How to get more Google reviews for your business

Why happy customers don’t leave reviews

Mostly because nobody asked. A customer who is annoyed has a reason to go looking for your profile. A customer who is pleased got what they paid for and moved on with their day, and writing about it never crossed their mind.

When the ask does come, it often comes too late. A week after the job, the leak is fixed and forgotten, and a request to describe it feels like homework.

The third reason is effort. “Leave us a review on Google” means searching for your business, picking the right listing out of the results, scrolling to the reviews and finding the button. Every one of those steps is a place to give up. A direct link skips all of them and opens the form.

One thing you cannot remove: Google’s tips page says customers must be signed in to a Google Account to leave a review. Anyone without one can create it with an email address they already have, which is worth knowing when a customer says they would like to but cannot.

Get your review link first

Your Google Business Profile gives you a link that opens the review form for your business, and a QR code you can print. Google’s page on the review link and QR code suggests putting the link on receipts and in thank-you emails, and displaying the QR code in your store. Our guide to setting up a Google Business Profile shows where to find both, and covers verification if your profile is not verified yet.

Before you send the link to a customer, open it on your own phone. You want to see the review form for your business, not a search page.

When and how to ask

When

Soon after the work is done, while the customer still remembers the person who did it. Not in the same minute as the invoice, when they are still checking the job, and not a week later. Our own system sends the ask the morning after a job, and for a booked appointment, the evening after the slot. Pick a time that suits your work and keep to it, because an ask that depends on someone remembering will be skipped on the busy weeks.

Text or email

If customers reach you by phone, send a text. They gave you their mobile number to arrange the job, they will see the message on the phone in their pocket, and the link opens right there. Email suits a business whose customers book and pay by email, such as a clinic that already sends receipts that way.

What to write

One or two lines: who you are, which job it was, the link, and a way to stop the texts. The government page on texting for good client relations points out that customers will likely hesitate to tap even legitimate links in a text. Naming your business and the job makes yours a message they recognise rather than one from a stranger.

An example, to change to your own words:

Hi Sam, it’s Dana from [your business]. Thanks for having us in to fix the tap yesterday. If you have a minute, a short Google review helps other people find us: [your review link]. Reply STOP and we won’t text again.

Ask every customer, including the job that went sideways. Ask once, too. A customer who did not reply to the first message has made their choice, and a second and third message turns a favour into a nag.

What Google does not allow

Google’s rules for reviews are short and they are strict. These come from its tips to get more reviews and its policy on fake and misleading content.

No reward for a review

Google says that offering incentives, “like free or discounted goods or services”, in exchange for posting, changing or removing reviews counts as fake and misleading content and is “strictly prohibited”. Money off the next visit is a discount. A free extra on the next job is a free service. Neither is allowed, however small.

No asking only the happy ones

The policy says merchants may not “selectively solicit positive reviews from customers”, and may not discourage negative ones. A message that first asks how the job went, and sends the Google link only to people who answered well, is selective soliciting with an extra step. Send the same message to everyone.

No pressure at the counter

Merchants “should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises”, the policy says, nor ask for specific content to be included. Handing a customer your tablet and waiting while they type is the thing to avoid. A QR code on the counter that they can scan later is fine, and Google suggests it.

No quotas for staff

The policy also lists merchants asking staff to collect a certain number of reviews, or reviews that mention a staff member by name, as things it does not allow. Ask your team to hand over the card or send the text. Leave the count out of it.

No paid reviews, and none from your own people

Paid reviews, reviews posted from several accounts by one person, and reviews from people with a conflict of interest, such as family members or employees, are all on Google’s list of fake engagement. What Google does allow is asking customers to describe a genuine experience, without incentives and without trying to influence the rating or what they write.

Texts fall under Canada’s anti-spam law

Canada’s anti-spam law applies to texts as well as email. The ISED page on texting clients asks, among other things, whether the person gave consent (implied or explicit), whether your business name is in the message, and whether there is a way to opt out, such as replying STOP. It adds that offering STOP is not enough on its own: when a customer uses it, you have to respect it. In practice that means texting people who did business with you, saying who you are, and stopping when they ask. This is a summary of that page, not legal advice.

Answer every review, the bad ones too

Do not be afraid of the odd bad review. Google’s tips page says that a mix of positive and negative feedback “often feels more trustworthy”, and recommends replying to reviews as a matter of course. Your replies are public, so they are written as much for the next customer reading as for the reviewer.

Google’s advice on replies, in brief:

• Keep it short and polite. Google notes that people may stop reading a long reply before they reach the point.
• Write something specific to that review instead of the same thank-you every time.
• Leave out deals and promotions. The reviewer is already a customer.
• Never share a reviewer’s private information. If the problem needs sorting out, ask them to phone or email you.
• Own the mistakes that were yours, explain what you can and cannot do, and apologise where it is due.
• Use the reviewer’s name, sign off with your own name or initials, and reply promptly.

An illustrative example. The review says: “Turned up two hours late and left dust all through the hallway.” A reply that follows Google’s advice:

Chris, you’re right that we were two hours late on Thursday, and we should have phoned to tell you. I’m sorry about that, and about the dust. Please ring me on the shop number and I’ll come back and clean the hallway myself. Dana

It names the problem, apologises once, offers the fix and moves the conversation off the page. It does not argue, and it does not mention a discount. Writing replies stays with you: Droom does not write review replies for clients, and a reply in your own words reads as yours anyway.

Make the ask automatic

Everything above works if you send the message after every job. The trouble is the busy week, when you are on your third job of the day and the ask is the first thing to slip. Taking it out of your hands fixes that, and there are two ways to do it.

Check the software you already pay for

Several job-management tools include review requests, and plenty of businesses have the feature without having switched it on. If yours does, turn it on and point it at your review link. If review requests are the only thing you want, this is the right answer, and paying for anything more would be a waste.

Or let our plan send it

On Droom’s $449 a month plan, the morning after a job, a text goes out with your Google review link. Every time, with wording you approve first, and with a working opt-out in each message. The review requests are one part of the plan: it also answers your phone, runs the other automations that fit your week, such as chasing quotes and appointment reminders, and comes with a five-page website. There is no setup fee and it runs month to month. If you already pay for software that does some of this, we will say so on the call, and you are not charged to install something you already own.

Whether the rest of the plan is worth it for you depends mostly on your phone. Our guide to whether an AI receptionist is worth it covers that, and the missed call calculator works out what voicemail costs you from your own numbers.

Reviews land on your Google Business Profile, and every Droom website build sets that profile up and verifies it, with the same name, address and phone as the site.