How To Get More Reviews For Your Heating & Plumbing Business

71% of people read online reviews while researching a business, and heating and plumbing remains one of the most highly competitive trades. 

It’s not hard to see why reviews play such a crucial role in offering trust and confidence in your services. But for most businesses, getting good reviews isn’t the difficult part. Rather, it’s getting 10s or 100s of them that becomes tricky. When do you ask? How do you phrase it? Online or in-person? 

Understandably, few people like to ask for reviews – but the extra business they can help you win over your competitors is undeniable.

In this article, we’ll answer all these questions and even show how you can entirely automate the process via email. 

Find out how you can use reviews to get more work.

First, decide where you want to collect reviews

Probably the best place to start is Google. When customers search for heating and plumbing services or businesses online, Google offers suggestions that include star ratings and links to full reviews left for the business: 

Other good places to get reviews include review sites like Trustpilot and lead gen sites like Checkatrade. Note how, in the above screenshot, Checkatrade is linked under the “Find results on” section. 

While the best-case scenario is to have reviews across all these sites, it’s best to start with one until you have a good collection of reviews there.

Below is an example of Google reviews for one of these companies. If you were a customer reading these reviews, it’s easy to see how they help build trust and authority for the brand.

How to ask for reviews

Asking for a review can feel like you’re imposing or being annoying — but the reality is very different. Just remember that nearly half of internet users regularly post reviews and it’s very much become the norm. Most of the time, though, it’s because they’ve been asked or reminded to do so — and this is key. 

Here are some simple and effective ways to ask for reviews: 

In-person:

What to say:

There’s no strict rule for what to say, and it largely depends on context, and it’s generally best to go with the natural flow of the conversation rather than trying to memorise something scripted.

That being said, you could say something along the lines of:

“I really appreciate the feedback/kind words. Would you be able to leave me a review on Google? Just a few lines is all and it’ll help me grow my business.”

When to ask:

You’ll have a better chance of getting a review if you catch the customer at a good time: 

• Ask when the job is finished
• Try to pick up on positive cues (such as a compliment or them thanking you for the work)
• Right before you leave (or as you’re packing up). Your customer is much more likely to remember the last interaction they had with you. Lots of people are happy to leave a review but simply forget. 

Over the phone:

Asking over the phone is largely the same as asking in person, except you need a reason for the phone call. 

Let’s say you installed a boiler for a customer last week. Calling them up to simply check if everything is working fine is a great ‘excuse’ to ask for a review. 

If you can find time in your busy schedule to do this, you’ll immediately stand out from other businesses and impress the customer. If they’re happy, you can then ask them to leave a review. While you should never specifically ask for a good review, you can assess their response and only ask customers you’re confident will leave a nice review. 

What to say:

“Hi [customer name], this is [your name] from [your business name]. How are you today?

[customer response]

I’m doing good too, thanks! I just wanted to give you a quick ring to see if everything is running smooth and you’re happy with [the job recently done]?

[customer gives good response]

That’s great to hear. We’re actually looking for a bit of feedback and to try and get some more reviews online. Would you mind leaving us a quick rating on Google?

[Customer says yes]

Thanks so much! I’ll send a link over after the call. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do!”

When to ask:

The best time to phone up would be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after the job has been finished.

Via email or SMS:

You’ll get fewer reviews per customer via email or SMS, but the huge benefit is that it takes a fraction of the time.

You can very easily send a template email or message to your customers after a job has been completed. 

What to say:

Email:

“Dear [customer name]

Thank you for choosing [company name]! We hope everything is going well after the [installation/servicing] last week. 

We really value feedback from our customers as it helps us understand what we’re doing well and how we can offer the best possible service. 

If you have a few spare moments, we’d appreciate it if you could leave a quick rating and review on Google. 

Here’s a link to leave the review: [link]

Thanks again and best of luck!”

SMS (shortened message):

“Dear [customer name]

Thank you for choosing [company name]! 

If you have a few spare moments, we’d appreciate it if you could leave a quick rating and review on Google. 

Here’s a link to leave the review: [link]

Thanks again and best of luck!”

When to ask:

An email or SMS is best sent shortly after the job has been completed, but not too long that they’ve mostly forgotten about the interaction. Aim to send it out about a week after the job’s finished.

Through Gas Engineer Software:

Constantly asking for reviews can get tiresome. The good news is that Gas Engineer Software users can fully automate the process by adding the request in with emails that get sent out automatically by the software.

This can be easily done through the invoice email template, since this doubles up as a great time to ask for a review. 

You can fully customise the content of the email, include a link, and even use drag-and-drop tags to fill in parts like your customer’s name. 

There are a few benefits to this: 

• Invoice emails won’t get ignored
• Unlike adding a review link in your email footer, this is much more likely to get read.
• You’ll be passively asking for a review whenever an invoice is sent without having to think about it.

Who are the best customers to ask for reviews?

You shouldn’t ask your customers to write something in a review – and it’s not the best idea to start offering incentives either. 

What you can do is selectively ask customers that you’ve been working with for years. These are your most loyal customers who clearly trust you to do the job right — and they’re often the ones most willing to leave a good review.