The Business With No Reviews at All

Why it happens to good businesses

Almost never because customers were dissatisfied.

Usually because nobody ever asked, and reviews do not appear on their own except occasionally, from somebody unusually motivated.

Older businesses are frequently in this position precisely because they built their reputation before reviews mattered, through referral, and never needed them.

Which means the empty listing understates the business dramatically, and the fix is entirely within reach without any budget at all.

What zero communicates

Not that the business is bad. Something more damaging, which is that there is no information.

Somebody comparing three listings, two with ratings and one with none, has no reason to investigate the third.

The unrated one is not rejected on quality; it is skipped because there is nothing to evaluate.

Which is why the first handful of reviews changes more than any subsequent batch ever will. Going from zero to eight is a larger improvement than going from thirty to fifty.

Where the first ones come from

• Your last twenty customers, which is the fastest route.
• Long-standing customers who would happily help if asked.
• Anybody who has thanked you in writing.
• Customers currently mid-job, asked at the end.
• Trade contacts who have used you, where the platform permits it.

The second is badly under-used and works well. A customer of nine years, phoned and asked directly, almost always says yes and frequently writes something substantial and specific.

A worked example

A business trading since 2008 with a listing showing no reviews.

The owner had assumed this required a campaign and had put it off for years.

He phoned eleven long-standing customers over two weeks, explained he was trying to build up the listing, and asked whether they would mind.

Nine of them said yes. Seven actually went ahead and did it.

He then asked every customer at the end of each job, and reached twenty-two reviews in about three months.

The phoning felt uncomfortable beforehand and took about two hours in total, and every single person he called was pleased to have been asked.

The phone call

The most effective method and the one people avoid.

Phone somebody you have worked for, say you are trying to build up your online reviews, and ask whether they would mind writing a couple of lines.

Explain that it takes a minute and that you will send a link.

Do not apologise repeatedly or over-explain, which makes it awkward for both parties. It is an ordinary request and most people are glad to help a business they like.

Send the link immediately afterwards, while the call is fresh, because a promise to do it later mostly does not survive the week.

What to say in the message

The follow-up matters as much as the call, since that is where most people actually write the review.

Short: a thank you, a one-line reminder of the job, the link, and a sentence saying it takes a minute.

Nothing else in the message, so there is one thing to do and one link to tap.

Sent by text rather than email where you have a mobile number, because text is opened and email frequently is not.

And sent the same day as the call, since the willingness fades within about forty-eight hours and does not come back.

How many is enough

Fewer than people assume for the initial improvement.

Six to ten changes the listing from having nothing to having a rating, which is the largest single step.

Twenty makes it competitive with most local businesses in the same results.

Beyond that the returns flatten, and the priority shifts from quantity to recency, which means a steady trickle rather than another push.

Which is encouraging, because six to ten is achievable in a few weeks of ordinary asking rather than requiring any sustained programme.

The counter-case

Where an empty listing is not the problem to solve first.

A regulated profession where soliciting reviews is restricted, and the effort belongs entirely elsewhere.

A business whose customers are other businesses under contract, where public reviews are not part of how anybody chooses.

And a business at capacity from referral, where more enquiries have no use.

Even then, a listing with a few reviews is worth having as a signal that the business is real and operating, which matters when somebody looks you up before a first conversation.

What to do while you have none

The interim question, since building a listing takes weeks and enquiries arrive meanwhile.

The other trust signals do the work reviews would: how long you have traded, licensing and insurance, memberships, and photographs of real completed jobs.

Named references are also available, and for larger jobs a customer will frequently accept a phone number for somebody you worked for recently.

That is more persuasive than any review and it does not scale, which is why it suits the situation exactly: a handful of larger enquiries while the listing fills up.

And saying plainly on the site how long you have been trading is worth more than most businesses realise, because longevity is the signal reviews are standing in for.

Starting badly

Two mistakes worth avoiding at the outset.

Asking everybody at once, which produces a cluster of reviews all dated within days, and reads as a campaign because it was one.

Spread it over a few weeks instead, which looks natural and is no more effort.

And asking somebody whose job did not go perfectly, on the reasoning that any review is better than none, which produces exactly the review you would expect and makes the first impression worse than the empty listing.

Ask people who were pleased. There will be enough of them.

The six weeks

1. Claim the listing if it is not already claimed.
2. Get the direct review link.
3. List ten customers who would say yes.
4. Phone two or three a week, not all at once.
5. Send the link the same day.
6. Ask every new customer from now on.

The sixth is what stops this becoming a task you do once every four years, and it is the only part of the list that needs to become permanent.

The timing that makes asking work is covered in the moment to ask for a review.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.