A QR code on your invoice, business card, or van takes your customer directly to your Google review page. One scan, one tap, review posted. Here's how to set it up.
Why QR codes work for tradespeople
You finish the job, the customer is pleased, but asking out loud for a Google review feels awkward, and half the time you forget anyway. A QR code takes that moment off your shoulders. It sits on the invoice, the card, a sticker on the van, and the customer scans it when they are ready, in their own time. No pressure on you, no chasing.
No app to install, the phone camera is enough.
No typing, and no searching for your name among similar businesses.
No forgetting, the code is on something they keep.
Open your listing and copy the URL from the address bar.
Add &action=write to the end so the review form opens straight away.
Paste that URL into any free QR code generator.
Download the image and print it on invoices, cards and stickers.
The catch with a plain code: it works, but it is blind. You never learn how many people scanned it, whether they reviewed or what they said, and there is no reminder, no version in the customer's language, and no private route for an unhappy customer.
The smarter option: a branded review page
FiveStarPing points the code at a review page built for your business, one that:
shows your name and a friendly prompt, not a bare Google screen,
opens in the customer's own language, 30 of them,
offers every customer the public Google review,
and gives an unhappy customer a private channel to reach you instead of venting in public.
The page and a printable code are on the free plan.
Where to put your QR code
The best spot is wherever the customer already looks once a job is done:
Invoices: everyone gets one, so it is the surest placement.
Business cards: hand one over as you leave.
Van and vehicle: a sticker collects scans while you are parked on a job.
Uniform or site board: a small code on a sign or shirt gets noticed on busy sites.
Printed receipts: if you hand them out, add it.
Email footer: every quote and message then carries it.
Designing a code people actually scan
A code only earns reviews if it is easy to scan, so:
Keep it at least 2cm across in print, and much bigger on a van.
Leave clear space around it; do not crowd it with text.
Add a short line under it, such as "Scan to leave a Google review," so people know what it is for.
Keep strong contrast: a dark code on a light background.
Test it with two or three phones before you print a batch.
QR and SMS together
A code catches the customer who is ready to review on the spot. A text catches the one who meant to and walked off. Use both and you cover both: the scan in person, and a text link for the rest. FiveStarPing does QR on the free plan and SMS on Pro, and the fuller playbook is in how to get more Google reviews.
What about unhappy customers?
The worry about a one-star review is what stops most people putting a code out at all. The answer is not to hide the code from anyone, that breaks Google's rules, but to pair the public review with a private route. Every customer who scans is offered the public Google review, and anyone with a complaint can send private feedback instead, so you hear it first and can put it right. No one is ever blocked from reviewing in public.
Common mistakes to avoid
No caption. People will not scan a code they cannot identify.
Too small. If it will not scan from arm's length, it will not get used.
Pointing at your homepage instead of the review form. Every extra tap loses people.
One placement only. Put it on the invoice and the van and the card.
Never testing it. A broken code on a thousand invoices is a thousand wasted asks.
All of this works on the free plan; Pro at $15 a month adds SMS, reminders and scan tracking. For context, enterprise tools like Podium, Birdeye and Broadly run from several hundred dollars a month.