In our previous articles, we established that online reviews are the modern-day word-of-mouth – a form of digital gold for your Australian business. You have taken the crucial first steps by connecting your Google Business Profile and Facebook Page to Lead Monsta, creating a central hub to monitor your reputation. But now comes the pivotal question: how do you move from passively observing your reputation to proactively building it? How do you increase the volume of positive reviews that drive new business?

The answer is surprisingly simple, yet profoundly effective: by implementing a consistent and intelligent review request strategy. The reality is that most of your happy customers are willing to leave a review, but they are also busy people. Often, all they need is a gentle, polite, and timely nudge to share their positive experience.

This is where Lead Monsta's powerful capabilities for both manual and (more significantly) automated review requests truly shine. By leveraging Email and SMS communication directly integrated with your CRM and Automation Workflows, you can create a seamless process to encourage feedback.

The goal of this article is to provide Australian SMEs with actionable strategies and step-by-step guidance on how to effectively ask for reviews using Lead Monsta. We will explore how to turn your satisfied customers into vocal advocates who build your brand's credibility and attract new clients.

The Golden Rule: Ask! (Why You Need a Proactive Review Request Strategy)

Leaving your online reputation entirely to chance is not a viable strategy for growth. A proactive customer feedback strategy SME owners can implement is essential for several key reasons:

• Most Happy Customers Need a Prompt: Your satisfied clients are busy getting on with their lives and enjoying the results of your service. While they appreciate your work, leaving a review is often not top-of-mind. A polite, well-timed request is the single most effective way to bridge this gap.

• More Reviews Boost Credibility and Local SEO: A higher volume of recent, positive reviews acts as powerful social proof, building trust with prospective customers. Furthermore, search engines like Google use review quantity, quality, and velocity as significant ranking factors for local search results. More reviews can literally make your business more visible.

• It Demonstrates Confidence and a Commitment to Feedback: When you proactively ask for feedback, it sends a powerful message that you value your customers' opinions and are confident in the quality of the service you provide. It shows you are an engaged business that is committed to continuous improvement.

When is the Best Time to Ask for a Review (The "Happy Customer" Moment)?

Timing is critical for an effective review request. You want to make your request when the positive feelings about your service are at their peak. Consider these optimal moments:

• Immediately after a successful service completion or product delivery: The value you've provided is fresh in their mind.

• After a positive customer interaction or support resolution: If you've just successfully solved a problem for a customer, they are often very appreciative and willing to share their positive experience.

• When a client expresses unsolicited positive feedback: If a customer emails you or tells you in person how happy they are, it's the perfect opportunity to thank them and politely ask if they would be willing to share those thoughts in an online review.

• For recurring services: For a local Elanora-based lawn care business, for example, asking after the very first service might be too soon. A smarter approach might be to ask after the second or third successful service, once a pattern of reliability has been established.

The key is to make the request not too soon that they have not had time to appreciate the full value, and not so late that the initial positive emotion has faded.

Crafting the Perfect Review Request Message (Using Lead Monsta Templates & Content AI)

The way you ask for a review matters. Your message should be polite, professional, and above all, easy for the customer to act upon. This is a great place to create an email for testimonials or a concise SMS review request.

Keep it Short, Simple, and Direct

Your customers are busy. Respect their time with a message that gets straight to the point.

Personalise It

Use personalisation tokens from your Lead Monsta CRM to address the customer by name ([FirstName]). If possible, reference the specific product or service they received to make the request more relevant.

Express Gratitude

Always begin by genuinely thanking them for their business or for choosing your service.

Explain the "Why" (Briefly and Humbly)

Briefly explain why their feedback is important. A smart approach is to frame it as being helpful to others. For example: "Your feedback helps us to continuously improve, and it also helps other local customers discover our services."

Make it EASY: The Critical Power of Direct Links

This is the most crucial element of a successful request. Do not just ask them to "find you on Google." You must provide a direct, clickable link that takes them straight to the "Leave a Review" pop-up window for your chosen platform. Lead Monsta helps manage these links.

Offer Choices (Optional but Recommended)

Some customers prefer Google, while others are more active on Facebook. Where possible, offering a choice can increase response rates. For example: "We'd be grateful for your feedback on either Google or Facebook!" followed by direct links to both.

Maintain a "No Pressure" Tone

Frame your message as a polite invitation, not a demand.

Examples for Email vs. SMS

• Email Example:

• Subject: Share Your Experience with [Your Business Name]?

• Body: Hi [FirstName], Thank you again for choosing us for your recent [Service Type]. We hope you are happy with the results! If you have a moment, we would be incredibly grateful if you could share your experience by leaving us a review. Your feedback helps other local customers find us and helps us improve our services. You can leave a review on Google here: [Direct Google Review Link] Or on Facebook here: [Direct Facebook Review Link] Thanks again for your support! The Team at [Your Business Name]

• SMS Example (More Concise):

• Hi [FirstName], thanks for choosing [Your Business Name]! We'd love it if you could share your experience with a quick Google review. It really helps us out! [Short Link to Google Review]. Thanks!

Manual Review Requests in Lead Monsta: For Those High-Touch Cases

While automation is powerful, there are times when a manual, personal request is the smarter approach.

When to Use Manual Requests

A manual request is ideal after a particularly positive and personal interaction with a client, or for your highest-value clients where a standardised automated message might feel impersonal. It allows you to add a specific personal touch to the message.

How to Do It

The process is simple. You can navigate directly to the contact's record in your Lead Monsta CRM. From there, within their conversation history, you can compose and send a new SMS or email. To make this even more efficient, you can create pre-saved templates for review requests and simply select the template, add a quick personal line, and send it. This combines the personal touch with streamlined efficiency.

Automating Review Requests with Lead Monsta Workflows: The Key to Consistency & Scale

For most businesses, the key to building a steady stream of reviews is automation. Using workflows to GHL automate Google reviews and Facebook reviews ensures consistency and saves an enormous amount of time.

Why Automation is Superior for Most Requests

• Consistency: It ensures that every eligible customer is asked for a review at the optimal time, every single time. Nothing is forgotten.

• Time Savings: It eliminates the significant manual effort required to track completed jobs and send out individual requests.

• Strategic Timing: Workflows allow you to build in strategic time delays, ensuring your request is sent at the perfect "happy customer" moment.

Setting Up the Trigger

The first step in building your review request workflow is to define the trigger – the event that will automatically kick off the process. Common triggers include:

• Opportunity Status Changed: When a deal in your sales pipeline is moved to "Won" or a custom "Job Completed" stage.

• Tag Added: When a specific tag is applied to a contact, such as "Service Complete - Ready for Review."

• Appointment Status Changed: When an appointment in your Lead Monsta Calendar is marked as "Completed."

• Survey Response Submitted: If a Lead Monsta Survey indicates high satisfaction (e.g., NPS Promoter).

Building the Workflow Steps

Once the trigger fires, you can define a sequence of automated actions.

• Action 1: Wait (Strategic Delay): It's often smart to add a "Wait" step. For example, wait 1 to 3 days after the service is complete. This allows the customer time to fully appreciate the results before receiving your request, but it's not so long that the positive experience fades.

• Action 2: Send Review Request Email: The next action is to send your pre-written review request email template, complete with personalisation tokens and the direct review link(s).

• Action 3: Conditional Wait & SMS Reminder (Optional Advanced Step): You can build a smarter follow-up. After sending the email, add another "Wait" step (e.g., for 4 days). Then, add a conditional "If/Else" step: IF the contact has not yet been tagged with "Left Review," THEN send a polite, concise SMS reminder with the review link.

Example Workflow for an Aussie Service Business

1. Trigger: Tag "Job Complete" is added to a contact (perhaps by a field technician via the mobile app).

2. Action: Wait for 2 days.

3. Action: Send Email from the template: "Hi [FirstName], thanks for choosing [Your Business] for your recent work! We'd be grateful if you could share your experience on Google: [Direct Google Review Link]. It really helps other locals find us!"

4. Action: Wait for 4 days.

5. Action (Condition): IF the contact's tags do NOT include "Left Review".

6. Action (if condition is met): Send SMS: "Hi [FirstName], just a quick reminder from [Your Business]. If you were happy with our service, a quick Google review would be amazing! [Short Link to Google Review]. Thanks!"

Using Lead Monsta's "Review Link Generator" (or equivalent feature)

To make this process as frictionless as possible for your customers, you must use direct links. Lead Monsta simplifies this. Within the Reputation Management settings, there is often a feature to generate your unique, direct review links for both Google and Facebook. The system finds your profiles and creates the links for you, which you can then easily insert into your email and SMS templates.

Best Practices for Your Review Request Strategy in Australia

• Do Not Gate Reviews (Asking only happy people publicly): While you want positive reviews, best practice (and platform TOS like Google's) discourages selectively soliciting only positive reviews for public platforms. Focus on asking all customers for feedback (perhaps via an internal survey first, then public review for promoters – see Article #6 Automations).

• Make it Mobile-Friendly: A large portion of your customers will be opening your request and leaving a review on their mobile phone. Ensure your links work correctly and lead to a mobile-friendly page.

• Train Your Team: If your team members interact with clients, train them on when and how to mention that a review request might be coming, or even how to make a polite verbal ask.

• Respond to ALL Reviews (Good & Bad): This encourages more reviews and shows you're engaged.

• Do Not Offer Incentives for Reviews (Specifically on Google): It is against Google's policy to offer incentives in exchange for reviews. Focus on making it easy and expressing gratitude.

• Track Your Progress: Use Lead Monsta's Reputation analytics to see how many requests are sent and your review volume/rating over time.

What If You Get a Negative Review from a Request?

Briefly mention that it happens, and the key is a prompt, professional response. Automating requests does not mean automating away the need to handle feedback constructively.

Conclusion

Recap that proactively asking for reviews is the most effective way for Australian SMEs to build a strong online reputation.

Emphasis that Lead Monsta's manual and (especially) automated review request features, integrated with CRM and Workflows, make this process efficient, consistent, and highly effective – a perfect task to set up and refine on a Saturday for ongoing benefit.