Handbook / Marketing a small business

How to get reviews for a small business without breaking the rules

For local and service businesses, reviews are often the deciding factor between you and a competitor. They also help your visibility in local search. Most satisfied customers are happy to leave a review; they simply need to be asked, at the right moment, in a way that makes it easy. This guide covers how to do that within the rules.

Why reviews matter

Reviews provide social proof from people like your prospective customers. For local businesses, they are a visible part of a Google Business Profile and of local SEO. Recent, detailed reviews tend to be more persuasive than a few old ones.

When to ask

Ask when the customer is most satisfied:

• right after a job is completed and they have said thank you
• when they receive a deliverable they love
• after a problem has been resolved well
• at a natural milestone in an ongoing relationship

Make it part of your process, not an occasional afterthought.

How to ask

Keep it personal and short:

Example request. Thanks again for choosing us for your kitchen repair. If you were happy with the work, would you mind leaving a short review? It helps other local homeowners find us. Here is the direct link. Thank you.

Tips:

• use the direct link to the review form
• ask in person first, then send the link by text or email
• follow up once if they agree but forget
• say what kind of detail helps, such as the service and what they valued, without scripting their words

Make it easy

• Put the review link on invoices, receipts and email signatures.
• Use a short link or QR code on printed materials.
• Choose one main platform rather than asking for reviews everywhere.

What the law prohibits

In 2024 the FTC issued a rule on the use of consumer reviews and testimonials. Among other things, it prohibits businesses from:

• writing or creating fake reviews, including reviews by people who do not exist or did not use the product or service
• buying reviews that the business knew or should have known were fake or misrepresented the reviewer's experience
• providing compensation or other incentives conditioned on reviews expressing a particular sentiment, positive or negative
• procuring misleading insider reviews from officers, managers, employees or agents, or their relatives, in certain circumstances
• suppressing reviews, for example through unjustified legal threats or intimidation, or by misrepresenting that displayed reviews represent all or most reviews when negative ones have been hidden

The rule also covers company-controlled review sites that pose as independent and fake indicators of social media influence. Review platforms add their own policies, which may be stricter.

Responding to reviews

Reply to every review:

• Positive: thank them by name and mention the specific service.
• Negative: stay calm, thank them for the feedback, acknowledge the issue, avoid arguing or sharing private details, and offer to resolve it directly.

Thoughtful replies show prospective customers how you treat people when something goes wrong.

Using reviews in marketing

With permission, quote reviews on your website and proposals. If you edit a review for length, do not change its meaning. Testimonials you publish are advertising, so they must be genuine and reflect the customer's real experience.

Learn from them

Look for patterns. Repeated praise tells you what to emphasise in marketing; repeated complaints tell you what to fix. Share good reviews with anyone who helped deliver the work.

Reviews and referrals

Customers happy enough to review are often happy to refer. The guide to asking for referrals covers that next step.

Make asking part of your process

Add a review request to your project wrap-up checklist, with a short template and direct link. Track how many you ask for and receive each month, and thank everyone who leaves one, whatever the rating.

Where reviews appear

List the places customers are most likely to look, such as your business profile, an industry directory or a marketplace, and focus requests on one or two of them. Spreading reviews thinly across many sites makes each one look sparse.

Ask every satisfied customer at the right moment, make it easy with a direct link, respond to every review, and never fake, buy, condition incentives on, or suppress reviews.