Frequently asked questions
Everything owners ask before signing up — pricing, plans, Google integration, AI replies, staff roles, billing, privacy, and security. Can't find an answer? Email the founder directly.
About Starvo
What is Starvo?
Starvo is a review management platform for local businesses. Customers scan a QR code, rate the business 1 to 5 stars, and Starvo encourages 4–5 star ratings to be posted on Google while routing 1–3 star feedback privately to the owner for follow-up.
Who is Starvo for?
Starvo is built for owner-operated local businesses — restaurants, cafés, hotels, salons, gyms, and clinics — who want a simple way to collect more public reviews and catch unhappy customers before they post a one-star review online.
How does Starvo work?
You print a QR code and place it on tables, receipts, or at checkout. A customer scans it, rates you 1–5 stars, and leaves a comment. Happy customers see a one-click link to your Google review page. Unhappy customers send private feedback to your dashboard so you can fix the issue first.
Is Starvo allowed by Google?
Yes. Google’s review policy requires that you must not selectively solicit positive reviews. Starvo shows the Google review link to every customer regardless of their rating — we just make it more inviting for the ones who had a great experience. This is fully compliant.
Isn’t this review gating?
No. Review gating means hiding the option to leave a public review from unhappy customers. Starvo never hides the Google review link — every customer at every rating sees it. We simply collect private feedback in parallel so owners can address issues directly.
Will Starvo support WhatsApp review requests?
WhatsApp review prompts and follow-ups are on the roadmap. The current MVP focuses on the QR + private/public-routing flow. If WhatsApp is critical for you, email us — that helps us prioritize.
Pricing & plans
Is there a free plan?
Yes. The Free plan includes 1 location, up to 50 customer scans per month, and 20 AI-generated replies per month. No credit card required. Use it indefinitely if it fits your needs.
How much does Starvo cost?
Free ($0): 1 location, 50 scans/month, 20 AI replies/month. Starter ($9/month): 1 location, unlimited scans, 50 AI replies. Pro ($29/month): 3 locations, unlimited scans, 500 AI replies, Google review sync. Pro Max ($99/month): 10 locations, 2,000 AI replies, public API access. Enterprise: custom.
Do you offer annual billing?
All paid plans are billed monthly today. Cancel anytime and your plan continues until the end of the current period. We may add annual billing in the future — email us if you’d like it now.
What counts toward my monthly reply limit?
Every outbound reply counts: AI-generated replies, manually written replies, and template-based replies. The limit is per location per calendar month and resets on the 1st. Replies to Google reviews share the same pool.
What is a customer scan?
A customer scan is a single submission of the review form by a customer. Loading the page does not count; submitting a rating does. On the Free plan you get 50 scan submissions per month. Paid plans are unlimited.
Can I change plans later?
Yes — upgrade or downgrade anytime from your dashboard. Upgrades take effect immediately. Downgrades take effect at the next billing cycle so you keep what you paid for.
Billing & payments
How are payments processed?
Payments are processed by Dodo Payments, a Merchant of Record. Starvo never stores your card details. Dodo handles taxes, refunds, and compliance globally.
How do I cancel?
Cancel from your dashboard under Billing. Your plan stays active until the end of the current billing period — no immediate cut-off — and then drops to Free. Your data is preserved.
Do you offer refunds?
We will refund the most recent month’s charge if you email us within 14 days and you have not used the bulk of that month’s quota. Reach out to support and we will sort it out personally — Starvo is run by a single founder.
Can I get an invoice or receipt?
Yes. Every successful payment generates a receipt from Dodo Payments. You can also request a formal invoice with your business details — email support and we will send it.
Google reviews
Do I need a Google Business Profile to use Starvo?
You need one to receive public Google reviews from customers — that is how Google works, not specific to Starvo. If you don’t have one yet, create it for free at business.google.com. Starvo works without it but you won’t be able to direct customers anywhere to leave a public review.
How do I connect my Google Business Profile?
On Pro and Pro Max plans, go to your dashboard → Google integration and click Connect. You will sign in with the Google account that owns your business listing and grant Starvo read/write access to reviews. Disconnect anytime.
Will Starvo notify me if my Google rating drops?
Yes. On Pro and above, you get an email alert whenever your Google rating drops by 0.1 stars or more in 24 hours, so you can investigate and respond fast.
AI replies
What AI does Starvo use for replies?
Starvo uses Llama models via Groq for fast, low-cost generation. Replies are produced server-side using the review text, the customer’s rating, and your business type — never your private data outside that prompt.
Can I edit the AI reply before sending?
Yes. The AI draft appears in a text box and you can edit any line before sending it to the customer or posting it as a Google reply. Most owners send drafts after a 10-second review.
Are AI replies marked as AI?
No — the reply goes out as your business, the same as if you typed it. The AI is a drafting assistant, not a public-facing bot. You stay in control and edit anything before it’s sent.
QR codes
Where should I place the QR code?
High-touch, end-of-experience spots: bottom of receipts, on the bill folder, near the exit, on table tents, or on the back of menus. The customer should encounter it right when they are forming an opinion.
Does each location get its own QR code?
Yes. Every location has a permanent unique slug and QR code. Scans are attributed to the right location so multi-location accounts can see per-location dashboards.
Will my QR code ever change?
No. Slugs are permanent so printed materials never break. If you rebrand a location, the slug stays — only the display name changes.
Staff & invites
What staff roles does Starvo support?
Owner, Manager, and Staff. Owners control billing and locations. Managers can reply to reviews and manage settings for the locations they’re assigned to. Staff can only view feedback. Roles are enforced server-side, not just hidden in the UI.
How do I invite staff?
Go to Dashboard → Team and enter their email. We send them an invite link. They sign up with that email and are automatically added to your business with the role you chose.
Do staff seats cost extra?
No. Pro and Pro Max include unlimited staff seats for every location you own. We bill on plan tier and locations, not per user.
Getting started
How long does setup take?
About two minutes. Sign up, paste your Google review URL, download your QR code as PDF, and print. The first scan can happen the same day.
Do I need to train my staff?
Not for the basics. The customer-facing flow has no learning curve — they scan and tap stars. For the owner dashboard, the AI replies and Google sync are one-click operations.
Moderation
Can I delete a private review?
Yes. Private reviews live in your dashboard and you can delete them. Public Google reviews can only be removed by Google — Starvo cannot delete them on your behalf, but you can flag them through your Google Business Profile.
What about spam or abusive submissions?
Each location is rate-limited per IP to prevent flooding. Submissions are also screened for length and obvious spam patterns. You can mark any review as resolved or delete it.
Privacy
Who owns the review data?
You do. Private feedback collected through your QR code belongs to your business. You can export it any time as CSV from your dashboard. Starvo does not sell your data and does not share it with third parties beyond what is required to run the service (e.g., Supabase, Groq, Resend).
Is Starvo GDPR-compliant?
Yes. We store the minimum data needed to run the service. Customers submitting reviews can do so anonymously — email is optional. On account deletion, your data enters a 48-hour soft-delete window then is hard-deleted by a scheduled job.
How do I delete my account?
From Settings → Danger zone, request deletion. Your account enters a 48-hour grace period during which you can cancel the deletion. After 48 hours, your business, reviews, and any private data are permanently removed.
Security
How secure is Starvo?
All API routes verify ownership server-side, all admin and cron routes are secret-gated, and all webhook events are signature-verified and deduplicated. Database access uses row-level security. Card details are handled by Dodo Payments (a Merchant of Record) — Starvo never sees them.
Where is my data stored?
Your data lives in a managed Postgres database via Supabase, with row-level security enforced on every table. Background services (email, AI, payments) only see the minimum payload needed for the task.
API
Does Starvo have an API?
Yes, on the Pro Max plan. The public API exposes endpoints like /api/public/reviews and /api/public/stats for integrating Starvo with your POS, BI tool, or custom dashboard. Authentication is by SHA-256 keyed access tokens.
What are the API rate limits?
The public API is rate-limited per key. For high-volume use cases, get in touch — we tune limits for Pro Max customers individually rather than publish a hard cap.
Still have a question?
Starvo is built by a solo founder. Email questions, bug reports, and feature requests and you'll get a reply within a day. You can also browse the documentation or visit the help center.