2026-10-24
What reviews do to your cost per booking
Most people who see your advertisement check your reviews before they contact you. Whatever happens on that screen decides how much of your ad budget turns into appointments.
The ad buys attention, the reviews convert it
Two businesses can pay the same for a click and get completely different results, because one of them is being checked and approved and the other is being checked and rejected. The campaign is identical. The cost per booking is not.
This is why improving reviews often lowers advertising costs faster than any change to targeting. You are not buying more attention, you are losing less of what you already bought.
Recency matters more than the total
A profile with a strong rating and nothing written in the past year reads as a business that used to be good. A handful of recent, specific reviews beats a large number of old ones.
Ask for reviews continuously rather than in campaigns. A steady trickle looks like a business people keep visiting, which is exactly what it is.
Ask at the right moment and by the right channel
The moment is just after a kept appointment that went well, not a week later. The channel is the one the client already uses with you, which for most service businesses is a text message.
Send people to the platform where new clients check you, usually the Google listing. Reviews spread across five platforms help nobody, including you.
Rules you cannot ignore
In the US it is illegal to buy reviews, to write them yourself, or to offer a reward that depends on the review being positive. Platforms also remove gated requests that only ask happy clients.
Ask everyone, make it easy, and reply to the bad ones in public without arguing. A calm reply to a complaint convinces more readers than the complaint costs you.
See where your bookings leak. The audit is free.
Leave an email or phone number. We will ask three quick questions about your business and send the report within 48 hours.
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