The Customer Review Request SOP
Purpose
A standard operating procedure (SOP) is the written, repeatable process every person follows the same way, so the outcome does not ride on who remembered to do it. Online reviews are how most new customers decide whether to call you, and a steady drip of recent, genuine reviews outranks a pile of old ones. The problem is not that customers refuse; it is that nobody asks, or asks at the wrong moment, or asks so inconsistently that the flow dries up. This SOP fixes the asking to a defined trigger and a defined sequence so every satisfied customer gets one clean, well-timed invitation without anyone having to remember.
Scope
Applies to every completed job where the customer was served directly. Covers the trigger that starts a request, the timing, the channel, who asks, and the follow-up. It does not cover how to word a reply to a review already posted, or how to handle a negative one, those live in their own articles.
Roles and responsibilities
| Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Field tech | Plant the in-person ask at the right moment; flag do-not-ask jobs |
| Office / Dispatch | Send the follow-up request on trigger; keep the sequence consistent |
| Owner / Manager | Watch the flow, route unhappy signals offline, keep it compliant |
Procedure
1. Start only from a clean, completed job
The trigger is a job finished and the customer visibly satisfied. Do not fire a request on a job with an open complaint, a pending callback, or a balance in dispute. Asking for public praise while a problem is unresolved invites the exact review you do not want. If the tech senses any friction, they flag the job as do-not-ask and it routes to recovery instead.
2. Plant the ask in person, at the peak
The strongest moment is on site, right after the customer sees the work done and is happy with it. The tech says a plain version of "if we earned it, a quick review really helps a small shop like ours, you will get a short text with the link." This warms up the follow-up so the later message is expected, not cold. Keep it low-pressure and never conditional on anything.
3. Send the follow-up request on a fixed timing
The office sends the actual request within a short window after completion, while the visit is fresh, commonly the same day or the next. One message, one clear link, going straight to the platform you want. Make it effortless: the fewer taps between the customer and the review box, the more reviews land.
4. Pick the channel the customer already uses
Send by the channel the customer responds to, usually a text for speed, sometimes email for a customer who prefers it. Match the message to the platform where you actually want to grow. Do not spray the same customer across five sites; pick the one that matters and send them there.
5. Follow up once, then stop
If there is no response, one polite reminder a few days later is fair. After that, stop. A second reminder is a nudge; a third is a nuisance that costs goodwill. One ask, one reminder, done.
6. Route unhappy responses offline, do not gate the review
If a customer signals they are unhappy, the response is a real phone call to make it right, not a redirect designed to keep them off the public platform. Steering only happy customers to public review sites while diverting unhappy ones is a deceptive-practices risk and reads as manipulation when it surfaces. Ask everyone the same way; win the review by fixing problems, not by filtering who gets the link.
7. Never pay for a review
Do not offer money, discounts, a drawing entry, or any reward in exchange for a review. Incentivized reviews violate the major platforms' policies and consumer-protection rules against undisclosed paid endorsements, and they get review sets purged. Ask for honesty, not a favor. A genuine "it would help us a lot" is both compliant and more persuasive than a bribe.
Watch out for
- Asking on a job that is not actually done right. Resolve the problem first or you buy a bad review.
- Waiting a week to send. The signal fades fast; send while the work is fresh.
- Endless reminders. One ask, one reminder, then let it go.
- Filtering who gets the link. Ask everyone the same; recover the unhappy by phone.
References
- Federal Trade Commission guidance on endorsements and reviews
- Major review platform policies on soliciting and incentivizing reviews
- See related: Writing a Review Response That Sounds Human; The First Response to a Bad Review SOP
- Trade-standard practice for reputation and follow-up