When to ask for a review (hint: not three weeks later)

Ask any agent if their vendors are happy and you'll get a yes. Ask how many of those vendors left a review and the room goes a bit quiet.

It's not that people don't want to help. "We'll definitely leave you a review" gets said in the glow of a great result, and then life happens. The removalists, the kids, the new mortgage. Three weeks later your email lands somewhere between a gas bill and the school newsletter.

BrightLocal's 2025 Local Consumer Review Survey found 96% of consumers are open to writing a business a review, but only 29% actually wrote one in the past year. That's US consumers in general, not Australian sellers. The gap is still the point. Willingness isn't the problem. Asking is.

The moments that work

Timing is most of it. Ask while the feeling is fresh.

• When the result lands. Sold under the hammer, an offer over reserve, a nervous vendor who finally exhales. That's the moment. Not next week, once it's "settled in".

• At settlement. Keys handed over, money through, officially done. It's the second-best moment and the one most agents forget, because by settlement you're three campaigns further along.

• At the open home. Not for your vendor, for everyone else. Buyers who had a good experience, past clients who drop by, the neighbour who's watched your signboards for a year. A QR code by the door gets you reviews you'd never have thought to ask for.

• After a tricky one comes good. A campaign that had a rough patch and finished well is often your best review. Those vendors know exactly what you did.

Make it stupidly easy

Every extra step loses people. A good request is:

• Personal. Their name, the property, your name. Not "Dear valued client".

• Short. Two lines and a link. They were there, you don't need to recap the campaign.

• One tap. Straight to the review form. Not your website, not a landing page, not "search for us on Google".

• On the channel they actually use. Some people live in their inbox. Plenty only ever read texts.

One more that matters in real estate specifically. Sellers read Google, and a lot of them also read realestate.com.au. If your request only asks for one, you're building half a profile.

Follow up once. Nicely.

One gentle reminder a few days later isn't nagging. It's catching the email that got buried. More than that and you become the agent who won't leave them alone, which is not the review you're after.

When not to ask

A bit of honesty helps here. Don't ask in the middle of a campaign that's going sideways. Don't ask a vendor who's clearly unhappy and hope for the best. Fix the relationship first. A review request isn't a customer service strategy.

And don't offer anything in exchange for a review. Google's review policies don't allow incentivised reviews, and a pile of suspiciously glowing ones doesn't fool sellers anyway.

How Properti Reviews handles the asking

The asking is where most review systems fall over, so it's the part we made easiest.

• Send review requests by email, SMS or QR code.

• One request can ask for Google and realestate.com.au together, so your vendor picks where to leave it.

• Print a QR code for open homes that takes people straight to your Google review page, or to an agent's realestate.com.au reviews page.

• On Reviews Plus, requests get automatic follow-ups and unlimited SMS, so the reminder happens without anyone having to remember it.

When the reviews come in, they land in the same inbox as the rest. Share any of them, and reply to the Google ones without leaving Properti.

The short version

Ask when the result lands. Ask again at settlement. Put a QR code at the door. Make it one tap, and ask for Google and realestate.com.au in the same breath.

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