Reviews Are the New Word of Mouth
93% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase decision. Businesses with 50+ reviews earn 4.6% more revenue. Google reviews directly impact your local search rankings. If you’re not actively generating reviews, you’re leaving money on the table.
How to Ask for Reviews
Timing Is Everything
Ask for reviews at the moment of peak satisfaction: right after a successful project delivery, after a positive comment from a client, when a customer mentions they’re happy with your service, or immediately after resolving an issue successfully.
Make It Easy
Create a direct link to your Google review form. Send it via text message or email. The fewer clicks between your request and the review form, the more reviews you’ll get. Google provides a direct review link in your Business Profile manager.
Be Specific
Instead of “please leave us a review,” try “We’d love it if you could share your experience working with us on Google. It helps other [city] businesses find us.” Personal, specific requests convert much better.
Responding to Reviews
Respond to every review. For positive reviews, thank the reviewer by name and mention something specific about their project. For negative reviews, apologize, take responsibility, and offer to resolve the issue offline. Your responses are as important as the reviews themselves — prospects read them.
What Not to Do
- Never offer incentives for reviews (violates Google’s terms)
- Never buy fake reviews (Google detects and penalizes this)
- Never ignore negative reviews (silence looks like guilt)
- Never argue with reviewers publicly (take it offline)
