The honest answer: 15-60 minutes after job complete
Across the data we have access to, review requests sent 15-60 minutes after a job is marked complete in the CRM get the highest response rate — 25-35%. Requests sent 24 hours later drop to 8-12%. Requests sent 3 days later drop to 2-4%. Same customer, same satisfaction level, completely different result.
The reason is psychological: customer satisfaction peaks immediately after a successfully completed job and decays quickly. Within an hour, the customer is back to their day. By tomorrow, the job is yesterday's news.
Why NOT to ask in person
Conventional wisdom says 'ask in person at the end of the job.' This sounds right and is usually wrong. Three reasons:
- The customer is occupied. They're paying you, signing the paperwork, or seeing you out. They are not pulling out their phone to write a paragraph.
- Pressure feels awkward. Most customers say 'yes, of course' to avoid the awkwardness — then don't follow through.
- Inconsistent. Some techs are comfortable asking, others avoid it. You end up asking 20-40% of the time.
The async text-based ask works better because the customer can take the action when they have a free minute — which is usually within the next 60 minutes.
Other moments that work (in order)
- Immediately after job complete (15-60 min): 25-35% response rate. The gold standard.
- Same evening (6-8 PM): 15-22% response rate. Works for daytime jobs because customers are home and have phone time.
- Next morning (8-10 AM): 10-15% response rate. Decent fallback if you can't catch the same-day window.
- 3 days later: 2-5% response rate. Mostly useful as a reminder, not as a primary ask.
Moments that don't work
- Mid-week generic emails to all past customers: Sub-1% response rate. Random asks feel like spam.
- Asking at invoice send: Customer is thinking about paying you, not about endorsing you. Bad mental moment.
- Asking with the invoice itself: Worst possible time. Customer associates the review request with parting with money.
- Multi-month follow-up campaigns: 'You did a job with us 6 months ago — would you leave a review?' usually backfires.
How to time it for specific job types
- Same-day install (HVAC, water heater, garage door): 30 min after job complete. Always.
- Multi-day project (roofing, kitchen remodel): Wait 24 hours after project complete to let customer see the finished result. Then send.
- Recurring service (cleaning, pest control, lawn care): After visit #3 — by then customer has formed a real opinion.
- Emergency call (burst pipe at 2 AM): Wait until next day morning. Customer was stressed during the job; let them remember it positively first.
The follow-up touch
If the customer doesn't respond to the initial ask, one (and only one) follow-up at day 3 lifts total response rate by another 3-5 percentage points. The message: 'Hey [Name], just a quick reminder — would love your Google review if you have a sec. No pressure if not. [link]'
Do not send a second follow-up. Customers who didn't respond to the first two messages are not going to respond to a third — but they will get annoyed.
Automation makes this consistent
The reason most service businesses can't hit the optimal timing window is operational: nobody is watching the CRM for job-complete events and triggering a text in real time. Automation does this perfectly every time.
RunBy's automated review requests fire within 15 minutes of every job-complete event in your CRM, hit the optimal timing window every time, and include the one (and only one) day-3 follow-up. Set it once, forget it forever.
What to expect
Service businesses that move from 'remember to ask' to 'automated within 15 minutes' typically see review volume increase 10-20× within 90 days. Same satisfaction level, same customer base, completely different result — just because of timing.