The four decisions
In descending order of how much they matter.
- 1
Time it to the moment the value is obvious
Not when the transaction ends — when the customer can tell it worked. Those are the same moment for a haircut and a fortnight apart for a repair.
This is the largest permitted lever in the whole exercise. A message that arrives while the customer is still deciding whether they are pleased converts badly, and one that arrives after they have forgotten converts worse.
- 2
Link straight into the review box
One tap from message to typing. Not your website, not your profile page, not a landing page with your logo on it.
Every intermediate screen loses people, and the loss is much larger than anybody expects. If you change one thing on this list, change this.
- 3
Use the channel they already replied on
If the whole relationship happened over WhatsApp, the review request over email will not be read. This sounds obvious and is routinely got wrong.
A business with one channel for booking and another for asking is quietly telling the customer the ask is from a different system, which it is, and which is exactly the impression to avoid.
- 4
Write it as one person to another
Short, specific to what you did, no marketing voice, no bold text, no three-item list of benefits. Ask once, name what you did, give the link.
The wording matters least of the four and gets the most attention. It only has to avoid sounding automated; it does not have to be clever.
Timing and the link are most of the outcome. Channel is a distant third and wording is a rounding error unless it is bad enough to be noticed.
When to ask, by what you did
Rules of thumb from businesses that measured their own response rates. Not a benchmark — a starting point to adjust from.
| Service | Ask at | Why then | What goes wrong earlier or later |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haircut, salon | Same day, 2–3 hours after | They have seen it in their own mirror | Immediately reads as pushy; next week they have moved on |
| Restaurant meal | Same evening | The experience is still vivid | Next day and the specifics have gone |
| Car repair | 3–5 days | They have driven it enough to know | Same day and they cannot tell yet |
| Dental treatment | 1–2 weeks, procedure dependent | Recovery has to be over | Too early is genuinely tactless |
| Home renovation | 1 week after handover | They have lived in it | At handover they are exhausted |
| Legal or accounting engagement | At the outcome, not at the invoice | The invoice is the worst possible moment | Attaching the ask to a bill converts badly and reads badly |
Source: Response-rate observations shared by several small service businesses, plus the obvious clinical constraint on the dental row. Directional; measure your own.
The wording, briefly
There is a temptation to engineer this sentence. Resist it. The message has one job — to not read like software — and the reliable way to achieve that is to write it the way you would say it, then delete the last line.
Name what you did, because it reminds them what they would be reviewing and it proves a person is involved. Ask once. Put the link on its own line. Do not explain why reviews matter to your business; the customer knows, and saying it turns a favour into a transaction.
One thing worth avoiding specifically: do not tell them what to write. A request that suggests mentioning your punctuality and your fair pricing produces reviews that sound identical, and readers notice patterns in reviews far more than businesses expect.
Details that quietly cost you responses
Six, all small, all cheap to fix.
- The link goes to your profile rather than the review formTwo extra taps, and a meaningful share of people do not make it. Test it on a phone you have never used before.
- The message arrives outside working hoursA request at nine in the evening gets read and not acted on, and then it is buried. Late morning and mid-afternoon both work.
- It comes from a number or address they do not recogniseAn unrecognised sender asking for a favour reads as a scam, which is a fair conclusion for the customer to draw.
- There is more than one follow-upOne reminder is a nudge. Two is pressure, and the third damages the relationship you were trying to have someone praise.
- It goes to the person who paid rather than the person servedCommon in family and business contexts, and the payer frequently has no experience to describe.
- It asks for feedback and a review in the same breath, confusinglyTwo links with no explanation makes the customer choose. Say plainly which is which and let them do both.
Questions
Should I ask in person as well?
Is it acceptable to ask twice?
What if the customer had a bad experience?
Can I offer something small in return?
Have it happen every time
In the context field: your trade and how long after the work the customer can actually tell it worked.