Review Velocity Decay

Review Velocity Decay is the rate at which a client's review flow slows after the initial request push, and the compounding loss in local SEO and conversion that follows. Agencies often treat review collection as a one-time setup: launch a campaign, hit 50 reviews, move on. But Google's local ranking and buyer trust respond to recency and cadence, not just total count. A profile that collected 40 reviews in month one and 3 in month six reads as dormant to both algorithms and prospects. The framework asks agencies to model review flow as a decay curve, then schedule replenishment triggers (post-service SMS, invoice follow-ups, QR at point of sale) before the curve flattens. Reviewly's SMS invitations carry a 98% open rate, and GatherUp monitors 100+ sites, so the tooling exists to sustain cadence. The agency play is packaging review velocity as a monthly retainer line, not a project fee.