Ask every customer on the jobs that make people happiest (panel upgrades, EV chargers, lighting, fixing someone else's mess), ask in person when the work is done or when a permitted job passes inspection, then text a direct Google review link within the hour. Fix unhappy customers before they post, answer every negative review calmly, and never pay for, filter or fake a review.
Key takeaways
- Electrical work is mostly invisible once the covers go back on, so customers forget to review unless your tech asks before leaving the house.
- Panel upgrades, EV charger installs, lighting projects and repairs of another contractor's work are the jobs where customers feel the biggest difference.
- On permitted work, the best moment to send the link is right after the St. Paul inspection passes, because that is when the customer knows the job is truly finished.
- A spoken ask from the tech plus a text with the direct review link beats an email blast sent days later.
- Discounts for reviews, sending only happy customers to Google, and reviews from staff or family break Google's rules, and the FTC rule in effect since October 2024 allows civil penalties for fake or bought reviews.
Why do good electricians end up with so few reviews?
Short answerBecause nobody asks at the right moment, and finished electrical work gives the customer nothing to look at.
A roofer leaves behind a new roof the whole block can see. You leave behind a gray panel in the basement and a few cover plates. The homeowner in Mac-Groveland is relieved the lights stopped flickering, but by dinner they have stopped thinking about you.
Satisfied customers do not wake up and decide to write a review. The ones who post unprompted are usually angry, which is how a shop with years of clean work ends up with a thin profile and one bitter review near the top.
The fix is not a clever tool. It is a routine your techs and your office run on every eligible job, the same way you run a lockout or pull a permit. If you want to understand how Google treats review count against how recent they are, we cover that in reviews vs review recency. This post is about getting the reviews in the first place.
Which electrical jobs produce the happiest reviewers?
Short answerJobs that remove a worry or add something the customer uses every day: panels, EV chargers, lighting, and fixing bad work.
Ask everyone, but put real effort into the jobs where the customer feels a before and after. St. Paul gives you plenty of them. A lot of the housing in neighborhoods like Summit-University, Frogtown, Payne-Phalen and Hamline-Midway went up before World War II, and plenty of those homes still have fuse boxes, undersized services or old ungrounded circuits.
| Job | Why the customer is happy | What they can naturally mention |
|---|---|---|
| Panel or service upgrade | No more tripped breakers or blown fuses, and an insurer or buyer stops asking questions | The old fuse box, the age of the house, the neighborhood |
| EV charger install | They plug in at home the first night instead of hunting for a public charger | The car, the garage, how clean the conduit run looks |
| Lighting (recessed, under-cabinet, exterior) | They see the result every single evening | The room, the fixtures, how little drywall mess there was |
| Fixing another contractor's work | You solved something another company left broken or unsafe | What was wrong and that it passed inspection this time |
| Knob-and-tube or old wiring replacement | A real safety worry is gone, often before a sale or a policy renewal | The house era, the plaster walls, the crew being careful |
| Quick service call | A dead circuit or a smoking outlet fixed the same day | How fast you showed up and that the price matched the quote |
The repair-of-someone-else's-work job deserves special attention. That customer has been burned once, called you anyway, and watched you fix it. Their review tells the next skeptical homeowner exactly why to call you. Hold off only where the relationship is strained, such as a disputed invoice; that needs a phone call first.
When is the right moment to ask for a review?
Short answerAsk in person the moment the work is done, and on permitted work send the link after the inspection passes.
For a service call with no permit, the moment is the walkthrough before you leave. The problem is fixed, the customer is standing next to the tech, and the relief is fresh. Waiting a week for an automated email throws most of that away.
Permitted work is different. In St. Paul, electrical permits and inspections run through the city's Department of Safety and Inspections (DSI). From the homeowner's side, a panel swap or a new circuit for an EV charger is not really done until the inspector signs off. If you push the review link the afternoon you finish rough-in, you are asking them to judge a job that is still open.
So split it. The tech asks in person on completion day ("Once the inspection passes, would you be willing to leave us a quick Google review?"). The office sends the text with the link the day the final inspection is approved. That second message doubles as good news: "Your panel passed inspection today. Thanks for having us out."
Permit and inspection steps change over time, so confirm the current process with St. Paul DSI. If you also work Minneapolis or the suburbs, each city runs its own process, and the review timing follows whatever its final step is.
How should an electrician ask: in person, text or email?
Short answerIn person first, then a short text with the direct Google review link, then one reminder at most.
The spoken ask does most of the work. A text with no warning from a number they do not recognize is easy to ignore. The same text after the tech said "I'm going to send you a link, it takes a minute" gets opened.
A five-step routine anyone on the crew can run
- Get permission to text on the work order. A checkbox or a line the office reads when booking: "Can we text you appointment updates and a follow-up?" Keep that consent on file.
- The tech asks at the walkthrough. One sentence, no pressure, same wording every time so it becomes habit.
- The office sends the text the same day (or the day inspection passes). Use the direct review link from your Business Profile, the one Google gives you under the ask-for-reviews option when you manage the profile. Do not route them through a page on your site first.
- Send one reminder three or four days later if they have not posted. After that, stop. Chasing a customer three times turns a good experience into an annoying one.
- Log it. A column in your field software or a shared sheet: asked, sent, reviewed. Once a month, look at which techs are asking and which are not.
Sample textHi Karen, it's Mike from [Your Electric]. Your new panel passed the city inspection today, so you're all set. If you have a minute, a Google review helps other St. Paul homeowners find us: [review link]. Thanks for trusting us with your house.
Email is a fine backup for property managers and commercial accounts. If your Google Business Profile is not set up cleanly yet, fix that first so the link lands on the right listing.
How do you get customers to mention the neighborhood and the job?
Short answerGive a light prompt about what to mention, never a script or a pre-written review.
A review that says "Great job!" is nice. A review that says "Replaced the fuse box in our 1915 house in Merriam Park, passed inspection first try, and they patched the plaster" is far more useful to the next homeowner reading it, because it matches their house and their worry.
Customers leave generic reviews because they do not know what to say. You can help without putting words in their mouth. Add one line to the ask: "If you're comfortable, mention what we did and what part of St. Paul you're in." That is a prompt, not a script.
Where you have to be careful is writing the review for them. Handing a customer a drafted review to paste, or offering to "type something up," makes the review yours rather than theirs, and that runs against Google's policy that reviews reflect a real customer's own experience. Let them say it in their own words, even if the words are short.
How do you handle an unhappy customer before they post?
Short answerSpot the warning signs on the job, have the owner call within a day, and do not ask for a review until it is resolved.
Most bad electrical reviews are not about the wiring. They come from surprises. On old St. Paul housing, the usual ones are predictable:
- A panel upgrade that grew because the meter base or service mast also needed work, and the customer heard about it halfway through.
- Waiting on a utility disconnect and reconnect with Xcel Energy that pushed the job later than promised.
- Plaster or drywall holes from fishing wire through old walls that nobody explained ahead of time.
- A failed inspection and a return visit the customer had to take time off for.
- An arrival window that slid by hours without a call.
Train techs to flag any of these on the job ticket. When a flag shows up, the owner or office manager calls the customer within a day, before any review link goes out. Ask what went wrong, say what you will do about it, and do it. A problem the owner handled well, on a real phone call, is often what a customer remembers most.
Two things you cannot do. You cannot make a refund or a fix conditional on them not posting or taking a review down. And you cannot put a clause in your contract that bars honest reviews: the federal Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 voids those clauses in standard form contracts. Solve the problem, then let them say what they want.
How should an electrician respond to a negative review?
Short answerReply within a day or two, stay calm and short, take the details offline, and only report reviews that break Google policy.
Your reply is not for the reviewer. It is for the next ten homeowners who read it while deciding who to call. They are checking whether you get defensive.
- Wait until you are calm, but reply within a day or two.
- Thank them and acknowledge the specific complaint without admitting to things that did not happen.
- Skip the code lecture. Arguing NEC details in public reads as a fight, even when you are right.
- Never post private details: their address, what they paid, or anything about their house they did not share.
- Move it offline with a name and a direct number.
Example replyThanks for the feedback, Tom. You're right that we should have called when the crew was running late, and I'm sorry that cost you part of your afternoon. I'd like to hear the rest of what happened. Please call me directly at [number]. — Dave, owner
Google will not remove a review because it is unfair or one-sided. It will look at reviews that break its content policies, such as a review from someone who was never a customer, a competitor, or content that is offensive or off-topic. Report those from your Business Profile and move on. If a profile gets suspended or loses reviews in a cleanup, our suspension recovery guide walks through that separately.
What is not allowed: incentives, review gating and fake reviews
Short answerDon't pay or reward for reviews, don't filter who gets asked, and don't post reviews from staff, family or anyone who wasn't a customer.
This is where shops get hurt, usually by a review software feature or a well-meaning office manager rather than on purpose. Two sets of rules apply: Google's policies for reviews on Maps and Search, and federal law enforced by the FTC. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials was finalized in August 2024 and has been in effect since October 2024, and it lets the agency seek civil penalties for violations.
| Tactic | Google policy | Federal (FTC) |
|---|---|---|
| Discount, gift card or drawing entry for leaving a review | Not allowed. Google bans offering anything in exchange for reviews. | Incentives tied to a positive review are banned under the 2024 rule. |
| Review gating: asking "Were you happy?" and only sending yes answers to Google | Not allowed. Google prohibits selectively asking for positive reviews. | Filtering out unhappy customers can be treated as deceptive. |
| Reviews from employees, their relatives or the owner | Not allowed. Conflict of interest. | Undisclosed insider reviews are covered by the rule. |
| Buying reviews or writing them yourself | Not allowed and removed when caught. | Fake reviews are banned outright. |
| Threatening a customer to take down an honest review | Report it only if the review breaks policy. | Review suppression through threats or intimidation is banned. |
| Asking every customer the same way, happy or not | Allowed. | Allowed. |
Check your review software. Some tools offer a "satisfaction check" that sends low scores to a private form and high scores to Google. Turn that off; private feedback is fine only if every customer also gets the same public link.
Before changing your process, read the FTC's summary of the rule at ftc.gov and Google's prohibited content policy. This is a contractor's guide, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I give customers a discount for leaving a Google review?
No. Google bans incentives for reviews, and the FTC rule bans incentives tied to positive reviews.
That includes a discount on the next service call, a gift card or an entry into a drawing. Even if the offer says "any honest review," Google's policy still does not allow it. Ask every customer the same way and let the quality of the job do the work.
- Is it okay to text customers a link to leave a review?
Yes, as long as they agreed to receive texts from you.
Collect permission to text when you book the job, send one message with the direct Google review link, and send no more than one reminder. A text right after the tech's in-person ask is the easiest way for a homeowner to actually follow through. See our electrician marketing services if you want the texts wired into your booking software.
- Should I ask for a review before the electrical inspection passes?
Ask in person when the work is done, but send the link after the final inspection is approved.
For permitted work in St. Paul, the city's Department of Safety and Inspections handles electrical inspections, and the homeowner thinks of the job as finished when it passes. Sending the link that day lets you share good news and ask at the same time. Confirm current inspection steps with DSI.
- Can I get a bad review removed from Google?
Only if it breaks Google policy, such as a fake, off-topic or conflict-of-interest review.
An honest but harsh review from a real customer stays up. Reply calmly, take the conversation offline, and fix what you can. Reviews that break the rules can be reported from your Business Profile, and Google reviews the report.
- Can I show my Google reviews on my own website?
Yes, as long as you do not hide the negative ones while implying you show everything.
Featuring a handful of real reviews is fine. Presenting a filtered set as "all our reviews" can run into the FTC's rules on review suppression. A link to your full Google profile next to the featured ones keeps it honest, and our electrician websites are built that way.
Want a second set of eyes on your review process?
We'll look at your Google Business Profile, your review requests and your replies, and tell you what to change so more St. Paul customers post and nothing you do breaks Google or FTC rules. Free, no contract pitch.