How Often Should You Chase a Google Review? Three Reminders, and Where to Stop
Most businesses ask once. It goes out, nothing comes back, and they conclude the customer did not want to write one. What usually happened is that the message arrived while the person was driving, or with the children, or in a meeting. They saw it, thought they would get to it later, and later never came. More reviews are lost to timing than to unwillingness.
Why one request is not enough
The customers willing to leave you a good review and the customers who will actually go and write one are not the same group. The first is large, the second is small, and follow-ups are what close the gap.
The pattern across Australian local businesses is fairly consistent. A single request lands somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent. Add one reminder a few days later and it moves to about 15. Finish within three and you can clear 20. Beyond that it stops paying: the fourth and fifth requests produce almost no new reviews and start generating unsubscribes, blocks, and the occasional bad rating left purely because somebody got sick of hearing from you.
So the question is not whether to follow up. It is how many times, how far apart, and where to stop.
Three reminders, and where each one sits
One rhythm works for most trades:
- The first — the day of service. Within two hours if possible, that evening at the latest. The detail is still intact, so what they write is specific rather than “great service”. Specific reviews are worth far more to local ranking and to being quoted by AI than a generic line.
- The second — day three. Only to people who have not reviewed. Do not send the first message again; rewrite it as an after-service check-in with the link at the end.
- The third — day seven to ten, and the last. Give it a fresh reason: the new menu is out, the service is due, the follow-up appointment is coming. A review request riding behind actual business is far better mannered than a third chase on its own.
Then stop. That is not caution, it is counting the cost of the intrusion — one regular customer annoyed into leaving is worth more than the review would have been.
Where different trades should shift the timing
The above is the base. The variable is how long it takes for a complete impression to form. A haircut and a crown are not judged on the same clock.
| Trade | First reminder | Second | Third? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant / café | Within 2 hours of leaving | Day 3 | No — once the moment has passed it has passed |
| Beauty / nails / hair | That evening | Day 3 | Yes, alongside the next booking reminder |
| Dental / medical | Next day — most people still feel rough on the day | Day 5 | Yes; the right moment is once the result shows |
| Mechanic / mobile trade | Day of completion | Day 3 | Yes — a week of use is what proves the repair |
| Law / accounting | On delivery of the matter or the return | Day 7 | Yes, but no more than once a year per client |
| Retail / e-commerce | 1 day after delivery | Day 5 | Depends on order value; stop at two for low-value goods |
And a few cases where not even the first request should go out: the job went wrong and has not been put right, the customer already said they were unhappy, or they have told you not to contact them. What is called for there is finishing the job, not handing them a rating form.
Making the follow-up run itself
Three reminders, split across channels, sent only to the people who have not reviewed, with negative feedback intercepted before it goes public — that is manageable by hand at a few dozen jobs a day and quietly stops happening above it.
Frequently asked questions
How many times should I ask a customer for a review?
Three, and then stop. One request typically returns 5 to 10 per cent. Adding a second a few days later pushes it to around 15. Wrapping up within three gets past 20. A fourth and fifth add almost nothing and start producing unsubscribes, blocks and the occasional irritated rating.
When should the three reminders go out?
The first on the day of service, ideally within two hours. The second on day three, sent only to people who have not yet reviewed and worded differently. The third between day seven and day ten, attached to a genuine reason to be in touch — a new menu, a service reminder, an upcoming appointment.
Will asking more than once get me penalised by Google?
What Google prohibits is review gating — asking only the customers you know are happy, or trading discounts and gifts for good ratings. One or two extra reminders are not a violation in themselves, provided you do not filter who gets asked, do not offer anything, and do not hint at a number of stars. The real risk sits with the customer: someone you have annoyed reaches for one star.
Does the timing change by industry?
Considerably, because the point at which an impression is complete differs. A café should ask within two hours of the customer leaving. A dental clinic should wait until the next day and follow up around day five, once the result is apparent. A mechanic should ask on completion and again at day three, because a week of driving is what tells the customer whether the repair held.
SMS, email or asking in person — which works best?
Asking face to face converts best and scales worst. SMS has the highest open rate and suits the first request. Email suits the second and third, where a link and a short explanation need room. Most businesses use all three: a word at the counter, a text to follow, an email to close.
Who should I not send a request to at all?
Anyone whose service went wrong and has not been put right, anyone who expressed dissatisfaction at the time, and anyone who has said they do not want to be contacted. Fix the problem instead of handing them a rating form.
Should the second reminder repeat the first message?
No. Send it only to people who have not reviewed, and rewrite it — treat it as an after-service check-in with the review link at the end rather than a repeat of the same ask.
Why do so few people leave a review after saying they would?
Because willingness and action are not the same population. Plenty of customers mean to and are interrupted — driving, working, with the children. The gap between the two is exactly what follow-ups are for.
How do I keep people who already reviewed off the list?
Automatically. A system that matches new reviews against your request list and removes those customers is the only version that survives any volume — doing it by hand works up to a few dozen jobs a day and then quietly stops happening.
Can negative feedback be caught before it reaches Google?
You can route your own feedback form into an internal ticket so problems reach you first, which is legitimate. What you cannot do is use that step to decide who gets asked for a public review — that is gating, and it is against Google’s policy.
Let the follow-up run without you
AI REVIEW automates the whole review chain for Australian businesses: triggered automatically after checkout, intervals set by trade, customers removed from the list the moment they review, and negative feedback routed into an internal ticket rather than straight onto Google. If you want to know what rhythm suits your business, come and ask.
