How to Get More Customer Reviews for Your Trades Business
Reviews are one of the strongest trust signals a trade business has, and one of the easiest things to improve, yet most tradesmen simply forget to ask, or feel awkward doing it. Here's how to fix both.
Why reviews matter this much
A stranger deciding whether to let you into their home or business has almost nothing else to go on besides what past customers say. Reviews also directly influence how highly you show up in local Google search results, so this isn't just about trust, it's about visibility too.
Why most tradesmen don't get many
It's rarely that customers don't want to leave one, it's that nobody asked, or asking felt like an awkward moment tacked onto the end of a job. Left to chance, only the most enthusiastic (or occasionally, most annoyed) customers ever leave one unprompted.
The right time to ask
Straight after the job's done and the customer's happy with the result, ideally while you're still stood there or within a day or two, not weeks later when the moment's passed and it feels like a random request out of nowhere.
How to ask without it feeling pushy
Keep it simple and low-pressure: "If you've got a spare minute, a Google review would really help us out, here's a link." That's it. Most customers are happy to help once you've made it a five-second task rather than something they have to go searching for how to do.
Make it genuinely easy
The biggest single thing that increases how many reviews you get is removing friction. A direct link straight to the review box (not just your general profile page) turns a two-minute task into a ten-second one. Text it to them rather than relying on them remembering later.
Automate it, so it never gets forgotten
The most reliable version of all of this is a simple automated text sent the day after a job's marked complete, thanking the customer and including the direct review link. It removes the awkwardness entirely and means it happens every time, not just when you remember.
If you get a bad one
Reply calmly and professionally, acknowledge the issue, and offer to sort it. A single measured response to a bad review often builds more trust with future readers than having no bad reviews at all, it shows you handle problems properly.
This is exactly the kind of thing we automate as part of our Growth package, a review request sent automatically after every job, no manual chasing required. Book a free audit to see how it'd work for your business: nohasslefortrades.com/free-audit.
