but it should not be your main channel.
Will messaging customers annoy them? Not if it is done properly. The idea is that each customer is asked once, in a way that reaches them, with at most one gentle reminder. Overdoing it is what annoys people, not a single well-timed request.
The bottom line
The channel you use to ask for reviews has a large effect on how many you collect, and both WhatsApp and SMS beat email by a wide margin in Belgium. The complication is that the best channel varies from customer to customer, and handling that well across your whole list is more work than it first appears.
That is the part ReviewNow takes off your plate. It makes sure each customer gets asked in a way that reaches them, in the right language, after every visit, sale, or job. More reviews, on autopilot.