GoodMarksMost owners are losing reviews at one specific moment: the 90 seconds between when the tech wipes his boots and when he climbs back in the truck. The customer is happy. The job went well. Nobody asks. The truck drives off. The review never happens.
This post is the scripts. In person, by text, by email. With the actual words, the timing, and the phrases that will get you in trouble with the FTC. No theory, no fluff.
Why the ask matters more than the tool
You can buy the slickest review platform on the market. If your tech mumbles "uh, if you wouldn't mind leaving us a review sometime" while staring at his clipboard, you'll get nothing. The software didn't fail. The handoff did.
The inverse is also true. A two-truck plumbing shop in Tulsa with a clipboard and a printed QR code can outpace a competitor running a $400-per-month platform, if the techs ask every time and ask well. Conversion rate on review requests in the home services category sits somewhere between 8% and 25% depending on who you ask. The difference between the floor and the ceiling isn't the software. It's the script and the timing.
Here's the framework every script in this post follows: name the customer, acknowledge the specific work, ask directly, make it easy, thank them. Five beats. No flattery, no hedging, no "if you had a good experience." That last phrase is where you get sued.
The in-person ask (at job close)
The in-person ask has the highest conversion rate of any channel, by a wide margin. You are standing in their kitchen. They like you. They will not get a better chance.
The problem is that most techs hate asking. It feels like begging. So they shortcut it, mumble it, or skip it. The fix is a script short enough to remember and specific enough to feel natural.
Plumber, after a water heater replacement
"Alright Mrs. Chen, you're all set. New unit's under warranty for six years, here's the paperwork. One quick favor: we're a small shop and Google reviews are how people find us. If you've got 30 seconds today or tomorrow, would you mind leaving us one? I've got a card here with a link, you just tap it."
Notice what's not in there. No "if you had a five-star experience." No "only if you were happy." No conditional language. The FTC's Consumer Reviews Rule (16 CFR Part 465), which took effect in October 2024, treats conditional solicitation as a deceptive practice. If you only ask happy customers, you're shaping the review pool. That's the violation.
Ask everyone. Same words. Every time.
HVAC, after a maintenance visit
"System's running clean, I tagged the date on the unit so you'll know when we were here. Hey, before I head out: if Tom and the team did a good job today, the biggest help you can give us is a quick Google review. Here's a card with the link. Takes about a minute. Thanks again."
The "if Tom did a good job" framing here is fine because it's a reference to the work, not a condition on whether they should leave a review. Anyone can leave a review regardless of how they felt. The phrasing acknowledges the work without filtering the audience.
Roofer, after a re-roof completion walk
"That's the final walk. You've got the warranty packet, my cell, and the manufacturer paperwork. Last thing: would you leave us a Google review when you get a chance? Roofing is one of those things where people are nervous picking a contractor. Reading what real homeowners say is what convinces them. Here's the link on this card."
The "why" matters. Customers respond better when they understand the ask isn't vanity. You're telling them their words help the next nervous homeowner make a choice. That reframes the favor.
[Image TODO: handoff card showing QR code, short URL, and one-line ask, sized for a wallet]
The SMS follow-up (2 hours after job close)
Not every customer will leave a review at the kitchen table. Most won't. The second touch is the text message, and timing is the entire game.
Send it too soon and you interrupt them while they're still cleaning up after the job. Send it the next day and you're competing with their inbox, their meetings, and the rest of their life. The window is roughly two to four hours after job close. They're back at their desk or on the couch, the job is fresh, and their phone is in their hand.
The script that works
"Hi Jennifer, it's Mike from Apex Plumbing. Thanks again for the work today. If you have 30 seconds, a quick Google review really helps our shop: [link]. No worries if not. Mike"
A few things to notice.
First, the name. Both yours and theirs. Generic "Hi there" texts get deleted as spam. A named text from a person they met three hours ago gets read.
Second, the length. Under 200 characters. People read texts in full. They skim emails.
Third, the "no worries if not" close. It removes the pressure and, counterintuitively, increases conversion. The customer doesn't feel cornered.
Fourth, the link. Use a short, branded review link, not a 90-character Google Maps URL. We built a free Google review link generator for exactly this. Paste your Google Place ID, get a clean short link, drop it in the text.
We wrote a longer breakdown on channel selection in SMS vs Email for review requests if you're choosing between the two. Short version: SMS for residential, email for B2B.
What not to put in the SMS
- "If you had a 5-star experience, click here" (FTC 16 CFR 465 violation)
- "Leave us a review and we'll send you a $10 gift card" (against Google's review content policy)
- "Reply YES if you loved the service" (filters audience, deceptive)
- A long pre-amble explaining why reviews matter (they'll stop reading)
One ask. One link. One line of thanks. Done.
The email ask (B2B and longer jobs)
Email wins in two situations: B2B work where the decision-maker isn't on-site, and long projects where the relationship spans weeks rather than hours. A commercial HVAC retrofit, a kitchen remodel, a property management contract. The text-the-homeowner playbook doesn't fit.
Commercial HVAC, after a rooftop unit install
Subject: Quick favor, Dan Dan, Wrapped up the RTU swap at the Westgate property yesterday. New unit is commissioned, control schedule is loaded, and I emailed Maria the as-built drawings. One ask: we're trying to grow our commercial side and Google reviews are how facility managers find us. If you've got two minutes, would you leave a quick review? Doesn't need to be long. A sentence on how the project went is plenty. Link: [review link] Thanks again for trusting us with this one. Tom Reilly Reilly Mechanical
This works because it's specific. The customer knows you're not blasting the same email to 400 people. You named the property, the work, and the person you sent drawings to. That signals attention, and attention reciprocates.
Remodel contractor, two weeks after project close
Subject: Kitchen looking good? Hi Sarah, Hope you're enjoying the new kitchen. Curious how the soft-close drawers are holding up. Any rattles or anything off, let me know and we'll come tune them. If everything's running smooth: would you mind leaving us a Google review? We're a small shop and it's the single biggest thing that helps us land the next job. Link here: [review link] Either way, thanks for the project. It was a fun one. Jake
The trick in the remodel email is the warranty check-in. You're not just asking for a review. You're reopening the relationship, giving them a chance to flag a problem privately, and then asking. If something is wrong, you fix it first. If nothing is wrong, the review is the natural next step.
This is also where private feedback routing matters. If Sarah replies "actually one drawer is sticking," you don't want her writing a 2-star Google review. You want her telling you, so you can fix it. That's review routing, not review gating. Every customer can still leave a public review. You're just giving them a private channel too.
What never to say (the FTC and Google trapdoors)
The FTC's Consumer Reviews Rule (16 CFR Part 465) is short, plain-language, and worth reading. Two phrases will get you in trouble.
"Only leave a review if you had a 5-star experience." This is conditional solicitation. You're shaping the review pool by filtering out unhappy customers. The rule treats this as a deceptive practice. Civil penalties can run over $50,000 per violation.
"Leave us a review and we'll give you a discount." Incentivized reviews are restricted under both the FTC rule and Google's review content policy. You can ask. You cannot pay, discount, or gift. The exception, narrowly: a small, equal-value thank-you to everyone who leaves a review, with clear disclosure that the incentive is for any review, positive or negative. Most operators should just not go there. The risk isn't worth the upside.
The safe rule: ask everyone, the same way, with no condition and no reward. That's it.
The grey zone: "How did we do?" surveys
A lot of platforms route customers through a "how did we do?" survey, then send 4 and 5 star customers to Google while routing 1 to 3 star customers to a private feedback form. This is the classic review gating pattern. The FTC rule and Google's content policy both treat it as suppression of negative reviews.
What's allowed: offering every customer the same option to leave a public Google review, and also offering a private feedback channel as an additional option, not a replacement. The difference is the word "also." The customer chooses. You don't choose for them. We wrote more on this distinction at no review gating.
Putting it together: a 7-day rollout
If you're starting from scratch, here's the order of operations.
- Day 1. Generate your short Google review link with the free tool. Print 200 handoff cards with the link and a QR code.
- Day 2. Pick one of the in-person scripts above. Read it out loud to your techs at the morning huddle. Have each one say it back.
- Day 3. Set up the SMS follow-up. Either through your CRM, your dispatch software, or a review platform. The text must fire two to four hours after job close, automatically.
- Day 4. Write your B2B email template. Put it in your shared drive. Tag the commercial PM as the sender.
- Day 5. Audit your current review request language for FTC compliance. Remove any conditional or incentive phrasing.
- Day 6. Set up private feedback routing as an additional option, not a replacement for the public review button. Every customer sees the Google review link.
- Day 7. Track. Count requests sent, links clicked, reviews posted. The conversion rate from request to posted review is the only number that matters.
Most shops we work with go from 2 to 4 reviews a month to 15 to 30 within 60 days, just by getting the script and the timing right. The software helps. The words do the work.
Closing thought
The customer at the kitchen table will not ask you how to leave a review. They will not visit your website looking for the link. They will not remember tomorrow. If you don't ask now, in plain words, with the link in their hand, you've already lost the review.
The scripts in this post took ten years of operator experience to refine. They work. Print them, train them, run them every job.