How to get more Google reviews, and stay legal

How to get more Google reviews for a tray and canopy shop: ask at handover, text the link the same day, and stay inside ACCC and Google rules.

Handover, late on a Thursday. The customer walks round their dual cab twice, opens every drawer, and tells you it's the best money they've spent. Then they drive off, and the only record of that moment is in your head. If you're working out how to get more Google reviews, that's where most of them go missing: nobody asked, or somebody asked and never sent the link.

Ask every customer at handover and text them the review link the same day. Put the same link on the counter and the invoice. Just as important is what you don't do: pay for reviews, write them for people, or pick who you ask. The ACCC and Google both have rules on this, and Google's are the stricter of the two.

How to get more Google reviews: ask at handover

Handover is the best chance you'll get. The ute is clean, and the customer is standing next to the person who built it. A week later they're back at work and the canopy is just part of the ute.

Ask in person, something like: "Glad you're happy with it. I'll text you a link for a Google review, if you get a minute tonight." Then leave it there. Google's content policy says businesses shouldn't require or pressure customers to leave a review while they're on the premises, so don't hand them your phone or wait at the counter while they type.

Ask everyone, including the customer whose job ran two weeks late because the powder coater was behind. The same policy doesn't allow businesses to selectively ask for positive reviews. Google's own tips for getting reviews also make the point that buyers tend to trust a profile with some mixed feedback more than a wall of perfect scores.

If you can, hand the ute over outside, in daylight, with the doors up and the drawers out. Some customers add photos to their review, and a real build on a real 79 Series shows the next buyer more than a paragraph can.

Send the review link the same day

Most advice on how to ask for Google reviews stops at "just ask". The link does the work, because it takes the searching out of it. Without one, the customer has to find your listing among every other shop with "4x4" in its name, then work out where the review button is.

Google's steps for creating a review link: open your Business Profile, choose Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and copy the link. The same screen gives you a QR code, but at the time of writing that only works from a computer browser, not on a phone.

Save this message on the workshop phone and send it the evening of the pickup:

Hi [name], thanks for picking up the [vehicle] today. If you've got two minutes, a Google review helps other ute owners find us. Tell it how you found it: [link]

Cheers, [your name], [workshop]

It doesn't ask for five stars, and "tell it how you found it" makes clear you want their opinion, not a script. If you already answer messages at set times through the day, as in How to answer enquiries when you're on the tools, put review texts in the last block before knock-off.

Put the same link wherever a finished customer looks, too. Print the QR code for the counter, and add the link to the invoice and the thank-you email. Google suggests both receipts and a printed code in the store. A customer needs a Google Account to leave a review, but it doesn't have to be a Gmail address.

Reviews show up next to your listing in Maps and Search, so they work best on a profile that's already set up properly. If yours isn't, start with Google Business Profile tips for 4x4 and canopy shops.

What the ACCC and Google don't allow

Both sets of rules start from the same idea: a review should be a real customer's own opinion of a job they paid for. This is general information, not legal advice.

Incentives are where the two rule books differ. The ACCC's guidance on online reviews says an incentive has to apply whether the review is positive or negative, and has to be clearly disclosed. Google goes further and bans incentives for Google reviews outright. For your Google profile, follow Google: no money off the next job and no entry in a draw.

The ACCC has acted on this kind of thing. After an ACCC investigation, True Value Solar dropped a program that gave a free $199 panel service to customers who said they'd had a good experience and posted a review; the ACCC announced it in 2016. In 2020 the Federal Court ordered Service Seeking to pay $600,000 in penalties because its platform let businesses draft their own reviews, which were published automatically if the customer didn't respond within three days.

Google can also act without the ACCC. Along with removing the reviews, it can restrict a Business Profile: no new reviews for a set period, existing reviews unpublished, or a warning on the profile that fake reviews were removed.

Reply as if the next customer is reading

Replies are public and sit under the review, so you're writing for the person deciding between you and the shop across town as much as for the reviewer.

You don't need to thank every five-star review; Google's tips say to reply when you've got something useful to add. When you do, keep it short and specific to the job: "Thanks Sarah, the D-Max was a good one to build. Enjoy the trip north." Don't use replies to push a deal.

A bad review needs more care. Read your notes on the job before you write anything, and wait until you're calm. Then reply once:

• say what went wrong, if something did, and apologise for it
• don't take the blame for what wasn't yours, such as a dealer who delivered the ute late, but say what you did about it
• leave out their rego, address, invoice and anything else private
• offer to sort it out by phone, and give the number

If you fix the problem, the customer may update the review. Never offer anything for that: Google's policy counts an incentive to change or remove a review the same as one to post it.

Flag a review only when it breaks Google's policy, such as one from someone who was never a customer. A bad review from a real customer isn't a policy breach, and the ACCC warns that removing a negative review someone wrote in good faith can itself mislead people. Reply to it, and let the next customer see how you handle a problem.

Talk to Ben if you want to look at what customers see when they find your workshop online.