Key takeaways
- Text the review link within an hour of a completed service call; a week later the response drops to a fraction.
- Ask install customers at the final walkthrough, not the sales visit, and follow up once three days later.
- A technician asking in person roughly doubles the response rate, so track reviews per tech and reward the tech, never the customer.
- One past-customer campaign in a shoulder month usually produces 20 to 40 reviews; send in batches over two weeks.
Why HVAC companies have fewer reviews than their job count suggests
A three-truck HVAC company in the San Fernando Valley can run 1,500 to 2,500 service calls a year and still sit at 80 Google reviews. The work gets done, the invoice gets paid, and nobody asks. HVAC has an extra problem on top of that: a big share of the year's calls land during heat waves, when the office is slammed and the review ask is the first thing dropped.
Reviews matter more in HVAC than in most trades because the search is urgent. Someone typing "ac repair near me" at 4 p.m. in Woodland Hills in July picks from the three-pack in under a minute, and review count and rating are the first things they see. A profile with 40 reviews does not look like a company that runs 3,000 calls a year. The fix is a small, repeatable ask built into service calls, installs, maintenance visits, and one campaign a year.
Set up one review link and two texts before anyone asks
Open your Google Business Profile, click "Ask for reviews," and copy the short link. It opens the review box directly, which matters on a phone. Save it in your field software (ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, and Jobber all have a review-request field) and in the office phone's text templates.
Write one text for service calls and one for installs. Keep each under 300 characters, use the customer's first name and the tech's name, and send it from the number they already have texts from. Service version: "Hi Maria, this is Rosa at [Company]. Thanks for having Danny out today for the AC. If he did a good job, a quick Google review helps a lot: [link]." No "if you're happy" filter and no survey step in front of the link. Google's policies prohibit review gating, so every customer who paid gets the same ask, not just the ones who sounded pleased on the phone.
Service calls: send the text within the hour
The window is short. In HVAC the gratitude peaks right after the house gets cool again, and a request that lands a week later gets a fraction of the response. Build the trigger into the job-close step: when the tech marks the call complete and the payment clears, the text goes out automatically, or the dispatcher sends it before booking the next call.
Skip the ask on a diagnostic-only visit where you quoted a repair the customer declined. Wait until work is done. Do ask after tune-ups, capacitor and contactor swaps, refrigerant leak repairs, and thermostat installs. Expect roughly 10 to 20 percent of service customers to leave a review when the text arrives within an hour and the tech mentioned it in person. On 1,500 calls that is 150 to 300 reviews a year, which is enough to move your three-pack position across most of the Valley within two summers.
Installs: ask at the final walkthrough, then once more
A system replacement is a $12,000 to $25,000 decision and the customer has talked to you for days. That relationship produces your longest reviews, the ones that mention "new heat pump," "Carrier," "financing," or "permit," and those words help the profile show for install searches. The ask has to come at the right moment, and the sales visit is not it.
The right moment is the final walkthrough, after the crew has shown the homeowner the thermostat, the filter location, and the warranty registration. The lead installer says: "If you're happy with how this went, a Google review that mentions the install really helps our crew." The office sends the install text that evening and follows up once, three days later, if nothing has posted. Two asks, then stop. If you pulled a permit through LADBS or the county, say so during the walkthrough. Customers who hear "permitted and inspected" tend to write it in the review, and that is a trust signal for the next buyer.
Make it a technician-level habit and track it per tech
The companies with the most reviews are not the ones with the best software. They are the ones where the tech says, in person, "Would you mind leaving us a Google review? The office will text you the link." That one sentence roughly doubles the response rate of the text alone. Script it into the wrap-up, right before the tech mentions the maintenance plan.
Track reviews by technician. Tag the tech on every job in your field software, then match reviews that name a tech in a monthly spreadsheet. Post the count in the shop. Some owners pay a small bonus per review that names the tech. That is fine, because the money goes to your employee and the customer gets nothing. What you cannot do is offer the customer a discount, gift card, or free filter for a review. Google's policy prohibits incentives of any kind, and violations get reviews removed and can get the profile suspended.
Maintenance-plan customers and the once-a-year past-customer campaign
Maintenance or club customers see you every spring and fall and already like you, which makes them easy to over-ask. Ask once a year, at the fall furnace check, with different wording: "Thanks for being a Comfort Club member for three years. If you have a minute, a Google review about the plan helps other homeowners find us: [link]." Reviews that say "maintenance plan" or "annual service" help you show for "furnace tune-up" searches, which are quieter but higher margin than emergency work.
Then, once a year in late March or late September, pull every customer from the past 24 months who paid, has a mobile number, and has not reviewed you. For a 1,500-call company that is often 1,500 to 2,500 people. Text them in batches of about 200 a day over two weeks; a sudden spike of reviews looks unnatural and Google may hold some. Expect roughly 20 to 40 reviews from a list that size. Rung Media runs this inside its review program, but the list pull and the text are simple enough to do yourself in an afternoon.
Questions HVAC companies ask
Can I offer a discount on the next tune-up for a Google review?
No. Google's review policy prohibits offering anything of value for a review, including discounts, free filters, and raffle entries. Paying your own technicians a bonus per review is fine because the customer gets nothing. Reviews tied to an incentive can be removed, and repeat violations risk suspension.
Should I ask on every service call, even an $89 diagnostic?
Ask whenever you completed work and the customer paid. Skip it when you only quoted a repair they declined or the visit ended badly. The diagnostic customer who got a clear explanation often writes a better review than the install customer, because the job was fast and easy.
How many Google reviews does an HVAC company in LA need to rank?
It depends on the city. In Burbank or Glendale the three-pack for AC repair often shows companies with 100 to 300 reviews; in the West Valley or South Bay it can be several hundred more. Look at the three companies showing for your target search and aim to pass the lowest within a year.
What should I do about a bad review from a customer who declined the repair?
Reply publicly, briefly, and without arguing: confirm you visited, state what you quoted, and offer a phone call. Do not post their name, address, or pricing. If the reviewer was never a customer, flag it through the profile's review management tool. Then keep asking happy customers.
