The right way to ask a customer for a Google review

Asking for a Google review feels awkward for most contractors. It should not. Research shows that 78 percent of consumers were asked to leave a review in the past year, and 83 percent of those people actually did. The problem is rarely that customers are unwilling. The problem is timing, method, and message.

Timing is the most important variable. The best moment to ask is immediately after the job is done, while the customer is still standing there satisfied with the work. That feeling fades within hours. By the next day, the customer has moved on to other things and the motivation to leave a review drops sharply. By the end of the week, you have almost no chance of getting one without a follow-up.

Method matters too. Asking in person is the most powerful but the least scalable. A text message sent within 15 minutes of job completion is the next best thing. It catches the customer while the experience is fresh, gives them a direct link so there is no friction, and lands on the device they are already holding. Email works but gets ignored far more often than text. A card left at the door rarely converts at all.

The message itself should be short, personal, and direct. Do not write a paragraph. Do not offer an incentive. Do not explain what a Google review is or why it matters to you. Just say who you are, thank them, and ask. Something like: "Hi Sarah, this is Mike from Apex Plumbing. Thanks for having us out today. If you have a minute, a Google review would mean a lot to us." Then the link. That is the whole message.

One follow-up is acceptable if you do not hear back within 48 hours. Two follow-ups is too many. If a customer has not responded after one reminder, move on. Pushing harder risks damaging the relationship you just built.

The hardest part of this system is not the message. It is the consistency. Remembering to send a review request after every single job, day after day, is where most contractors fall off. That is the problem PorchPrompt solves. When you mark a job complete, the request goes out automatically, at the right time, with the right message, every time. No reminders needed.