Almost every business that asks for reviews gets them, and almost every one that waits gets only the complaints. The whole product is the asking: at the right moment, in a channel people answer, with a link that opens where it should, once and not four times. Everything else in a review platform is downstream of whether that ask goes out.
The timing is most of the result
Ask when the job is fresh and the feeling is positive, which for most trades means the same day and for a restaurant means within the hour. A request that arrives a week later reads as an afterthought and converts like one. The other half of timing is not asking twice: one reminder is reasonable, three is a complaint, and the automation that sends the third is the reason people distrust these systems.
Text, not email, for most trades
A review request text is opened and an email is not, and that gap is the single biggest difference in response rate that most businesses will see. Email is still right where there is no phone number or where the relationship is formal. Where you use both, do not send both for the same job: it doubles the annoyance and does not double the reviews.
What the message should say
Short, from a name the customer recognises, one sentence about the specific job, one link. Templates fail by being generic, by hiding the link behind three lines of marketing, or by asking for feedback first and the review second, which loses most people at the extra step. If a template does not let you put the job or the person's name in it, it will read like a mailshot because it is one.
Sending a link that opens in the right place
Google gives a business a short review link from its own profile, and it opens the review box directly rather than the profile page. Use that one. A link to a search result or a map listing costs you the customers who cannot find the button, which is more of them than you would think, particularly on a phone. Test your own link on a phone you have never signed into before you send it to anybody.
Questions people ask about automated review request system
How many reminders should a request send?
One. A second reminder buys a few reviews and a reputation for pestering, and the automation that sends a third is why people mistrust these systems.
Text or email?
Text, for almost every local trade, because it gets opened. Email where there is no number or the relationship is formal. Not both for the same job.
Where do I find the Google review link?
Google's business profile gives you a short link that opens the review box directly. Use that rather than a search result or a map pin, and test it on a phone before you send it.