🎯 The single most important thing: Ask within 24 hours of finishing the job. Response rates drop by 60% after the first day. Everything else in this guide is secondary to getting the timing right.
Most contractors who ask for reviews do it wrong — either too late, too awkwardly, or with a message so generic it gets ignored. The good news: there's a formula that works, and it's simple enough that you can start using it today.
This guide covers exactly what to say, when to say it, and what to avoid — so you stop losing reviews from customers who were happy to give one but never followed through.
Here's the number that changes how you think about review requests: customers who receive a review request within 24 hours of a completed job leave reviews at 3× the rate of those who receive the request a week later.
The reason is emotional decay. Right after a good job, the customer feels the satisfaction of a solved problem. The floors are clean, the pipes are fixed, the roof is solid. That positive feeling is at its peak in the first 24 hours. By day 7, they've moved on to the next thing and your job is a faint memory.
The practical implication: don't wait until the weekend to send review requests for jobs you did on Tuesday. Send the request the same day or the morning after — always within 24 hours.
Text messages have a 98% open rate and are typically read within 3 minutes. For review requests, SMS outperforms email by 2–3× in response rate. Use our review request templates to get started. If you have a customer's phone number, text is your first choice.
Hi [Name], thanks for having me out today — it was great working on your [service]. If you have 60 seconds, a Google review would really help our business: [YOUR REVIEW LINK]. No pressure at all — thanks! — [Your Name], [Business Name]
Hi [Name], so glad we could get that sorted for you today. You mentioned you were happy with the work — if you'd be willing to share that on Google, it goes a long way: [YOUR REVIEW LINK]. Takes about a minute. Thanks! — [Your Name]
Hi [Name], just a quick follow-up on the review request from [Monday/earlier this week]. No pressure if it's not a good time — just wanted to make sure the link worked: [YOUR REVIEW LINK]. Thanks either way! — [Your Name]
Email gets a 2–5% response rate for review requests vs 10–20% for SMS. Still worth including because some customers prefer email, and it adds a second touchpoint for those who didn't respond to the text.
Hi [Name],
Thanks for trusting us with your [service] today. We really appreciate your business.
If you have a minute, it would mean a lot if you could share your experience on Google. It takes about 60 seconds and helps other homeowners find us:
[REVIEW LINK — make this a big button]
Either way, thanks for choosing [Business Name].
[Your Name]
The best review request happens before you leave the job site. When a customer says "great job" or "we're really happy with this," that's your opening.
Don't overthink the words. Something like this works:
"Really glad to hear that. Honestly, if you had time to throw a Google review up, it would make a huge difference for us — takes about a minute and it helps other homeowners find us. I'll text you the link right now so it's easy to find."
The key: offer to send the link immediately so they don't have to remember to search for you. Pulling out your phone and texting them the link right there closes the loop before they leave.
Don't incentivize reviews. "Leave a 5-star review and get 10% off your next service" is a Google Terms of Service violation and can get your business profile suspended. It also produces fake-looking reviews that harm your credibility. Reviews should be voluntary and uncompensated.
Don't review gate. Review gating means only asking for a review if you know the customer is going to say something positive (like asking "did you have a good experience?" and only sending the link if they say yes). This violates Google's guidelines. Send requests to all customers uniformly.
Don't ask more than twice. One initial request and one follow-up is the limit. A second follow-up can feel pushy and damage the customer relationship you worked hard to build. If they didn't respond to two messages, they're not going to review you — move on.
The contractors who collect the most reviews don't have a secret — they have a system. Here's the simplest one that actually gets followed:
That's it. No complex process. The discipline is in doing it after every job, not just the big ones. Even happy customers from small jobs will leave reviews if you ask — and those reviews count just as much as the big ones for your Google ranking.
Add a customer, FivePulse sends the request and follow-up automatically. No texting required.
Industry benchmarks for review request response rates:
This means if you do 20 jobs/month and use the full sequence (SMS + email + follow-up), you can realistically collect 4–6 new reviews per month. That's 50–70 new reviews per year — enough to dominate local search in most markets within 12–18 months.
Send to all customers uniformly. Review gating (only asking happy customers) violates Google's guidelines. The good news: most of your customers had a satisfactory experience — that's why they paid you. Even neutral experiences often convert to 4-star reviews when asked.
Use the FivePulse review link generator — free, no signup required. It generates your direct review link in 30 seconds. Save it in your phone's notes and paste it into your text templates.
Yes — responding to reviews (positive and negative) is a ranking signal and builds trust with potential customers who read your profile. See our review response templates for copy-paste answers to the most common situations.
📖 Related guide
More scripts for different situations — different service types, follow-ups, and channels.
Last updated: April 2026 · Published by FivePulse
Scripts, templates, and the exact follow-up system used by top-rated contractors — emailed to you free.