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Review and referral: ask everyone, at the right moment

The best time to ask for a review isn't the moment the technician leaves. It's when the job is done, the invoice is paid and nothing is still open. A review and referral system waits for that moment, sends every customer the same request, and lets their reply decide what happens next: thanks and a referral invite, one reminder, or a call from someone who can fix what went wrong. We build it on your job and invoicing records, so every request goes out at the right moment.
Talk through your reviewsSee when it asks ↓
J-551 · A.B.job doneinvoice paidno open caseJ-377 · J.P.job doneinvoice paidopen case T-3307held until it closesSame message to every customerHow did we do?Leave a review: linkOr reply to us directly★★★★★“great work”→ thanks + referral inviteno reply→ one reminder, then stop★★“tech was late”→ manager calls todayEveryone gets the review link. The reply decides what happens next, not who gets asked.

Ask when the job is really finished

Review requests usually go out on a timer: an hour after the visit, whatever happened. Sometimes that's while the invoice is in dispute, the part is still on order, or a complaint is open. Asking then is awkward at best.

A review and referral system asks at the moment the job is actually finished, from the job's real state. It asks every customer the same way, with a direct link to the review form and an easy way to reply privately. What happens next depends on the reply, and anything unhappy goes straight to a person who can put it right.

When it asks, and when it waits

The job is completed and the invoice is paidThe request is sent the next morning
A support case is openIt waits until the case closes, then sends
Another visit is booked for the same jobIt waits until that visit is done
The customer was asked in the last six monthsIt isn't sent again
The customer has opted out of messagesIt's never sent

Three replies, three next steps

The request is the same for everyone. The reply decides what happens next.

J-551 · A.B.

request
sent Tue 09:00, the morning after payment
reply
★★★★★ “great work, very tidy”
next
thank-you sent; referral invitation a week later with A.B.'s own link
referral
tracked, so a booking from it credits A.B.

The rules it won't break

Google's review policy doesn't allow selectively asking happy customers for reviews. Neither does good sense: a review you had to filter for is worth less to the next customer reading it.

  1. Everyone is asked

    Same words, same link

    Every eligible customer gets the same request. Timing rules decide when, never who.

  2. Problems reach a person

    The same day

    An unhappy reply opens a case and a call. The review link stays where it was.

  3. Referrals follow thanks

    Not the other way round

    Referral invitations go to customers who've already told you they're happy, and every referral is tracked.

Is a review and referral system the right fit?

Good fit

  • Reviews and referrals matter to how you win work.
  • Requests go out inconsistently, or at the wrong moment.
  • Unhappy customers sometimes slip past without anyone calling them.

Avoid when

  • The job and invoice records don't say when work is really finished. Fix that first.
  • You complete a few jobs a month and ask each customer in person.

How we'd approach it

Most of the early work is agreeing when a job is really finished, what each reply should trigger and who handles the unhappy ones.

  1. 01

    Understand

    As much as the problem needs

    We map how the work runs today: who does what, which systems hold the records, and where it breaks.

  2. 02

    Design

    Decided before it's built

    Ownership, rules, integrations and exceptions, agreed with you and written down with acceptance criteria.

  3. 03

    Build

    Connected to what you use

    We build the scoped system, connect it to the tools you already run, and test it on the cases that matter.

Related systems

The capabilities underneath

For your industry

Questions about review and referral systems

Can we ask only the happy customers?

No. Google's review policy doesn't allow selectively asking for positive reviews, and the reviews are worth more to future customers when they aren't filtered. Everyone eligible is asked the same way; what changes is how you respond to their reply.

Which review sites do you send people to?

The ones that matter for your business, usually your Google Business Profile. The link goes straight to the review form.

How often is a customer asked?

Once per job, with at most one reminder, and not more than once every six months.

Do referrals need a reward programme?

Not necessarily. The system tracks who referred whom, so you can thank people however suits your business.

Ask every customer, at the right moment

Tell us how reviews and referrals are asked for today. We'll show you what a request sent at the right moment would look like.

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