How to Get More Google Reviews for Your Moving Company (Without Begging)

For a moving company, reviews are one of the strongest sales drivers. A customer comparing multiple movers often reads reviews before calling anyone, and word-of-mouth and referrals already drive 68.6% of moving company leads (Supermove, 2025 State of Moving). Reviews are word-of-mouth that strangers can see.

That means every happy customer is a chance to win the next job. But happy customers rarely think to write a review on their own. If you wait too long to ask, the experience that made the review worth writing may no longer feel immediate.

When is the best time to ask for a review?

Ideally, this should be the same day as the move, especially within a few hours of the crew leaving.

Right after a move, the customer is standing in their new home feeling one of two things: relief or stress. The experience is immediate, and the details are specific. Within a day or two, those details begin to fade and the customer has moved on, making the review request easier to ignore.

Timing also affects the quality of the review. When you ask the same day, customers are more likely to remember how the crew handled their furniture, how clearly everyone communicated, and what made the move feel easier. In results observed on the Settl platform, same-day requests produce 10–13% more photo reviews than late requests.

Late requests tend to produce shorter, more generic responses, such as "good movers to use in the local area."

With 5 stars common among moving companies today, specific details, photos, and videos are what gain the trust of the next customer reading your reviews.

What should the review request say?

Make it very easy and simple. One text, three sentences, one link:

YCYour company

Hi {first name}, thanks for moving with {company} today. If {crew lead} and the team did right by you, a quick Google review helps us more than you'd guess. {review link}

Why this works:

• It names the crew. Customers write reviews for people, not businesses. Be specific
• It gives a reason. "Helps us more than you'd guess" is as honest as it gets. People leave reviews when they understand a small company genuinely depends on them, not when they're told to rate you for no reason.
• One link, zero steps. Every extra tap loses people. Link straight to the Google Profile.

Settl uses this approach to automatically request reviews. In order to ensure that moving companies stand out in a sea of five-star reviews, we ask for photo reviews too.

Should you still ask for reviews in person?

Absolutely. Most moving companies pay out bonuses to crews that ask and are able to get a review. While this is great, there is a better way to do this without tying crew bonuses to it.

The crew's personal request will always be the first opportunity to ask for a review. More importantly, it is part of good customer service: crews can identify and resolve any outstanding concerns before leaving. Some negative reviews begin with a simple misunderstanding that could have been resolved before the crew left.

• First service check: The crew asks how the move went, addresses any outstanding concerns, and can suggest adding a photo or video if the customer decides to leave a review.
• Automatic follow-up: Settl sends every customer a direct review link after the job is completed and the final payment clears. This gives the customer another opportunity to respond without relying on the crew to remember.

Movers on Settl see about 4 in 5 customers leave a review after a completed move.

How reviews turn into referrals and repeat jobs

Here is the mistake that most movers often make: they treat the review as the finish line. This unfortunately isn't the end of the relationship. It's actually the signal that the relationship is worth keeping. The customer who provides a great review is the same one who'll recommend you in a neighborhood group thread, and the same one who'll move again in a few years.

But that relationship does not maintain itself. If you want referrals and repeat jobs, you need to stay connected after the review is posted.

That's the loop that Settl builds for movers, staying in touch with the customer on your behalf.

Remember, every referral is a lead that you did not pay for.