A new profile with no reviews is a cold start problem. People are wary of a business nobody has vouched for, which makes it harder to get the customers who would vouch for you.
You get out of it by being deliberate about the first ten, not by waiting.
Start with the work you have already done
Almost nobody starts a business having never done the work. You have customers from before the business existed, from a previous employer, from side jobs, from favours.
Those people can review you. The review is about the work you did, and you did it.
The order to ask in
- Your most recent genuine customer. Fresh, pleased, easiest yes.
- Anyone who has already said something nice. A text, an email, a comment on the job. They have already written the review, they just have not posted it.
- Repeat customers. They have the most to say.
- Your back catalogue, ten or twenty a week, oldest first.
- Every new job from here, within a day of finishing.
Asking when you have none
Be straight about it. It works better than pretending.
People help a new business. They are much less motivated to be the ninetieth review on an established one.
Pace it
Do not get fifteen in one day. A brand new profile taking a burst of reviews is the single most obvious fake pattern there is, and you can get genuine reviews filtered for it.
Two or three a week, steadily, looks exactly like what it is. Within a couple of months you are past the awkward stage.
What to do in the meantime
- Fill out the profile completely. Categories, services, photos, hours. A complete profile with two reviews beats an empty one with two reviews.
- Put real photos of your work up. It is the proof you have while you have no reviews.
- Reply to the reviews you do get, immediately. On a short list every reply is visible.
- Get the easy credibility signals up: ABN, licence numbers, insurance, however your trade shows those.
Don't want to chase reviews yourself? Our review management asks every customer at the right moment, with your direct link, and replies to what comes in.