How to ask customers for Google reviews: a step-by-step guide

Step 1: Get your direct review link

Open your Google Business Profile, choose "Ask for reviews" (or "Get more reviews"), and copy the short link Google gives you. It opens the review box directly, so customers don't have to search for you.

Save that link somewhere your whole team can reach it. In LocalReview Direct, you paste it once in Settings and every request uses it automatically.

Step 2: Ask while the work is fresh

The best moment to ask is right after the job is finished and paid, while the customer still remembers your name and the person who did the work.

If you can't ask in person, a single text within a few hours does the same job — it arrives before the memory fades and after the customer has had time to see the result.

Step 3: Ask in person with a simple script

Keep it natural and brief: "Thanks for having us out today. If you have a minute, an honest Google review really helps a small business like ours. I can text you the link."

Offering to send the link turns a polite "sure" into an actual review, because the customer doesn't have to remember to look you up later.

Step 4: Follow up with a short text

A good review text names your business, thanks the customer and includes one link: "Hi Sam, thanks for choosing Smith Plumbing today. Would you share your experience on Google? [link] Reply STOP to opt out."

Only text customers who agreed to receive messages from your business, and always include a way to stop.

Step 5: Ask everyone, not just happy customers

Send the same request to every customer after a completed job. Google's policies don't allow selectively asking only customers you expect to be positive, or steering unhappy customers away from leaving a review.

Ask for an honest review rather than a five-star one. Genuine reviews, including the occasional critical one, are more believable to future customers.

Step 6: Never offer incentives

Never offer money, discounts, gifts or entries into a draw in exchange for a review. Google prohibits incentives and it puts your profile at risk.

Step 7: Ask once, then stop

One request and at most one reminder is plenty. Repeated chasing annoys good customers and invites complaints.

Always give an easy way out. Every text LocalReview Direct sends includes STOP, and an opt-out is permanent.

Step 8: Respond to the reviews you get

Thank people for positive reviews and reply calmly and helpfully to critical ones. Future customers read your replies as much as the reviews themselves.