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12 proven ways to get more business reviews

You need to ask your customers for reviews, so create a Review Engine. These are twelve easy ways to boost your business profiles.

Chris Kolmar

By Chris Kolmar · Published · Last updated

12

Your best salespeople are your past customers

Every happy customer is a potential salesperson and a review is how they sell to the next person choosing between you and someone else.

Left alone, your business profile will skew towards whoever felt strongly enough to write in. Typically, happy customers stay quiet while angry ones tell everyone.

The Spiegel Research Center at Northwestern found customers who were asked for a review averaged 4.34 stars. While customers who wrote in unprompted averaged 3.89 stars, with a large cluster at one star.

But when buyers shop, they read the best review and the worst one. They use those to judge whether your company is real and what the potential downside would look like. So, you want to ask every customer for a review to give the next shopper a realistic understanding of your company.

Two constraints come with that and both are law. You can’t pay for a review or condition anything on one, and you can’t ask only the customers you expect to like you. Specifics are in the FAQ below.

Here’s a look at the 12 places the Review Engine at Aspect recommends you ask for a review

You’ll find the transcript below the video.

Video: Chris of Aspect by ConsumerAffairs presenting the eleven places to ask for a review.
11 Proven Ways To Ask for a Review · 7:14 · Presented by Chris, in growth marketing for over 15 years, at Aspect by ConsumerAffairs · Watch on YouTube.
Read the full transcript

Lightly edited from the auto-generated captions. We publish the recording as shot and correct it in place rather than re-record, so where the narration goes further than our sources do, the correction sits inline.

0:00
Two brands sign up for Aspect by ConsumerAffairs on the exact same day. One year later, one of them has four times as many reviews. How did they do it? For clarity: this opening is an illustration, not a measured customer result. No brands, dates or figures sit behind it.
0:10
One brand thought that uploading their phone list would be enough. The other brand did that too, but they used the review link in places you wouldn’t expect, and that made all the difference. So today I’m going to go through the 11 different places you can ask for a review.
0:27
Each profile around the internet, while it isn’t on your site, is a reflection of your brand. Having reviews on all of them will complete the picture when a customer searches something like your brand plus reviews.
0:37
And increasingly AI and LLMs are using those reviews to truly understand your brand. So you can’t ignore them, and you’re going to need more reviews than ever to fill up all of those profiles.
0:47
So with that in mind, I’m going to show you 11 of the best places to ask for a review. And remember, asking is important to this whole process. I’m Chris with ConsumerAffairs. I’ve been in growth marketing for over 15 years, and I’m here at Aspect by ConsumerAffairs to help you grow your business online.
1:03
The first four use emails you’re probably already sending, although number four might be a bit of a surprise. Number one is the email receipt. If your customer completes an order, you will probably be sending them an invoice or some follow-up email. At the bottom of that email, add an ask for a review.
1:23
They’ll have just interacted with your brand, and while it might be kind of early in that relationship, they will have gone through the sales process and can comment on that. Just as importantly, it’s another way to extract a little bit more value from that relationship considering the transaction is now over.
1:35
But that’s not the only time you interact with your customers. In an ongoing relationship, you might have to support them. Number two is when someone closes a support ticket. By definition, when somebody has closed a ticket, it means the issue has come to a resolution. And that’s a great time for them to tell a story.
1:52
They can say the before, what the problem they were having was, and the after, how you fixed it. Odds are people in the future will have similar problems, so it’ll be really good for them to see how you handled it in the past.
2:04
Support them over the course of a year and they’ll reach their anniversary. Number three, an anniversary email is a fantastic time to ask for a review. If somebody’s been using your product for a year, now they have a whole breadth of understanding of what it’s like.
2:17
And if it’s not clear already, the important thing to note here is that each one of these is an ask. Happy customers tell nobody and angry customers tell everybody. But if you put in the work to ask happy customers, they’re happy to tell you their experience. The key is you just have to interject at the right moment.
2:36
So at Aspect, we recommend asking literally every customer their experience, because if you’re a good company, over the course of all of your interactions, they’ll net out to positive. And people want to see negative reviews in addition to positive reviews. That will give future customers an understanding of what your product is like and help with conversion.
2:52
Number four, adding new profiles into a rotation. At this point of running a business, you have to maintain multiple profiles across the internet. There’s Google Maps, Better Business Bureau, Aspect by ConsumerAffairs, and many more. You’re going to want to get reviews across all of those platforms.
3:13
That means each month you change the profile that you’re going to be asking for reviews for, and that way a future customer will have a complete understanding of your company and your product across all profiles.
3:30
Number five and number six are on-site changes you can make, and these typically have an analog to those emails that you’re sending. So you could add a review ask, for example, on a thank-you page after buying, or on a popup after a support ticket completes. You already have their attention on your site, so these are excellent points to ask for a review.
3:46
But you can also open up your whole site to reviews. Number six, adding links in the header, footer and testimonial pages. That’s an excellent way to get more reviews, by sending them to these extensions of your brand where they can talk about you.
4:02
It will also add more emphasis to those profiles. So if you’re concentrating on getting reviews for Aspect, then having a profile link in the bottom will tell Google and LLMs that it’s a more important source of reviews about your company. And then the testimonial page is another great place to post your reviews. Obviously that’s what a testimonial is, but you can also have a way for them to submit more.
4:25
But what happens if you’re not an online company? Well, at number seven, there’s QR codes. On any business card or completion packet that you present to a customer, you can add a QR code, and that link should go directly to one of your review profiles. Now, this typically happens for higher-consideration purchases that are much more infrequent.
4:41
So I know personally, when I had my windows installed, they gave me a giant packet of all this information. As part of that packet was a little card with a QR code on it. The rep at the end of his explanation said, “Oh, and can you scan that and give us a review?” So it gives the opportunity for people in the field to review you.
4:57
And number eight is using other distribution methods. The one I have in mind is social. So think Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, depending on where your audience lives. The idea being you can take a quality review you’ve already received and post it online asking for more. You can say, “We’ve just had this great experience. We’d love for anyone else to share their experience.”
5:16
And the key is you can’t incentivize reviews, and you shouldn’t be only focusing on positive interactions. You need to get a complete breadth of reviews so that people can truly understand every aspect of your company.
5:28
Because research from Northwestern has shown that the optimal star rating is actually somewhere between 4.2 and 4.5. People don’t believe a straight 5.0. I mean, just think about it yourself. When you buy something on Amazon, you check the one-star reviews as much as you check the five-star reviews.
5:48
And while social takes some effort, these next two are set it and forget it. The first, at number nine, is a BCC. Platforms like Aspect allow you to BCC us whenever you email a client. So if you don’t feel comfortable asking for the review at that point in time, by BCCing us it gets added to a list of customers you can potentially ask for a review in the future. And that email will come from ConsumerAffairs, a third-party source.
6:10
And another great place to automate review collection is here at number 10, in your CRM. Whether you’re using HubSpot or Salesforce, by setting this all up you won’t even have to think about it anymore as you’re starting to collect reviews from many different sources.
6:26
Which brings me to number 11, an SMS text message. The conversion rate from text message to review is pretty high, and is another potential touch point. So again, you’re using the triggers throughout the experience as times to text them, but you simply add a link in the text to a review form and you’ll have a pretty good shot at getting another review. One thing the recording does not say out loud: texting a customer needs their consent first, under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. See the SMS section below.
6:43
And that’s it. That’s 11 different places where you can ask for a review. But it’s important that you get the right kind of reviews too. You want people leaving long, full, rich experiences and not just short ratings.
6:58
Aspect by ConsumerAffairs can help you do that by calling your customers to get deep, long-form reviews. And those rich reviews are great for AI and LLMs and your search results. So remember, every complaint is a gift and happy customers tell no one. So go out and start asking for more reviews.

Which ones are you using?

Tick the placements you already have running. The point is the gap, not the score.

The twelve placements

Tick the ones you have running. Most businesses we talk to are using one, and the second one is where the increase comes from.

Call them and record it

The best part of working with Aspect is that we call your customer to get in-depth stories about your company. People talk 2-4x faster than they type, so you can get much longer reviews over the phone.

Not to mention that the questions you ask can get at the certain aspects of your product you want feedback on.

Questions you can ask on the call
  • What made you choose us over the other companies you looked at?
  • How did the day of the install go?
  • What would you tell a friend who is thinking about hiring us?

In the email receipt

The best place to automate a request for a review is on the email receipt. You can put it under the order summary.

While this will get at every customer, it’s early in the process so they will not have experienced the product. It will reveal stories about the buying process and what it was like working with your sales team.

Wording you can start from

How did the purchase go? It takes two minutes and helps the next buyer decide. {review link}

After a closed support ticket

Adding an ask to a support ticket will be a gold mine of the best performing reviews. Those where there was a problem, but then you fixed it.

That before-and-after story of how your company handled a problem is invaluable to a buyer on the fence. They gain an understanding of how you will handle a situation that goes south.

Wording you can start from

Your case has been closed. If you have a minute, would you write up what the problem was and your experience? {review link}

Send an anniversary email

A customer who has been with you for a year has seen how the product holds up and what support is like. Reaching out here gives them a chance to tell a story about working with you and the product.

Wording you can start from

We’re so excited to have been working with you for a year! Can you share a story about us with a future customer? {review link}

Asking for more than one profile

The idea here is that you have to manage multiple profiles online. Ask for a review in a rotation over time. You can typically set this up in your CRM so that you don’t flood one profile with hundreds of reviews, while others get zero.

For example, ask for a review for ConsumerAffairs one month, Google the next, and Yelp after that. Each profile builds up with a full scope of reviews instead of one with all the complaints.

A rotation you can start from
  • Month 1 ConsumerAffairs
  • Month 2 Google
  • Month 3 Yelp
  • Month 4 Back to ConsumerAffairs

Add an ask to the thank-you page on your site

On the order confirmation page, ask for a review. Much like the receipt email, these will get insights into the buying process.

Really any time a customer finishes an interaction with you on your site, it’s an excellent time to ask. They will have a fresh story about one aspect of your company.

Wording you can start from

Thank you for your order! How did we do? {review link}

Add a link in your header, footer and testimonial pages

A link in each one of these sections is another chance to grab a review. Profile links in the footer and header can add credibility while directing customers to another owned property.

Furthermore, those links tell Google and other LLMs which profiles are the source of truth about your company or brand.

Link text that works

Use two links rather than one. Read our reviews for the visitor who is deciding, and Leave a review for the one who has already decided. A single “Reviews” link serves the first and hides the second.

QR codes for in-person installations

Add a QR code to the packet of printed material at the end of an install. Or at the end of a receipt. This review ask works for high-consideration purchases where you are with the customer and hand them a packet.

You can point at it and say, “Please leave a review” while standing next to them. And, again, ask everyone!

Wording you can start from

On the card: Tell us how we did.

What the company rep can say: Please scan that code to leave us a review. It really helps the next customer.

Draft a social post

This review request leverages all of social media. The steps are straightforward:

  1. Take a review you already received
  2. Post it, maybe with some AI formatting, but with the words verbatim
  3. Invite other customers to add their reviews with a link.

This method takes advantage of existing reviews.

Wording you can start from

This came in last week and we have not stopped thinking about it. If we have worked with you, we would like to hear how it went, good or bad. {review link}

You don’t actually want a 5.0 star rating

It turns out, buyers trust 4.2 to 4.5 star ratings more than a perfect score.

The Spiegel Research Center at Northwestern found purchase likelihood climbs with star rating, but falls as it approaches perfect. Just think of a product on Amazon, would you really trust a perfect 5.0 star rating?

So your goal should be to ask every customer for a review to get a full picture of what it’s like to work with you. You should be building trust, not skepticism with your star rating.

But don’t go too far the opposite way. We have a calculator to see what your low star rating is costing you.

Chart from the recording: purchase likelihood plotted against star rating, rising to a peak in a highlighted 4.2 to 4.5 band and falling away toward 5.0, which is annotated "reads as too good to be true".

Send to our BCC address

Several review platforms, including Aspect, give you an address to BCC. Whenever you send a receipt or some other trigger email, you BCC the platform.

That 3rd party platform then emails or contacts the customer asking for a review. The 3rd party source gives the ask more weight as it should be a trust signal that the review won’t be biased.

Once you set this up, you have an automated review collection method.

What the email looks like
  • To {customer email}
  • BCC {your platform’s BCC address}
  • Subject Your receipt from {company}

CRM triggers

In HubSpot, Salesforce or ServiceTitan, if something moves to Closed Won or becomes a renewal, they get an automated email for a review.

Identifying the right triggers for your business is the most important part. You want to get as many long form stories about you and your brand as you can.

Triggers you can start from
  • When Deal stage moves to Closed Won
  • When A renewal is marked won
  • Then Send the review request email with {review link}

Send a text message

SMS can run off the same triggers as the other requests above, but comes in from a different source. The TextUs 2026 report put SMS response rates at roughly 4x email (for sales outreach).

The idea here is pretty simple. When was the last time you didn’t read a text message? It takes care of the first half of the problem of getting them to see the review request.

Just make sure you have working opt outs and follow all SMS requirements.

Wording you can start from

Hi {first name}, it is {company}. Your install wrapped up Tuesday. Would you leave us a review? {review link} Reply STOP to opt out.

Frequently asked questions about asking for reviews

How do you ask for a review without being pushy?
Attach the ask to a moment that already happened rather than creating a new one. A receipt, a resolved ticket, a completed install and a one-year anniversary are all points where the customer is already thinking about you, so the ask reads as part of the interaction instead of an interruption. Keep it to two sentences, say roughly how long it takes, and ask once per moment rather than following up repeatedly.
Can I offer a discount or a gift card for a review?
No. Incentivizing reviews is the one rule on this page with a federal rule behind it: the FTC’s Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, took effect in October 2024 and reaches reviews that are bought, written by insiders, or given in exchange for a conditioned incentive. An unconditional thank-you after the fact is a different thing from payment for a review, but the safe version is to ask for the review and give the customer nothing for it.
Should I only ask customers I know are happy?
No, and it works against you twice. Google’s Business Profile policy tells merchants not to discourage or prohibit negative reviews or selectively solicit positive ones, so screening customers before you ask puts your profile at risk. It also produces a worse number: people who write reviews unprompted skew negative, because an unprompted review form takes enough effort that mostly the furious finish it. Asking everyone is what makes the resulting rating a reading of your business rather than a filtered one.
How many places should I be asking in?
More than one, which is where most businesses are. The point of twelve is not that you run twelve programs; it is that a single channel caps how many reviews you can collect no matter how good the wording is. Four of the twelve ride on email you already send and three are configured once and then forgotten, so a realistic first move is to add the second and third place this month rather than to build a campaign.
Do I need permission before texting a customer for a review?
Yes. Text messages are the one channel on this page with a consent requirement attached, under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and consent has to be gathered before the message goes out rather than offered inside it. Every message also needs a working opt-out. This page is not legal advice, and the rules differ enough by how you send and what you say that it is worth asking your own counsel before you turn SMS on.
What star rating should I be aiming for?
Not 5.0. The Spiegel Research Center at Northwestern found purchase likelihood rises with star rating and then falls again as ratings approach a perfect score, peaking in the 4.2 to 4.5 band on its summary figures. Shoppers read a straight 5.0 as too good to be true, and a page of nothing but five-star reviews works against the thing it is supposed to prove.
Are longer reviews better than short ones?
It depends who is reading. For a human skimming a profile, recency, volume and owner responses matter more than length. For search engines, and for whatever assistant is answering the question, length is what makes a review quotable at all. A four-word review contains nothing specific to cite. A review that names your install crew and your scheduling gives a retrieval system something to say about those things. That is a mechanical argument rather than a measured one, since no published study links review length to citation in AI answers.

Turn on your Review Engine with Aspect

Aspect helps you collect reviews by setting up automation and proactively calling your customers. These conversations create long form stories about working with your company.