How should a small business handle online reviews?

The short version

• Ask every customer, the same way, right after the job. Asking only happy customers breaks Google’s rules. (Yelp asks businesses not to request reviews at all.)
• Make it one tap: a direct review link or QR code.
• Never offer anything in return, never post fake reviews, and never ask staff or family to review you.
• Reply to every review within a few days, briefly and personally.
• For bad reviews: thank them, own what’s fair, take the details offline, and keep it short.

Why do reviews matter so much?

Reviews do two jobs. They help strangers decide whether to trust you, often before they ever visit your website. And Google’s local ranking page says more reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking. AI tools that describe local businesses read them too.

Google reviews usually matter most for a local business, but customers also read Facebook, Yelp and trade sites. Our answer on whether Facebook and Yelp reviews matter helps you decide where to focus.

What does the law say about reviews?

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission’s rule on consumer reviews and testimonials took effect in October 2024. The FTC’s announcement lists what it bans:

• Fake reviews: reviews that misrepresent who wrote them or their experience, including AI-generated ones. Buying them, or spreading them when the business knew or should have known they were fake, is covered too.
• Paying for a particular opinion: offering money or other incentives on the condition that a review is positive, or negative.
• Undisclosed insider reviews: reviews from officers or managers that don’t clearly disclose the connection, with rules for when businesses ask employees or relatives for reviews.
• Fake “independent” review sites that the business actually controls.
• Review suppression: groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation or certain false accusations used to remove or prevent negative reviews. Claiming the reviews you show are most or all of them, when you’ve hidden negative ones, is covered too.
• Fake social proof: buying fake followers or views to look more influential.

The FTC says the rule lets it seek civil penalties against knowing violators. The rule applies wherever a review appears, not just on Google. This isn’t legal advice; ask a lawyer about your situation.

What do Google’s policies add?

Google’s fake engagement policy for Maps reviews goes further than the FTC in some places. Businesses may not:

• Offer incentives in exchange for posting a review, or for changing or removing a negative one.
• Discourage negative reviews or selectively ask for positive ones. That’s often called review gating, and it rules out “only ask the happy customers” systems.
• Ask staff to collect a set number of reviews, or reviews with specific content.
• Post reviews with a conflict of interest, such as from current or former employees.

Reviews that break these rules can be removed. Google says you may ask for reviews that reflect genuine experiences, as long as you offer nothing and don’t try to steer the rating or content.

How do I ask for reviews the right way?

Ask everyone, at the same moment

Pick one trigger in your business, such as “job marked complete” or “order picked up,” and ask every customer at that step. Timing matters more than wording: the end of a job is when the experience is fresh.

Make it one tap

Google’s review tips suggest sharing a review link or QR code. Every extra step loses people.

• Get your link and QR code from your profile, or make them with our free review link and QR maker. Our guide to getting more Google reviews shows where to find them in Google.
• Text or email the link in your job-complete message.
• Put the QR code on invoices, receipts and the counter.

Keep the request short and neutral

Thanks again, Linda. If you have a minute, we’d appreciate an honest review on Google: [link]. It helps other people find us.

Use their name and mention the job. Ask once, with one gentle reminder at most. Notice what’s missing: no “if you were happy,” no “five stars,” and no reward.

How should I reply to reviews?

Replies are public. You’re writing for every future customer who reads them, not just the reviewer. Reply to every review within a few days, good or bad.

Good reviews: short and specific.

Thanks, Tom. The deck was a fun build, and your dog supervising every day made it better. Enjoy the summer out there.

Mixed reviews: thank them, accept the fair point, and say what you’ve changed.

Thanks for the honest feedback, Maria. You’re right that we ran a day late and should have called sooner. We’ve changed how we update customers when parts are held up.

Avoid pasting the same reply everywhere, and don’t stuff keywords like “best roofer in Johnstown” into replies. It reads as spam. The click-by-click steps for Google are in our guide to replying to Google reviews.

How do I handle a bad review?

Wait until it doesn’t feel personal. Then use five steps:

1. Thank them. “Thanks for letting us know.”
2. Show you heard the specific complaint.
3. Own what’s fair. If you made a mistake, say so and apologize.
4. Take it offline. Give a name and a direct number.
5. Keep it short. Three or four sentences.

Thanks for telling us, James, and I’m sorry the install didn’t go the way it should have. Leaving the mess in your garage wasn’t okay. I’d like to make it right. Please call me directly at 555-0100. Dave, owner

Never: argue in public, share private details like their bill or address, accuse a real customer of lying, or threaten legal action. Groundless legal threats to remove reviews are exactly what the FTC rule targets. Our help article on replying to a bad Google review has more examples, and our free review reply helper drafts a calm first version you can edit.

What if a review is fake or breaks the rules?

If someone was never a customer, or the review is abusive, off-topic or shares personal information, report it once with a clear reason. Then reply briefly in case it stays up:

We can’t find any record of working with you, and we’d like to understand what happened. Please call me at 555-0100.

Don’t expect every report to succeed. The review site decides, and negative reviews from real customers stay up. For a wave of fake reviews, keep screenshots and dates, and see the fake-review section of our guide to replying to Google reviews for how to report it.

How do I turn reviews into a habit?

A simple weekly routine:

• Check new reviews on Google and any other site that matters in your trade.
• Reply to every one from the past week.
• Note any complaint that’s come up before.
• Count requests sent and reviews received.

Turn on review notifications so a bad one reaches your phone the day it’s posted. And read your complaints as free advice: if three people mention slow callbacks, that’s a process to fix. Our article on stopping lost jobs from missed calls may help with that one.

What about Facebook, Yelp and trade sites?

The same habits work everywhere, with two cautions. First, each site sets its own rules. Yelp, for example, says in its content guidelines that businesses should never ask customers to write reviews, so read a site’s rules before you send anyone there. Second, the FTC rule applies wherever a review appears, so the bans on fake, paid-for and suppressed reviews don’t stop at Google.

In practice:

• Claim your listing on the one or two other sites your customers actually read, and keep its name, phone and hours matching your Google profile.
• Reply there with the same calm, short approach.
• Don’t spread requests across six sites. One or two done well beats six done badly.

Our answer on which review sites matter helps you choose.

What are the most common mistakes?

• Asking only happy customers. It’s review gating, and Google’s policy forbids it.
• A discount, entry or gift for a review.
• Staff, friends or family posting reviews.
• Bulk-asking old customers once a year instead of asking each one at the end of the job.
• Copy-paste replies, or no replies at all.
• Arguing with a reviewer in public.
• Buying a “five-star reputation” service.

How long does it take?

Setting up a review link and QR code takes minutes. Replying to a week’s reviews usually takes a few minutes for a small business. The routine is a weekly habit, and results build gradually as each new customer is asked.

How does E-3 handle this?

Questions about updating Google listings and getting reviews add up to about 90 requests in our support records since 2019. Reviews are part of our SEO and AI search service, and review requests can run automatically through our leads and follow-up service, asking every customer the same way. Request wording and reply drafts are prepared for you, checked by a person and approved by you before anything goes out.

Related questions

• Do Facebook and Yelp reviews matter, or only Google?
• How do I reply to a bad Google review?
• Get more Google reviews with a link and QR code
• How do I keep my Google Business Profile working?

Sources

1. Federal Trade Commission announces final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials (FTC, August 2024)
2. Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (Federal Register)
3. Prohibited and restricted content: fake engagement (Maps user-generated content policy, Google)
4. Tips to get more reviews (Google Business Profile Help)
5. Tips to improve your local ranking on Google (Google Business Profile Help)
6. Content guidelines (Yelp)