How to ask for Google reviews on WhatsApp: scripts that do not sound like begging

Ask in a short, personal WhatsApp message, sent soon after the customer has the result, with the review link as the only action. Say who you are, why their view helps, and make the next step a single tap. Three scripts follow, for three moments in the job. Do not send them to everyone at once, and do not offer anything in return.

When in the job should you ask?

A customer waiting on a repair has other things on their mind. A customer who has just collected a working laptop has just felt relief. Use the second moment.

For a local trade, three moments work.

• At the handover, when the customer sees and accepts the result.
• When the customer thanks you, on a call or at the counter.
• After a problem you solved, once the customer has confirmed it is solved.

Ask everyone you served, not only those who sounded delighted. Do not ask while a complaint or a dispute about the bill is still open. Settle it first, then ask that customer the same way as every other. Leaving out the unhappy ones makes your rating a false picture, and filtering who you ask may go against the platform's guidance.

What are the three scripts?

Write them in your own voice and use the customer's name. Send them from the business number, from a named person, not a blast tool.

Script one, at handover. "Hello Anil ji, this is Rekha from the service desk. Your laptop is ready and working. Would you add a line on Google about how the service went, whatever you thought of it? Honest words help others nearby. Here is the link: [link]. Thank you either way."

Script two, after a thank-you. "Thank you for coming in today. People searching for a repair shop read what customers say, so your own words would help. If you have a minute: [link]."

Script three, after a problem solved. "Hello Anil ji, I am glad the charging fault is sorted. We took longer than we should have on the first visit, and thank you for waiting. Your honest feedback on Google would help others see how we handle a problem: [link]."

Each message has three parts: who is writing, a reason and one link. None says "please give five stars". Asking for a rating instead of words is what makes a request sound like begging.

An invented example: a laptop and phone repair centre in Siliguri

Imagine a repair centre in Siliguri that asked for reviews with a printed card stuck to the bag. Very few cards came back as reviews. The counter staff then sent one long message, with a screenshot of a rating, to everyone who had ever left a number. Several replied with annoyance, and one asked why they were being asked again.

The owner changed two things. Messages now went only to customers who had collected a repaired device in the past couple of days, and the text was one of the three above, picked by the person who had dealt with that customer. Staff also noted in a sheet each name, the date of the message and whether there was a reply. The sheet showed that no one had been asked twice, and who to thank personally.

The reviews that arrived named the repair and the person who did it, which is worth more to a stranger than a bare star. Only a few of the messages turned into reviews. One was a three-star about a part that arrived late, which the owner answered in public.

What should the message not do?

• Offer a discount, a gift or a lucky draw in return. Platform rules on this change, and it makes the review less believable.
• Go only to customers you expect to be pleased.
• Link to a general page. Test the link from a phone before it goes into a script.
• Pressure. One message, and at most one reminder.

Our guide on asking for a review at the end of a home service job covers the version where a crew visits the customer's home.

Keep the sheet simple: name, date asked, script used, reply or no reply, review seen or not. After a few dozen rows you will see which script suits which customer, and which member of staff gets the warmest answers. Put that person in charge of the asking. Do not set the counter team a target number of reviews, because customers can feel a target.

What do you do with a poor review?

It will come. Reply in public, promptly, in three or four sentences. Thank the writer, say what you understand happened in neutral terms, and offer to talk by phone with a name and number. Do not argue, and do not say the customer is wrong, even if they are. A new customer is reading your answer to judge you.

Then fix the cause. If three poor reviews mention a late call back, the problem is the call back. If a review is false, or from someone who was never your customer, report it through the platform's own process and keep a copy of your records. Where a review touches health, money or legal matters, keep your reply general and speak to your adviser first.

What to do this week

Pick three customers you served in the past few days, whatever they thought of the service. Choose the script that fits each. Send it yourself, from your business number. Notice how long the writing takes, and whether the replies sound like the customer. For the whole routine, see online review generation and management, and the marketing hub for other channels. If you would like help setting the habit up across your counter team, tell us what you need.