Ask a customer to "leave us a review on Google" and watch what happens. They open Google, search your name, find the profile, scroll to reviews, tap "write a review," possibly sign in, and then write. Six steps, any of which is enough to make a busy person put the phone down. Most of the difference between businesses that get reviews and businesses that do not is how many of those steps they remove.
Here is how to get the direct link, turn it into the formats you need, and place them where the ask actually happens.
Get the direct review link
Google provides a link that opens the review form directly, skipping the search and the profile. In your Business Profile management view, look for the option to ask for reviews or share your review form; it produces a short g.page link that ends in a review form. That link is free, official, and stable.
If you prefer to build it yourself, the review form can be opened with a URL that references your business's place ID, which you can look up from the profile. Either way you end up with one URL that opens straight to the star rating and the text box.
Test it on a phone that is not signed into your business account. It should open the review dialog with your business name at the top. If it opens the profile instead, you have the wrong link.
Make a short link
The g.page link is already short. If you want something a technician can say out loud ("go to yourbusiness dot com slash review"), set up a redirect on your own domain: yourdomain.com/review pointing to the Google link. Anyone who manages your website can add this in a minute.
Owning the redirect has a second benefit: if the Google link ever changes, you update the redirect once and every printed card and invoice still works.
Make a QR code
Generate a QR code that points to the short link on your domain, not directly to the Google link, for the same reason. Any free generator works; make sure it produces a static code (a fixed URL, no subscription) and download it at high resolution.
Print it at a size that scans easily from arm's length, with a one-line instruction next to it: "Scan to leave us a Google review." A QR code with no context gets ignored.
Where to put it
The link works best at the moment the customer is most satisfied and has the phone in hand. In practice:
In the review request text, sent the day after the job. The short link is the whole message. Templates that work are in review request SMS templates.
On the invoice or receipt, printed and emailed. The QR code on paper, the link in the email.
On a card the technician hands over. "If everything was good today, this takes about thirty seconds." The tech's ask, in person, is the strongest one you have, and the card gives it somewhere to go.
On the thank-you page after an online booking or payment. The customer just completed something and is looking at your site.
In the email signature of whoever handles customer communication. Low volume, but free.
On the truck or the yard sign? No. Nobody scans a QR code on a moving vehicle, and a review link on a sign invites reviews from people who were never customers.
What not to do
Do not gate. Sending happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private form violates Google's policies and the FTC's rule. The link goes to everyone. Why gating fails is worth the five minutes.
Do not offer anything for the review. A discount for a five-star review is prohibited. A discount for any review is a gray area most businesses should avoid. Ask because you did good work.
Do not put the link on a shared device in the office and ask customers to review there. Google flags multiple reviews from one device or IP, and it can get reviews removed or the profile flagged.
Do not paste it into a mass blast to your whole list. Reviews should follow jobs. A sudden burst of reviews from people who were not recent customers looks like exactly what it is.
Making it automatic
The text and email versions should fire from the CRM when a job is marked complete, with a check that skips customers who already reviewed and pauses for anyone with an open complaint. The printed versions are a one-time setup. Once both are in place, the review rate becomes a function of how much work you do rather than how often someone remembers to ask, which is the point of a review system rather than a review habit.
The automated version runs from the CRM; the printed version is a design job we handle as part of website work.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use the same link on other platforms like Facebook or Yelp?
Each platform has its own review URL. Build a separate short link for each, and prioritize Google unless your customers live somewhere else.
The link opens a sign-in page. Is that a problem?
Customers need a Google account to review. Most have one. The sign-in step is unavoidable; everything before it is what you are removing.
How do I track how many people use the QR code?
If the redirect is on your domain, your website analytics or the redirect tool will count hits on /review. Compare to reviews received.
Should the technician ask, or should it come from the office?
Both. The in-person ask primes it; the text the next day makes it easy. Businesses that do only one get fewer reviews than businesses that do both.