Guide
How a customer recording becomes an ad creative
A customer video starts with a short request after a purchase or a visit, a link that works in the browser, and a code that pays for a licence to the recording. This is that path as Zaply actually runs it: when to send the message, what to say, what happens on the phone, and when a file may go public.
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Ask after the purchase or the visit
A customer video happens when the request is short, the link works on a phone, and the recording comes with a concrete code. The best moment is while the purchase or the visit is still fresh. You do not wait for a separate campaign, and you do not pick people by whether you expect praise.
One request per order or per visit. A second message the same day feels like pressure. Someone who does not want to record simply does not open the link. No recording is not a rating of the business.
An online shop
On Shopify the email goes out after fulfillment. You set a delay of 1 to 10 days, counted from fulfillment, not from payment. The message goes out in the shop's name. The customer should have the parcel before they describe what was in it.
WooCommerce sends the email from the store after the order is paid or marked completed, also with a delay of 1–10 days. That template can be edited in the store's email settings. Shoper starts from the paid order (order.paid) or from order.edit and waits 0 to 90 days. A shop without a plugin pastes the same link into its own email after shipping.
A venue, a salon, a workshop, a stay
There is no shop order here. You put the link in an SMS, an email, or a QR code you already show after the service. A salon can send an SMS from Booksy or Versum within an hour or two after the appointment is closed. Zaply does not connect to those tools. You paste the recording address.
A restaurant puts a QR code on the bill and, if needed, an SMS an hour later. A workshop gives the link when the repair is collected. A hotel shows a QR code at checkout or emails the next morning. One path, one moment.
This is Studio Lumen. Your 14:30 appointment is closed. If you want, record about 20 seconds in the browser, with no app: https://zaply.me/r/studio-lumen. The code for the next visit pays for a licence to the recording and is still due if we do not show the video.
What the request says
The email and the SMS carry the business name, the link, and the code. Do not promise the code in exchange for praise. Write that the code pays for a licence to the recording and that the customer receives it even if you do not publish the video. Length: about 20 seconds, in the browser, with no app.
On the recording screen the customer sees up to three prompts from the catalog you tick in the profile. You do not paste your own sentence. A prompt asks what they bought or which service they used, how it went, and one detail they remember. It does not ask whether they recommend the business, what they liked most, why they chose you, or whether the parcel arrived undamaged. It does not ask them to introduce themselves.
The order has shipped. If you want, record about 20 seconds about what you bought. The code for the next order pays for a licence to the recording. You receive it even if we do not put the video on the product card.
What to leave out of the copy
Do not write that you collect reviews from people who left pleased. The invite goes to a customer after a purchase or a visit, not to a group picked by rating. Do not attach a script to read aloud. The customer speaks in their own words, including when the description is plain or critical.
What happens on the phone
The link opens the company's page in the browser. There is no Zaply account on the customer's side. They can record with the camera or upload an MP4 or MOV file. The recording must be 15 to 60 seconds. In practice it lands around 20.
Consent before the camera
Before the camera starts, the customer accepts the terms. If you added a link to the shop's own terms, that checkbox is there too. Then they choose a scope: ads and social, or social only. Without that acceptance the file is not submitted and the code is not sent. The person recording confirms they are at least 18. The page does not collect a date of birth.
A request not to share sensitive data, payment numbers, or an identity document always stays on the screen. That line cannot be turned off. If such data still lands in a recording, you delete the file.
A face is not required
The catalog includes a prompt that they can show the product or the result and talk, without a face in the frame. For some people that is the only way a recording happens at all. Do not make a face a condition of the code.
One code, two moments to send it
You set the code. It can go out as soon as the file is uploaded, or only after you approve it. In an online shop the code has to work in WooCommerce, Shopify, or Shoper. In a venue it has to be enterable at the next visit or on the next bill.
Typical amounts depend on the trade, not on Zaply. A restaurant often offers 10% off the next bill, or a dessert with a main course. A salon offers about 15% off the next service. A shop offers 10% or a fixed amount above a threshold. A workshop offers 10% off the next repair, or a diagnostic. A hotel offers 10% off the next night, or a later checkout. These are examples, not a price list imposed from outside.
The discount pays for a licence to the material. It is still due when you do not publish the video. It is not a reward for a positive tone. When you distinguish scopes, one code matches ads plus social and another matches social only. The reward message carries the code that matches the customer's choice.
From one file to three formats
After the edit you receive the original plus 9:16, 16:9, and 4:5 files. Editing trims pauses and adds captions and your logo. A short white card closes the video. If the profile has a logo and the company name, they appear together. The optional “Advertising material” bar covers the bottom of the frame for the first 3 seconds of new edits.
One recording uses one generation. You start with 3, and no card. A pack of 20 costs 29 EUR. A pack of 50 costs 49 EUR. Paid generations you have not used stay valid for 6 months. The passage of time alone does not charge the next payment. The current list is on the pricing page.
Approval comes before publication
A weak or accidental take stays in the dashboard. Only a recording you accept goes out, and only within the consent scope. A paid ad needs the scope that includes ads. Reels, Shorts, and TikTok also fit social-only consent.
You have no duty to publish. You must not hide lawful, technically adequate recordings and present the selection as the complete set of reviews. A selected video on a product card, on a venue page, or in a Reel is one piece of material, not the full list.
One week in a salon
On Monday reception closes four appointments in Booksy and, within two hours, sends each client an SMS with the link. By Wednesday two recordings have arrived. One describes the colour and how long the visit took. The other says the cut was shorter than the client expected and the fringe is shorter than she wanted. Both codes go out, because that is how you set the licence.
You take the first recording for a Reel, after approval, in 9:16. The second stays in the dashboard because you do not want to show it, but you do not delete it so that the page shows only praise described as every review. On Friday the service page, next to the price list, gets the 16:9 file from the first recording. You do not run an ad, because that recording has social-only consent.
The first three recordings, before you buy a pack
The account starts with 3 generations, and no card. Spend them on three real requests, not on a test recorded by staff. In a salon, let them be three appointments from one day. In a shop, three orders that have just gone out. You get three lengths, three consent scopes, and three decisions: publish, leave in the dashboard, or skip the edit when the take is accidental.
After those three files you know whether you have a place to put them. If the page has no room next to the price or the price list, and the profile does not publish Reels, another pack changes nothing. If the place exists, a pack of 20 for 29 EUR or 50 for 49 EUR covers a few weeks of one request a day. You check the number on the pricing page, not in this article.