I have a buddy who's a realtor.
He's good at what he does. In five years, he's completed around 100 deals. But when I checked his Google Business Profile, he had just 19 reviews.
Here's why that matters.
According to BrightLocal's consumer research, 59% of consumers expect a business to have between 20 and 99 reviews before they trust its average star rating.
My friend was sitting at 19.
Not because his customers were unhappy.
Quite the opposite. His customers consistently told him he'd done a great job. The problem was that almost none of those experiences had been turned into public proof.
And that matters because 75% of consumers say they always or regularly read online reviews when researching a business.
Think about that for a second.
You can do incredible work. You can have hundreds of happy customers. But if those customers never tell Google—or the next potential customer—about their experience, your online reputation may tell a much smaller story than your business deserves.
My friend already knew he should be asking for reviews. He'd known for years.
He just didn't have a system.
And that's the problem with most businesses.
They're busy doing the work. They're serving customers, answering calls, closing deals, and solving problems. Asking for a review always feels like something they'll get to later.
Later usually never comes.
So we built a simple system. Three messages was all it took.
He started August 8th with 19 reviews. By August 21st, he had 31. Twelve new reviews in thirteen days.
Here's exactly what we did.
The best asset any of our companies have is our client list. This is a list of people who already like you and want to do business with you. If you want more reviews quickly, this is the best place to start.
Because they hired you and gave you their number and email themselves, you can contact them by text and email. You should do both, in a specific order.
Two laws cover this. Neither one is hard to follow.
Texts fall under the TCPA. Only text people who gave you their number when they did business with you. Don't buy numbers or pull them off the internet. Put your business name in the message. If anyone replies STOP, take them off your list. A customer can sue for $500 per text, $1,500 per text if it was on purpose, and there's no cap.
Emails fall under CAN-SPAM. Your street address goes at the bottom, an unsubscribe line goes next to it, and the subject line has to be honest about what's inside. The FTC can fine you up over $50k per email that’s non-compliant.
If you send these from a CRM like GoHighLevel, the unsubscribe link and the STOP handling are already built in. If you send them by hand from your phone and Gmail, add the address line and "reply STOP to opt out" yourself.
I'm not a lawyer. This is what I run on my own accounts and what I set up for clients.
The first thing to do is shoot them a quick text. Here’s what that first text should look like:
Hi Jim, it’s Mike from Mike’s Towing Shop. I know it’s been awhile, but I hope you’re still feeling good after our service. I’m gathering feedback from past clients and would be so grateful for a quick review of your experience working with me. Takes about 30 seconds: {Google Review Link} Thank you!
This may or may not work. People are busy, they read text messages, and they simply ignore them. The next thing you need to do is email them. This hits them on a different platform, and if they’re trying to clean out their inbox it’s easiest for them to just provide the review.
Wait 4 days after the initial text message and then send the email. Here’s what that email should say:
Subject: Can you help me?
Hey Jim, following up on my previous message. If you could spare 30 seconds to drop us a quick review, it would mean a lot. Our business thrives on reviews from great customers like you: {Google Review Link}
Thanks!
Mike
Mike’s Towing Shop
The final contact should be one more text, 3 days later.
Don’t apologize, but emphasize how important reviews are to your business and restate how much they mean to you as a customer. This should sound like:
Hey Jim, I really hate to bother you again, but would you be willing to give me that quick review? Google ratings and reviews are everything in my business, so it would be super helpful {Google Review Link}
If the customer doesn’t answer after three contacts, leave them alone. The worst thing we can do is contact them so often that they don’t do business with us again. If our customers really like us, they’ll offer this review and be happy to do so.
The lookback on this should be 3 months for normal service businesses, and longer for real estate. See who’s done a transaction with you in the last quarter and add them to your request list.
If you don’t have a great CRM, check out HighLevel. They give you a free onboarding call, and it’s so easy to set up. If you’re already a business owner or looking to become one, you’re already smart enough to get this started today.
The whole thing takes less than a couple of hours. Look back at your sales sheet, find your clients, get their phone numbers and emails, and send the messages. Put it in an Excel sheet or use your CRM and log each contact so you don’t double-contact someone.
One thing that makes this much easier on your customer is sending them the direct review link from your Google Business Profile. Don’t make them find your page and hunt for the review button.
Go into your Google Business Profile manager view.
Click “Ask for Reviews.” Copy the review link itself, and save the QR code for other pieces of marketing.
That link drops your customer straight onto the review screen, with the stars right there.
Building it out took me an hour in GoHighLevel. Another ten minutes to load his past clients into the CRM.
After that it ran on its own. My client didn’t send a single one of these himself.
This whole process can be done in one night after dinner. Use the three messages that I included above and get started today. Or if you need help, shoot me an email.
The next thing you need to tackle is how you ask for the review in the first place, so you never have to do this cleanup again. That’s the next article.