Review Request SMS Templates for Tradespeople

Ready-to-use templates you can copy right now. Or automate the whole thing with FiveStarPing, free plan, 30 languages, one tap to send.

Why SMS beats email for review requests

Text messages are opened about 98% of the time, usually within minutes. Email opens sit nearer 20%, and a review request buried in an inbox is a review you will never get. When you have just finished a job and the customer still has their phone in their hand, a text is the channel that actually reaches them.

It works because the timing and the medium line up: the customer just watched you fix their problem, they are holding the device they would leave the review on, and a short text asks for ten seconds, not a login. For plumbers, electricians, painters, cleaners and contractors, that is the difference between a steady stream of reviews and a profile that never grows.

When to send, and the two-text rhythm

Send within a few hours of finishing, same day at the latest. The goodwill is at its peak right after you have solved the problem and it fades fast, so a request sent three days later lands flat. Keep to normal hours, roughly 9am to 7pm local time, so the text does not arrive at an awkward moment.

Most reviews that come in arrive after a gentle second nudge, because people mean to and forget. Send one reminder two to three days after the first if they have not reviewed, then stop. One initial message and one reminder is the whole sequence; anything more is spam and earns you an opt-out or a report.

The templates

Every template below does the same four things: says who you are, reminds them of the job, hands over one tap-to-review link, and stays short. Swap the bracketed parts for the real details and keep the whole thing under 160 characters where you can, so it sends as a single message.

1. Simple and direct

Your default, sent the same day you finish.

2. Referencing the specific job

Use when naming the work makes it personal: a boiler swap, a rewire, a repaint.

3. After an emergency or same-day callout

When you turned up fast and got them out of trouble, name that.

4. Repeat or regular customer

Warmer, for someone who already knows you.

5. Short and neutral, with opt-out

The leanest version for a mixed or unfamiliar customer base.

Why review requests get ignored

When a request gets no response, it is almost always one of these, and each has a simple fix:

• It is too long. Two sentences and a link. If they have to scroll, you have lost them.
• There is no name. A generic blast reads like marketing. Use their name and the job.
• The link is hard. Do not send them to your homepage to hunt for the review button. A direct review link makes it one tap.
• It arrived too late. A week on, the moment has passed. Same day wins.
• It came at a bad time. 8am or 10pm feels intrusive. Stick to daytime hours.

How to get your Google review link

1. Open Google's review link tool.
2. Search for your business name.
3. Copy the link it gives you.
4. Paste it into the template in place of [review link].

If you would rather skip that, FiveStarPing builds a branded review page with your name and Google link already wired in, so the customer taps once and lands straight on the review form. The same one-tap idea works on a QR code for your van and invoices.

Best practices for review request texts

• Send same day, within a few hours of finishing while it is fresh.
• Personalise with their name and the actual job.
• Stay under 160 characters where you can, so it is a single SMS segment and costs less.
• Only text people who hired you. Do not message numbers that never engaged you; that is what gets you reported.
• Add an opt-out such as "Reply STOP to opt out" so people can decline cleanly.
• One ask and one reminder, then stop. Never a third.

What about negative reviews?

Fear of a one-star review is what stops most tradespeople asking at all, which is backwards: ask no one and the only reviews you get are from the angry few motivated to find you. The fix is not to screen people, that breaks Google's rules, but to give everyone an easy public route with a private one alongside it. With FiveStarPing every customer is offered the public Google review, and anyone with a complaint can also send you private feedback so you hear about it and can put it right. No one is ever blocked from reviewing publicly.

The manual way vs the automated way

You can paste these into your phone, swap the name in, and send. It works, and for a handful of jobs a week it is fine. Past that it gets tedious, and the follow-ups are the first thing to slip.

FiveStarPing runs it for you: enter the name and number, pick the language, tap send, and the reminder goes out on its own a couple of days later if needed. The fuller playbook is in how to get more Google reviews.

How much does it cost?

The free plan covers 5 review requests a month by email. Pro at $15 a month adds unlimited SMS, automatic follow-ups and analytics. For context, enterprise tools like Podium, Birdeye and Broadly run from several hundred dollars a month.

Free plan available, no credit card required.