For my past 10 jobs I sent a nice, short email thanking the customer for their business and I make a request for a review. I include a link which takes people right to my GMB review page so it’s nice and easy.
NONE of them have left a review for me. It’s kind of puzzling to me.
What is your strategy for achieving customer reviews after you finish a job?
Just follow up again. Most of the reviews I get come from my second request for one. I ask them once if they would mind leaving a review, then a day or two later I’ll follow up with “hey, just wondering if you’ve had a chance to leave a review. Thanks!”
I use text rathet than email, and make sure to include a direct link to the review form so that they can do it quickly and easily.
You gotta make it easy for people. They’re lazy. I send an automatic text with a link that takes them directly to the Google page to leave a review. Probably 30-40% of people leave one.
Even if they are happy and you basically write the review for them, you’re still not going to get many. People definitely are lazy. Heck, even I don’t bother leaving Amazon reviews or feedback on Ebay, even if I love the product. I just don’t care enough to do it. Not that a certain seller or product wasn’t great, it’s just now that its done I don’t care anymore.
If you did a great job and they were happy, they will tell people. Word of mouth is more powerful than Google reviews IMO.
You can’t really force it down their throat with emails and txts. It’s perfectly ok to not get a review. Reviews only mean something to us business owners customers generally don’t care. I’ve never left a review in my life, if I’m happy I’ll call them or buy it again- that’s the review.
Send a request, and forget about it… Don’t be pushy. It’s annoying, Ive had services done for me and literally get almost harassed after for a review, and most of the time I don’t leave one because I wasn’t trilled or entirely happy. So I rather leave nada
Get it automated, ask repeatedly. Set up the expectation from the sales process (“our goal is to make you so happy you will give us a 5-star review”), through the service (“did my service today qualify for a 5-star review?”)…when you mention it during the final walkthrough, ask if you can send them the link (and do it before you leave)…then go through your usual follow-ups with texts, “thank you” emails, etc. It’s a lot like (well, it actually is) marketing, don’t just use one method, and always be putting it out there. You’ll see results long term.
To be honest, I would have been a guy that didn’t do it well (really, I still don’t, so we contract it out for follow-up, and incentivize our technicians to do it) and would have said “people don’t leave reviews”…but I see guys that have reviews, and we get reviews, so people clearly do leave them. When I see my point of view being wrong on something like that, then I go find people who have done it and find out how.
Lol, definitely ask repeatedly and yes, reviews do absolutely matter to customers.
As they’re handing you the check:
“It was such a pleasure working for you! I’m sure you’re aware that online reviews make or break small businesses like mine. It would mean the world to me if you left me an honest review, it only takes a few seconds. Would you do that for me? You would?! Thank you so much! I’m sending the link right now.”
Skip all that email stuff, ask them in person. Send the link in person, hear their phone ding.
Asking for reviews is akin to used car salesman tactics. I will not use a service again that sends a request for a review. It’s even worse if you send multiple requests for reviews.
No offense Mr. William, I hope you know I have huge respect for you. But you’ve been in business for 20+ years and might not rely on reviews as much as new businesses do.
People needing our services (especially in single-family residential) either have a referral from someone they trust, or they search “pressure washers near me” and look at the reviews for the first page of results.
I agree and disagree (OK, mostly agree)…our company has been in business for 5 years (to some a blink of an eye, to others that’s “old pro”), and has grown bigger than most, but reviews are still the lifeblood of our business. I don’t see why you would market your business via every conceivable channel, and seek to be in front of the customer multiple times, and not do the same when asking your raving fans to market for you. A couple of follow-ups if they don’t respond are more effective. Asking two times several days apart improves response rates by as much as 60%.
One thing I learned at the Huge Convention: If you ask 10 people what their best source of business is, 9.7 (I’m rounding here 
) will answer “referrals”, but almost no one thinks of a review as a perpetual referral out on the interwebs (where most people do their decision making nowadays). We put more effort into looking for referrals, even incentivizing clients and contacts to provide them, yet so many overlook/minimize the importance of reviews (and especially video reviews). We’re paying someone to start handling that for us, and if they generate 2 average value jobs a year, they’ve paid their own bill…I think that’s a gimme in terms of ROI. And I can’t even begin to quantify the SEO benefits…
I’m not making that up, people trust reviews (research ranges between 79 and 91 percent) as much as a personal recommendation, and it’s out there to recommend your services to countless people, not just 1 friend. Plus, they are willing to spend 1/3 more on the “same” service when provided by a company with a lot of positive reviews. And on top of that, even more people are interested in the owner response to the reviews, than the reviews themselves…
Odd sidebar, would you have guessed that a perfect 5.0 star rating is actually not ideal? The research varies, but most studies say somewhere around 4.5-4.7 is what people trust the most.
I love this stuff!!! Nerd time over 
Refs:
https://www.inc.com/craig-bloem/84-percent-of-people-trust-online-reviews-as-much-.html
whenever i finish the job i always ask the customer in person if they don’t mind leaving a review on whatever link i provide them, and that it helps grow my business. nearly everyone i’ve asked for a review has given me one.
I don’t know, I was told you can get further in life with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.
From a movie.
I have the utmost respect for you as well, but I think it is clear that reviews are important. When a company asks for a review they’re not doing it for your benefit, but so that future customers can see that you as well as many others approve of their services. I do find it quite puzzling that you have such a negative opinion of asking for reviews. (That’s not an insult, just a genuine curiosity.) They seem pretty innocent to me- if I do a good job and want more customers (and know that for many people the process for finding a service is “google it and see who has the best reviews”) it makes perfect sense to ask if a customer can give me one. I’ve had numerous customers explicitly state that they went with me because I have so many reviews and a high rating.
Customers placing such a high emphasis on reviews may or may not make sense, but I think regardless it is indisputable that they DO view reviews this way.
I wasn’t meaning to be disparaging. Just bringing to light that building a business is more than peoples thank you notes on reviews. Newcomers put a lot of emphasis on what they read on the internet, the details that don’t move the needle like stressing over reviews and perfecting a soap mixture that would put a lab to shame. Key note: things take time to settle, nothing is a cookie cutter approach.
I was not aware of the owner response part. That’s neat. I haven’t responded to probably 90% of my reviews.
I’m not saying reviews are bad. I’m saying it’s in bad taste to ask for them, especially multiple times. Someone called you to wash their house, you did and got paid. That should be the end of it. Don’t harass them with multiple requests for reviews. They did their part in paying you. I got a note on the lockers that says if you come to work on time everyday and do you job, don’t expect a raise, that’s what you’re getting paid to do. I routinely tell people that is they leave a review I won’t wash their house next year. Life is way too short for more work.
Unfortunately times have changed and a large majority of these tech-savvy customers get online and read reviews before choosing a service. It’s very impersonal and robotic but something I’ve had to adjust to the past few years. If you ever get a chance to watch ‘Black Mirror’ it is actually coming true.
I agree about asking more than once however, that’s just harassment.
