The short answer
Ask a solar customer for a review by text, from a named person, two to six weeks after commissioning, with one specific reason and a direct link. Keep it under forty words, mention nothing about ratings or stars, and follow up once seven days later if nothing arrives.
- 01Name a person. A request from Dan converts better than one from a company.
- 02Under forty words, one link, no attachments and no branding.
- 03Ask for a review, never for a good review or a five star review.
- 04Verbal ask on site, automated ask later. The two together beat either alone.
There is a version of this that works and a version that does not, and the difference is mostly wording and timing rather than effort. Here is the version that works, in order.
Warn them on site, in person
The single highest-return sentence in review generation is said by the crew lead on the last day: once your first bill comes through, we will send you a text asking for a quick review. It would mean a lot.
That does two things. It sets an expectation, so the text is not a surprise. And it attaches the request to the person who did the work rather than to a marketing system, which is what makes people act on it.
The text itself
Short, first-person, specific, one link. Longer than forty words and response drops. Anything that looks designed reads as a campaign.
Note what is not in it. No stars mentioned. No mention of five. No please consider leaving us a positive review. No logo, no header image, no unsubscribe furniture. More variants in solar review request templates.
What never to say
| Do not write | Why | Write instead |
|---|---|---|
| Leave us a 5 star review | Solicits a rating, against policy | Leave us a review |
| If you were happy, please review us | Gating by another name | Would you mind leaving a review |
| Review us and get $50 off | Incentivising, can wipe the profile | Nothing. Just ask |
| Your feedback is important to us | Reads as a form letter | It really helps a small local company |
| Click here to complete our survey | Wrong task entirely | A direct review link |
The follow-up
Seven days later, one message, shorter than the first. No guilt, no second explanation, just a nudge and the link again. This single message typically doubles the total, and it is the step most companies skip.
After that, stop. A third ask converts almost nobody and costs goodwill with the people who were always going to say no.
What about the ones who say yes and never do it?
Most of them are not avoiding you. They read the text while driving, meant to do it later, and later never came. Which is exactly why the second message works, and why sending the link as the last line of the message rather than buried mid-paragraph matters more than it sounds.
- Send at a time people are not working. Early evening beats mid-morning.
- Put the link on its own line at the end, where a thumb can reach it.
- Never send a review request in the same message as anything else, especially an invoice.
- If a customer had a problem that got fixed well, ask them specifically. Recovered customers write the best reviews there are.
Who should you ask, and who should you skip?
Ask everyone. That sentence is doing real work, because the instinct is to ask only the customers who seemed delighted, and that instinct is both against platform policy and worse for business.
| Customer | Ask them? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Delighted, smooth job | Yes | The obvious ones, and the easiest |
| Fine, uneventful job | Yes | Most of your reviews come from here |
| Had a problem you fixed well | Yes, specifically | The most persuasive reviews you will get |
| Had a problem still open | Not yet | Fix it first, then ask. Not a filter, a sequence |
| Genuinely unhappy with you | Yes | Uncomfortable, and honest. A profile with no criticism reads as fake |
The fourth row is the only one that looks like gating and is not. Asking after a problem is resolved is ordinary good sense. Deciding never to ask somebody because you suspect the review would be poor is the thing platforms prohibit, and it is also how companies end up with a rating nobody believes. More on that in why solar reviews matter.
The system this message sits inside
How to get more reviews for solar installersStop reading, start booking
Volt builds and runs the system this article describes: the site, the follow-up, the inbox and the review funnel, for $297 a month.
No contracts. Cancel anytime.
Common questions
- Is it legal to ask customers for reviews?
- Yes, asking is fine and expected. What is not allowed is offering anything in exchange, asking only your happy customers, or asking in bulk. Ask everyone, plainly, and you are inside the rules on every major platform.
- Should the crew ask, or should it be automated?
- Both. The crew sets the expectation verbally on the last day, and the automation sends the actual request weeks later when the result is visible. Either alone works less well than the pair.
- What if a customer asks what to write?
- Suggest what would be useful to another homeowner rather than what would be flattering to you: the system size, how the process went, and whether the bill changed. Never send them wording to copy.
