Ask a happy customer for a review on the spot and you will get a far better response than asking three days later. Timing is the single biggest factor in whether a review request turns into an actual review, more than the wording, more than the channel, more than anything else on this list.
Right after the job, while it's still fresh
The moment a job finishes, or an appointment ends, is the best time to send a request. The experience is still in the customer's mind, the relief or satisfaction is still fresh, and the request feels connected to something real rather than a generic marketing message landing days later. A plumber who fixes a leak and sends a text within the hour will out convert one who waits until the following week, every time.
This holds across almost every service business. A salon client who has just seen the finished result in the mirror is far more likely to leave a review than one who is reminded a week later, once the appointment has faded into the background of a busy week.
What happens if you wait
The longer the gap between the job and the request, the weaker the connection in the customer's mind. After a few days, the specific details fade. After a week, many customers will not remember enough to write more than a one line review, if they write one at all. Delay does not just lower response rates, it lowers the quality of the reviews that do come in. A review written from memory days later tends to be shorter, vaguer, and less likely to mention anything specific that future customers would find useful.
Good moments to ask, by type of job
- Trades and home services: within the hour of the job finishing, ideally before the van leaves the driveway.
- Salons and barbers: at the till, or immediately after, while the result is still visible.
- Cleaning services: the same day, once the customer has had a chance to walk through.
- Ongoing or multi visit services: after a clear, noticeable result has been delivered, not after the first session.
The exception: when timing should be delayed
There is one case where immediate is not right: services where the outcome is not clear yet. A physiotherapy clinic, for example, might wait until a course of treatment shows results rather than asking after the first session. The rule is not “always immediately,” it is “ask as soon as the customer has enough to form a genuine opinion,” and for most one off jobs, that is within the hour.
Automating the moment so nobody forgets
The practical problem with asking immediately is that it relies on someone remembering to do it, every time, for every customer. That is the part that breaks down under a busy schedule, particularly for a small team juggling several jobs a day. Tying the request to the moment a job is marked complete, rather than to a person remembering to send it, removes that risk entirely. The message still reads like it came from a person, it just goes out reliably instead of depending on someone's memory at the end of a long day.