All of the below have to be enabled by Applause. Applause wants to help with your set-up so that you get the value you're looking for. We want to help ensure the configuration of the modes aligns with where you find the most value and also what modes have the best conversion rates. If you are looking for best practices on how to configure and set-up multiple modes. Contact your customer success manager.
NPS is the only mode turned on by default. Any other modes would be configured during your onboarding with your implementation manager, or through requests with your customer success manager.
Public reviews
This controls how often Applause prompts customers to leave public reviews, through your "Public review frequency" percentage.
Public Review Only Rate: Defines the percentage of rating requests where the customers only call to action is to leave a public review.
"Enable public review" only Toggle: Activates public review prompts in your location settings at the desired percentage.
Example: If set to 25%, then 25 out of every 100 requests the only call to action will be to leave a review based on the "Review title" & "Review Message" and the embedded link added with your "Review Button" in your Public Review Card of your Applause settings.
Why It Matters:
Boosts visibility on public review platforms.
Helps increase review volume and quality.
Enables strategic control over review solicitation
*Review Delay SettingsThe review delay is the designated time we wait before reaching out to a customer who has previously submitted a review at the review links set-up in this card.
NPS
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a key metric used in Applause to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. Configuring the frequency of NPS survey requests is essential to ensure feedback is timely and relevant.
Example: If the public review setting is configured at 20%, and only NPS is enabled then the remaining 80% of requests will be allocated to NPS. In this case, out of 100 total review requests, 80 will be sent as NPS surveys.
Important Note: NPS does not have it's own "Frequency" percentage like public reviews, it is the "default" or fall-back for the remainder of messages if public review frequency is turned on.
It's essential to understand that Net Promoter Score (NPS) remains active as a fallback across all other modes and should not be fully disabled.
Why NPS Matters?
Maximizes Feedback Collection
Balances review and Survey Requests
Drives Actionable insights
Avoids Survey Fatigue
Leads
Leads is a Essentials Plus mode. How it works:
Leads will replace the Tips screen, if enabled.
The order of operations is: Review First → Leads → Referrals → Tips
Leads comes before Referrals if both are enabled.
Why Leads Matter?
Generate new leads from customers who are interested in your other service offerings.
Promote new services or other services that are not as well known by your customer base.
Referrals
Referrals is also a full-featured module — with custom forms, automated payouts (ACH, Venmo, or gift cards), and technician-submitted referrals, all managed from a dedicated section of the Applause platform. This section only covers how Referrals fits into the frequency flow. For everything about setting up and managing your referral program, see the Applause Referrals: Quick Start Guide.
Referrals is a frequency mode. This means:
Referrals will replace the Tips screen, if enabled.
The order of operations is: Review First → Leads → Referrals → Tips
Percentages apply to the remaining pool of customers at each step.
Referrals will work just like other frequencies. They will come after leads, but before tips. Here's what that means in practice (if all these modes happened to be enabled), using an example of 100 services performed:
Step 1: Review First (Public Review Mode)
50% of customers leave a review
That's 50 out of 100 customers giving feedback or ratings
Step 2: Leads
From those 50 reviewers, 20% become leads
That's 10 customers who show interest in additional services or offer
Step 3: Referrals
Now we look at the remaining 40 customers who reviewed but didn't become leads.
20% of those go on to refer others
That's 8 new referrals
Step 4: Tips
The remaining 32 customers (who didn't become leads or give referrals). They will receive the tipping option.
Why Referrals Matter?
Your satisfied customers are already talking about your business. Referrals makes it easy to capture that momentum — automatically prompting your happiest customers at the right moment and rewarding those who send new business your way with cash or gift card payouts. It's important to create a compelling offer in your Referrals settings to maximize conversions.
Tipping
Verifying Tipping Settings
To determine if the tipping feature is active:
Access your Location settings in ApplauseHQ.
Locate the Tipping section to see if the "Active" toggle is enabled.
If "Active" is toggled off, it will not appear to customers. However, NPS will remain active as the fallback mechanism.
Tipping is the default ask after an NPS ask. If enabled, and Referrals and Leads are not enabled - all customers how leave a high enough NPS rating, according to your setting threshold, will be shown your Tipping configuration. If you have other modes enabled, Tipping makes up the rest of the opportunities for all of your NPS requests.
Why Tipping Matters?
Tipping was one of the original modes released with Applause, and an extremely important feature that many companies rely on so their service workers can earn additional money. It offers a unique way to reward exceptional service, creating higher employee morale and customer loyalty.
FAQs
Is tipping mandatory for customer feedback flows?
No, tipping is entirely optional. If disabled, other feedback mechanisms like NPS or reviews will continue to function normally.
How can tipping be disabled?
To disable tipping, reach out to your customer success manager or support.