Med spa guide
Why treatment named reviews beat star averages, and the request flow that produces them.
Published September 8, 2026 by KKV Labs LLC. $1,000 a month, 3-month minimum as it takes time to show results, named by AI in 90 days or every dollar back.
Short answer
Assistants answering a treatment question look for evidence about that treatment. A recent review that says lip filler is worth more to that answer than ten reviews that say lovely staff.
So the goal is not a higher average. It is a steady flow of recent, specific reviews across Google, Yelp and RealSelf that mention treatments by name and read like a person wrote them.
You get those by asking every patient after the visit, with one short message, a direct link and a question specific enough to answer.
In this guide
The med spa hub has the live city data behind this guide: what AI answers today in 20 US cities, and what we found on the websites there.
Almost every med spa in a given city sits between 4.6 and 5.0 stars. A number that everyone has cannot be the thing that separates anyone. What separates clinics is whether the reviews contain the words the patient's question contains.
Recency matters as much as content. A clinic whose newest review is from 2023 looks closed to a model, whatever the average says. A handful of reviews every month is a stronger signal than a burst of 60 two years ago.
The reviews that help name your clinic tend to contain four things: the treatment, the injector or the clinic by name, the city or neighbourhood, and a specific detail about the visit. None of that requires coaching. It requires asking a question that is specific enough to answer.
Compare: please leave us a review, which produces lovely staff, with: would you mind saying what you came in for and how the visit went, which produces first time Botox with a named nurse, quick appointment, clear pricing. The second is a usable fact for an assistant. The first is decoration.
Ask at the right moment
Two hours to two days after the visit, not two weeks. Front desk sends it, not the injector, so nobody feels pressured by the person who treated them.
One channel, one link
A text message with one direct review link. Every extra click loses people. Rotate which platform you point to across the week so Google, Yelp and RealSelf all keep growing.
Ask a specific question
Ask what she came in for and how the visit went. Never write the review, never send suggested wording, and never send a list of phrases to include.
Never trade anything for a review
No discounts, no free units, no draws, no gift cards. It breaches the major platforms' policies and it is a consumer protection problem. Ask everyone, not only the patients you expect to be happy.
Reply carefully
Reply to every review, and reply without confirming that the person is a patient or mentioning any detail of their care. Thank you for taking the time, please call the clinic and ask for the manager is the right shape for a negative review.
Make it a habit, not a campaign
Five to ten requests a week forever beats 200 in one month then silence. Put it in the closing routine of every visit so it survives staff changes.
Reviews about a medical service sit in a stricter place than reviews about a restaurant. Three rules cover most of it. Do not incentivise. Do not write or edit the patient's words. Do not disclose patient information in a public reply, including the fact that someone was treated at your clinic.
Do not remove or hide a negative review as a matter of course, and never post a review of your own clinic from a staff account. Advertising and privacy rules for medical practices vary by state, so check your state's rules and your board's guidance, and have your medical director approve the request template before you send it.
Google first, because it feeds the widest set of answers. Yelp second, because assistants cite it for local services more than clinics expect. RealSelf third, because it is the aesthetics specific source and a review there sits next to the treatment information a patient is reading.
Testimonials on your own website are worth having for patients, but they corroborate nothing on their own. Keep them, and keep them honest, and do not count them as review signal.
The short version
Six things, in order. None of them needs a developer, an agency or a budget, and every one of them is checkable by you.
Questions
Keep going
The citation spine in order of impact, and the seven details that have to match everywhere.
Read the guideEducational content, no outcome claims, director review, consent. General guidance, not legal advice.
Read the guideWe run 10 real patient questions for your city through ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode and send you the dated screenshots: which clinics are named today, and whether the answer is still open. No call required.
All nine med spa guidesWhat the free check includes
Questions? hi@kkvlabs.com