The setup
A two-location salon in Andheri was getting 3–4 Google reviews a month, all unprompted. Local search ranking in their area is effectively decided by review recency and volume — the top three salons all had 400+.
What they did
- Counter standee with one QR: "Scan for ₹100 off your next visit."
- The script — the receptionist mentions it while the payment processes: one sentence, every customer, no exceptions.
- Claim → neutral review ask routing to their Google Business review page. Unhappy customers also see the manager's WhatsApp — service recovery, not gating.
60-day results
- Scan rate: 18% of billed customers (the script, not the standee, drives this)
- Google reviews: 3–4/month → 19/month
- Coupon redemptions: 31% came back within 45 days — the reward paid for itself in rebookings
The takeaway
For walk-in businesses, the bottleneck is never the QR — it's whether staff mention it. Print the script on the back of the standee facing the receptionist.