If you're running any kind of consumer-facing business, you'll get asked this by your staff any time you ask them to get more reviews.
You might even be wondering yourself how to make the ask feel natural.
Asking for reviews is so uncomfortable because it feels like fishing for praise, which feels cringe af.
But it doesn't have to be.
There are a few things to keep in mind that will make asking for reviews infinitely easier:
- There's no way around it. If you want reviews, you need to ask for them. This means everyone's doing it. And if everyone's doing it, you'd better get started, and get better than your competitors.
- It doesn't have to be that cringe. You've probably seen others ask for reviews with strength and confidence. There are a few tricks that help project confidence which we've listed here.
- Process things. Make it super easy. Have a clean link & QR code handy. Script things for your team. Ask when your customers have mental space for it, etc.
In this post, we cover these in more detail across 10 simple things you can implement today to ask for reviews more often, and feel more comfortable doing so.
#1 Ask more people, more often
If you want more reviews, you can ask more people, and ask them more often.
That's all there is.
There’s literally no other way to get more reviews.
If your competitors are getting more reviews than you, it’s because they’re asking more people, or asking more often, or both.
It might sound obvious, but most business owners I speak to dramatically underestimate how many customers they should be asking, and vastly overestimate how uncomfortable it is to do so.
According to a 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey, 83% of people who were asked to leave a review actually went on to leave one. That'smore than four in five said yes. The same study found that 94% of consumers claim they’re open to leaving a review if asked at the right moment.
So first, and foremost, get comfortable with being uncomfortable, because there’s no way around it.
Plus, the more you ask, the more you'll be comfortable and confident. So it's really about getting the flywheel rolling.
#2 Speak less
You don't need a strategy deck to ask for a review. You need one sentence.
The less you say, the less you can get wrong.
"We're really glad you're happy — would you mind sharing that on Google?"
That's it. That's the whole ask.
Ten seconds, tops.
No preamble about how much reviews mean to your business, no explaining how Google works.
Just a short, human sentence, and a link.
The more you try to justify why you're asking, the more defensive it sounds.
Keeping it short is the single best way to project confidence, and confidence is what separates a normal ask from a cringe one.
#3 Make it easy
Every extra step between your ask and the review form is a step where someone drops off.
So don't leave it up to good intentions.
Pair every review ask with an immediate path for action: a QR code on the table, a text with the link sent on the spot, an NFC tap point at the register.
The customer doesn't need to remember your business name, search for you on Google, find the right listing, and figure out where to click.
A little known fact is that google's own review links often don't work properly on iPhones. If a customer doesn't have Google Maps installed (which most iPhone users don’t) they'll get redirected to the App Store instead of your review page.
Luckily, we built a free Google review link generator that solves exactly this, it takes about ten seconds, doesn't require any contact info, and the link works on every device, every browser, forever. It also generates a QR code you can print, stick on a business card, or slap on a receipt.
#4 Make it personal
A personal ask from the person who actually did the work will always outperform a branded email from "The Team."
According to Grade.us, face-to-face review requests are 34 times more effective than impersonal asks made via email, phone, or social media.
What we've observed at Reviewflowz is a little less dramatic but still massive: collection rates typically jump from 5–10% with indirect or automated asks to 40–50% when a team member asks personally.
And it makes sense if you think about it. When a generic email lands in your inbox asking for feedback, it’s a lot easier to ignore.
But when your electrician looks you in the eye and says "glad we got that sorted, would really appreciate a quick review," you feel like you're doing a person a favour, not filling in a form for a company.
People like people, not brands.
#5 Get the timing right
Most business owners I talk to train their staff to ask towards the end of the experience. But in general, this works best when asking at the “peak” moment.
Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman called this the peak-end rule: people judge experiences based on the most intense moment, not the average.
For example, for tour operators, asking for a review at the end of a tour, when people are usually tired, thirsty, hungry and ready to leave, doesn't work nearly as well as asking right after the main highlight of the tour lands and someone says "oh my god, this is incredible."
The peak is when your electrician just fixed the AC on the hottest day of the year and the customer feels the cold air hit. It's when the delivery arrives and the packaging looks better than expected. It's when the support ticket gets resolved in ten minutes instead of two days.
Define what “peak” looks like for your business.
That's your window.
#6 Script it
"But I don't want it to sound scripted."
It won't. That's not what scripting means.
Scripting means your team has words ready before the moment arrives. Because when they don't, one of two things happens: they freeze up and don't ask at all, or they ramble and it comes out weird. Both are worse than having a line prepared.
It doesn't need to be complicated. A simple structure works:
- Thank them.
- Mention what went well.
- Ask.
- Hand them the link.
The key is to give your team a cheat sheet of phrases they can adapt, not a monologue to memorise.
Give them two or three options and let them pick whichever fits their personality. One rigid script for ten different people will sound robotic ten different times.
Role-play it in morning meetings. Seriously. Two minutes, twice a week.
It feels silly the first time. By the third time, it's muscle memory.
Confidence doesn't come from reading a PDF, it comes from having said the words out loud enough times that they stop feeling like a performance.
#7 Make it about them, not about you
Don’t ask for validation. Or for a favour.
Instead, try to ask happy customers to light the path for the next one, or to “share” their experience, like they would (and probably have) on social media, with other customers like them.
So frame it that way. "It helps other people find us" lands better than "we need more reviews."
One sounds generous, the other sounds needy.
#8 Make it a (friendly) competition
Your team will ask for reviews a lot more often if there's something in it for them.
Start simple. Track who gets mentioned by name in reviews. Put it on a board. Update it weekly. Buy the winner a coffee, lunch, whatever works for your team. That's it.
The point isn't the prize. The prize is almost irrelevant. The point is visibility. When people can see how they're doing relative to everyone else, they care more. When they can't, they don't. That's just how humans work.
The other thing that happens is that your staff start telling customers to mention them by name.
"If you do leave a review, it'd be awesome if you mentioned me." Now the customer feels like they're doing someone a personal favour, not reviewing a brand. Collection rates go through the roof.
With Reviewflowz, you can build an automated leaderboard that tracks exactly this. Who gets mentioned, how often, and what their average rating is.
You can send it to your team on Slack or email every week. No more spreadsheets.
Check out our complete guide on how to manage incentives for your staff.
#9 Be thankful
Thank them before they've even done it.
Right there in the conversation, the moment they say "sure."
"Thank you so much, I really appreciate it" with a smile while you're handing them the QR code.
It sounds small. It's not. You're making them feel like they've already committed, which makes them far more likely to follow through.
And if they say no? Respect the feedback. Smile and move on.
Respect earns trust, and trust earns reviews down the line.
The person who says no today might say yes next time, but only if you didn't make it weird the first time.
#10 Give first, ask second
The best time to ask for a review is right after you've given something.
A problem solved. A meal delivered. A photo taken. A freebie thrown in. A milestone reached
It doesn't matter what it is. What matters is the sequence.
Give, then ask.
Not the other way around.
This isn't a hack. It's basic psychology.
Reciprocity is one of the oldest social dynamics there is: when someone receives, they want to give back.
A review is one of the easiest ways for them to do that.
