The way to get more Google reviews is to ask every customer, straight after the job, with a direct link that takes them to the review box in one tap. Most happy customers will leave one if you make it easy and ask at the right moment. Most won’t think of it if you don’t.

Reviews matter more to trades than almost any other business. People are letting you into their home and trusting you with their money, so before they ring, they read what others have said.

In your Google Business Profile, look for “Ask for reviews” or “Get more reviews”. Google gives you a short link that opens the review box directly (Google’s own guide). Save it on your phone so you can send it in seconds.

Ask at the right moment

The best time is when the customer is happiest: when you’ve finished, they’ve seen the work and they’re thanking you. Say something like:

“Glad you’re happy with it. I’m a small business and reviews make a big difference. Would you mind leaving me one on Google? I’ll text you the link.”

Then text the link before you’ve left the drive. A day later is fine. A month later, most people have moved on.

Make it part of the job

Build it into how you finish every job, so it happens without you having to remember:

  • Put the link in your invoice or receipt email.
  • Add a QR code to your invoice, business card or the leaflet you leave behind.
  • Send a short follow-up text a few days later if they haven’t got round to it.

Ask everyone, not just the ones you think will be glowing

This matters. Google’s rules don’t allow you to pick and choose who you ask based on whether you think they’ll be positive, and don’t allow you to discourage bad reviews. Ask every customer the same way.

The good news is that honest reviews from all your customers look more trustworthy anyway. A page of reviews with a couple of fair four-star ones reads as real. Fifty identical five-star reviews in a week does not.

Never pay for reviews or fake them

Don’t offer discounts, gifts or prize draws in return for reviews, and never post reviews yourself or get friends to. Google removes them and can suspend your profile, under its rules on fake engagement. In the UK, fake reviews and hiding paid-for ones are also illegal under consumer protection law, which the Competition and Markets Authority enforces. The CMA’s fake reviews guidance sets out what’s banned.

Reply to every review

Thank people for good reviews, briefly and personally. Mention the job if you can (“Glad the new boiler’s keeping you warm”).

For a bad review, stay calm, don’t argue in public, apologise for their experience and offer to sort it out offline. Customers reading it will judge you more on the reply than on the complaint.

Use them everywhere

Your reviews are proof. Put your best ones on your website, in your adverts and on your social media. They do more selling than anything you could say about yourself.

Want a hand?

Getting reviews flowing and your Google Business Profile in order is part of every RareBear trades package, along with the adverts that bring in enquiries and text them straight to your phone. See marketing for trades, or read our guide to getting your business on Google Maps.