How to do it
Open the Reviews dashboard
Marketing in the left sidebar, then Reviews. If you have never used it, there is a Set up reviews button in the middle of the page. It asks you to connect Google or Facebook, and you can skip that and come back.
Connect your Google Business Profile
Do this even though it is skippable. Without the connection the requests still send, but reviews that come back are not pulled into the dashboard, so you lose the one number that tells you whether any of this is working.
Change the trigger from finished to paid
Gear icon, then Marketing Center, then Reviews. Under 'Send a review request when', pick 'Job is paid'. Finished fires when your tech taps a button in a driveway, sometimes before the customer has seen the work. Paid fires after the one moment you know they were satisfied enough to hand over money.
Take control of the distribution
From the dashboard use Actions then Edit distribution, toggle off 'Optimize requests for me', and set your percentages. Housecall Pro's own note says that to send everything to one source you set that source to 100 percent. For most service businesses that source is Google, because that is where buyers look before they call.
Exclude the customers who should never get asked
In Reviews settings you can add customer tags or job tags that block requests. Use it on warranty callbacks, disputed invoices, and the two or three accounts you know are unhappy. Asking an angry customer for a public review is a self-inflicted one-star.
Run five jobs and read what actually got sent
The dashboard has a View activity section showing recent email and text sends. Check the wording, check the link lands on your real Google listing, and check the timing. Do this before you trust it on 200 jobs.
Where this goes wrong
The parts most guides skip, and the ones that actually cost you money:
- Requests only text customers who have a mobile number on file. Customers with no phone number get email only. If your office has been entering jobs with the address and nothing else, half your requests are quietly going to the lower-response channel. Clean the contact records first, it is worth more than any wording change.
- The optimized default is not what most owners want. Left alone, Housecall Pro sends Gmail users to Google and splits everyone else between Facebook and your website. That is reasonable but it is not the same as building your Google rating, which is what almost every owner thinks they signed up for.
- Resending is clumsy on purpose. To resend a request you go to the job, click Undo to unfinish the job, then Finish it again. That is the documented method. It is awkward enough that you should get the first send right rather than plan to chase.
- Do not offer anything in return. Google's policy is explicit that offering incentives like free or discounted goods or services in exchange for reviews counts as fake engagement and is strictly prohibited. A gift card drawing for reviewers is the most common way small businesses get their reviews stripped.
- Replying to reviews is a paid tier. Review replies, including the 'Write it for me' suggestion, sit in Premium Reviews. If you are on a lower plan you will still need to answer reviews inside Google Business Profile directly. Answer them anyway, especially the bad ones.
Review Request Generator
Warm review requests with your Google link built in.
Common questions
Finished or paid as the trigger?
Paid, for almost everyone. The exception is maintenance work billed on account 30 days later, where paid arrives long after the customer stopped thinking about you. In that case keep finished and tell techs not to tap it until they have walked the customer through the work.
Will this get us flagged by Google?
Sending a request to every real customer after a real job is exactly what Google describes as allowed. What gets businesses in trouble is incentives and filtering out unhappy customers by asking them to rate you privately first.
What response rate should we expect?
Housecall Pro does not publish one and neither will we. Measure your own: count requests sent from the activity view against new reviews for the same period, over 60 days. Any benchmark you read online was someone else's trade, list quality and timing.
Do we still need a separate review tool?
Not while this is doing the job. Add one only when you need something Housecall Pro will not do, like review responses on a lower plan or reviews collected on sites it does not support.
Sources
- Reviews Overview — Housecall Pro Help CenterReviews live under Marketing then Reviews with a Set up reviews button; the trigger is changed at the gear icon then Marketing Center then Reviews under 'Send a review request when'; distribution is edited from Actions then Edit distribution after toggling off 'Optimize requests for me', and setting one source to 100 percent sends everything there; customer tags and job tags can exclude recipients; replying to reviews with 'Write it for me' is a Premium Reviews feature.
- Reviews FAQs — Housecall Pro Help CenterRequests send automatically when a job is marked finished by default, or when the job is paid via Settings, Marketing Center, Reviews; they go by both email and SMS, with email only for customers with no phone number; resending requires clicking Undo on the job then Finish again; the optimized default sends Gmail users to Google and splits the rest between Facebook and website.
- Ask your customers for reviews — Google Business Profile HelpGoogle permits sharing review links or QR codes through receipts, thank you emails, chat and in-store displays, but states that offering incentives like free or discounted goods or services in exchange for reviews is fake engagement and is strictly prohibited.
Related guides
- A review request that fires after every job
- How to use ChatGPT to ask for reviews
- How to use Jobber for scheduling and dispatch
- How to use ChatGPT for follow-up emails
- AI for HVAC scheduling and dispatch
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