Your most recent customers are not your only source of Google reviews. Every job you completed last year, the year before, even three years ago represents a real person who experienced your work firsthand. Most of them just never got around to leaving a review.
A reactivation campaign is a focused effort to reach those past customers and ask them now. Done right, it can add dozens of reviews to your profile in a short window without you doing anything that violates Google's guidelines.
Here is how to run one effectively.
What Makes a Reactivation Campaign Different
A standard review request goes out shortly after a job is completed. The work is fresh, the customer is satisfied, and the ask feels natural.
A reactivation campaign targets customers you never asked, or asked once without a response. The timing is different. The relationship is a little colder. That changes how you approach it.
You are not reminding someone of an experience they just had. You are reconnecting with someone who trusted you months or years ago. That requires a slightly different message and a slightly lower expectation of response rate. Both are fine. Even a 10 to 15 percent response rate on a list of 200 past customers adds real reviews to your profile.
Build Your Contact List First
Before you send anything, pull together a clean list of past customers. Your sources will depend on how your business operates, but common places to look include:
- Your invoicing or job management software
- Your CRM if you use one
- Email records from completed jobs
- Old booking confirmations or estimate follow-ups
Focus on customers from roughly the past one to three years. Contacts older than that tend to have outdated email addresses or phone numbers, and the response rate drops significantly.
Remove anyone who already left you a review, anyone who had a disputed or unresolved issue, and anyone who explicitly asked not to be contacted. That last point matters both legally and for your reputation.
What to Say in Your Outreach
Keep the message short. Past customers do not need a backstory. They remember you or they do not.
A good reactivation message does three things:
- Reminds them who you are and what work you did
- Explains briefly why reviews matter to your business
- Gives them a direct link so leaving a review takes less than a minute
Here is a simple structure that works:
Subject: A quick favor from [Your Business Name]
Hi [First Name], this is [Your Name] from [Business Name]. We took care of [type of work] for you back in [approximate timeframe]. We hope everything is still holding up well.
We are trying to grow our Google reviews so more local homeowners can find us. If you were happy with the work, we would really appreciate a quick review. It only takes about a minute.
[Direct Google Review Link]
Thanks for your time.
Notice there is no pressure and no incentive offered. Offering incentives for reviews violates Google's policies. Keep it honest and direct.
Choose Your Channel Carefully
Email and SMS both work for reactivation campaigns, but they behave differently.
Email allows more text and tends to feel less intrusive for older contacts. SMS gets higher open rates but needs to be even shorter. If you use SMS, get right to the point and include the link in the first or second line.
If you have both email and a mobile number for a contact, start with email. If there is no response after five to seven days, a single follow-up SMS is reasonable. Do not send multiple follow-ups across both channels. That crosses from helpful into annoying quickly.
Timing and Frequency
Send your initial message once. Wait five to seven days. Send one follow-up if there was no response. Then stop.
Two touchpoints per contact is the right ceiling for a reactivation campaign. Past customers gave you their contact information to receive service updates, not ongoing marketing. Respecting that boundary keeps your reputation intact and reduces unsubscribes.
For timing within the day, mid-morning on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday tends to get the best response rates for both email and SMS. Avoid Friday afternoons and weekends.
Spread It Out Over Time
Do not blast your entire list at once. Google has stated that a sudden spike in reviews can trigger their spam filter, which may cause reviews to be held or removed entirely.
A safer approach is to send your reactivation campaign in batches over two to four weeks. If you have 300 contacts, sending 75 per week is more sustainable than sending all 300 in one day. It also gives you time to respond to any incoming reviews as they post, which looks good to anyone reading your profile.
Where Automation Fits In
Running a reactivation campaign manually is doable once. But the larger issue most local businesses face is that they do not have a consistent process for asking new customers either. The reactivation campaign fills a gap, but it does not fix the underlying problem.
Automated review collection handles the ongoing ask so you never build up another backlog of customers who were never contacted. When every completed job triggers a review request without anyone on your team having to remember, your review count grows steadily over time.
A reactivation campaign is a good reset. Automation is what keeps you from needing another one six months from now.
What to Do With the Reviews You Get
When reviews come in, respond to each one. Keep responses brief and genuine. Thank the customer by name if possible and mention the type of work. This signals to Google and to potential customers that there is a real person behind the business.
If a negative review surfaces during your campaign, do not ignore it. Respond calmly, acknowledge the issue, and invite the customer to contact you directly. A thoughtful response to a negative review often does more for your reputation than ten positive ones.
Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a potential customer sees. Keeping it active, accurate, and well-reviewed is one of the most practical things you can do for your business right now.