# Review Engine > Builds a systematic review generation and response engine for a local service business - the ask-at-peak-satisfaction timing rule, SMS ask scripts, a review-velocity target benchmarked to the top competitor, and word-for-word response procedures for 1-3 star reviews. Use when an owner asks "how do I get more Google reviews", "a customer left a bad review, what do I say", "should I text customers for reviews", or "why does my competitor have way more reviews". Do NOT use for the rest of the Google Business Profile setup - use google-business-profile-optimizer instead. Do NOT use for turning existing reviews into website FAQ content - use review-to-faq-builder instead. - Skill: `skillmedev/review-engine` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add skillmedev/review-engine` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/skillmedev/review-engine/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Docs & Writing - Author: SkillMedev (https://skillmd.com/u/skillmedev) - Updated: 2026-09-22 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/skillmedev/review-engine --- # Review Engine Reviews are the prominence engine of local ranking and the trust engine of conversion: they feed the map pack (see local-seo-playbook) and they close the customer who is comparing three plumbers at 9 pm. The costly mistake this skill prevents is leaving reviews to chance - happy customers stay silent by default, angry ones self-select, so an unmanaged profile drifts toward a rating the business does not deserve. Run this after google-business-profile-optimizer has the profile itself in order. Worked business throughout: Summit Plumbing, 4 techs, $450 average ticket, about 167 jobs a month at $75,000 monthly revenue. ## Operating procedure ### Step 1: Set the velocity target against the top competitor Count the top map-pack competitor's total reviews and how many they gained in the last 90 days (check their newest review dates). Target: match or exceed their monthly velocity. Summit's top competitor adds about 10 reviews a month; Summit gets 3. Target: 12 a month. At 167 jobs a month, 12 reviews is a 7 percent review rate - very achievable, since a well-timed SMS ask converts around 10-20 percent of happy customers. ### Step 2: Install the ask-at-peak-satisfaction rule Ask at the moment satisfaction peaks: the tech has just fixed the problem, shown the customer the result, and the relief is fresh. For trades this is on-site at job completion or within the hour; for clinics and salons, at checkout or same evening. Every hour after peak, response rates fall. An ask three days later via email is why the old system produced 3 a month. ### Step 3: Send the ask by SMS, primed by the tech Text beats email roughly 5x for local review asks - it is opened in minutes and the review is one tap away. The tech primes it verbally at handoff, then the office (or automation) sends the SMS within the hour: ``` Tech, at handoff: "Glad we could get that sorted. We're a small local shop, so Google reviews genuinely decide whether people find us. You'll get a text from us with a link - if you have 60 seconds, it'd mean a lot." SMS, within 1 hour of job completion: "Hi [FILL: first name], it's [FILL: tech name] from Summit Plumbing. Thanks for having us out today! If you were happy with the work, would you leave us a quick Google review? It takes about a minute and helps our small team a lot: [FILL: review link]" If no review after 3 days, one follow-up only: "Hi [FILL: first name] - [FILL: tech name] from Summit Plumbing again. No pressure at all, just a friendly nudge in case the review link got buried: [FILL: review link]. Thanks either way!" ``` Use the direct review link from the profile (the short share URL). One nudge maximum; a third message is pestering and earns the opposite of a five-star. ### Step 4: Respond to every review, positive ones included Respond to five-star reviews within a week, two to three sentences, naming the service and city where natural ("Thanks, Maria - glad the water heater swap in Oak Hill went smoothly"). This is conversion copy for the next prospect reading the profile and reinforces relevance. ### Step 5: Run the 1-3 star response procedure The audience for a bad-review response is not the reviewer - it is the hundred prospects who will read the exchange later. The procedure: 1. Respond within 24 hours. Speed signals a business that cares; a week of silence reads as guilt. 2. Take it offline. Apologize for the experience (not necessarily fault), give a direct name and phone number, invite the conversation off the public page. 3. Never argue, never share job details publicly, never blame the customer - even when the review is unfair. Health businesses: never confirm the person was a patient (privacy law). 4. If resolved, ask once, politely, whether they would consider updating the review. Never make a refund conditional on editing it. Word-for-word script: ``` "Hi [FILL: name], I'm [FILL: owner], the owner of Summit Plumbing. I'm sorry your experience didn't meet the standard we aim for - that's on us to fix. I'd like to make it right. Please call me directly at [FILL: phone] or email [FILL: email] and I'll take care of it personally." ``` Good/bad contrast on a real one-star ("Tech showed up 2 hours late and tracked mud through my hallway"): ``` BAD: "We were late because of an emergency call, which we texted you about. Also our techs always wear boot covers, so the mud claim doesn't add up." GOOD: "Hi Dan, I'm Alex, the owner. A 2-hour delay and a mess left behind is not how we operate, and I apologize. I'd like to make it right - please call me at (555) 014-2200 and I'll sort this out personally, including having the hallway cleaned." ``` The bad reply wins the argument and loses every reader. The good reply loses the argument and wins the next twenty customers. ### Step 6: Track velocity monthly and feed the pack-mates Log reviews gained per month against the target on one line of the KPI sheet. Review velocity is a ranking input local-seo-playbook depends on - if velocity is at target for 90 days and rankings still lag, the problem is relevance or citations, not prominence. And every five-star moment this engine detects is the referral trigger: hand those customers to local-referral-engine for the referral ask. ## Inputs to elicit Collect: current review count and rating, top competitor's count and 90-day velocity, jobs per month, how job completion is recorded (this triggers the SMS), who sends the ask (tech, office, or software), and the direct review link. Defaults: ask 100 percent of completed jobs, SMS within 1 hour, one nudge at day 3. If the competitor's velocity is estimated from review dates, label it an estimate. ## Concrete thresholds - Velocity target: at or above the top competitor's monthly rate; Summit's is 12 a month. - Ask timing: within 1 hour of completion; response rate decays after peak. - Expected conversion: 10-20 percent of asked customers; below 5 percent means the ask is mistimed or the link is broken. - Negative reviews: respond within 24 hours, always. - Rating floor: a profile below 4.0 loses the comparison by default - pause paid spend into a sub-4.0 profile and fix service delivery first (check the economics with local-unit-economics). ## Deliverable A one-page review operating system: the velocity target with the competitor benchmark, the tech handoff line, the SMS ask and nudge templates with fields filled for the business, the 24-hour negative-review procedure with the owner's script, and a monthly velocity log line. ## Do NOT - Do not buy or fabricate reviews, or review-gate (asking only pre-screened happy customers via a filter survey) - both violate policy and platforms remove the reviews, sometimes the profile. - Do not offer discounts or payment for reviews; incentives for reviews are prohibited, and one screenshot can undo years of reputation. Incentivize referrals instead - that is local-referral-engine's lane. - Do not argue publicly with a reviewer, even a lying one. The reply is for the readers. - Do not send more than one nudge; pestering converts five-star intent into silence or worse. - Do not batch asks weekly - the peak-satisfaction window is measured in hours, not days. ## Quality bar - Every completed job triggers exactly one ask and at most one nudge, with a named owner or automation for the send. - The velocity target cites the actual competitor number, not a wish. - Negative-review scripts contain a real name and direct contact, not "the management team." - The monthly log distinguishes velocity (new reviews) from totals, because velocity is what ranking rewards. ## Escalation and routing Defamatory or fake reviews: flag through the profile, and consult a lawyer before responding to anything with legal exposure - this skill is not legal advice. Clinics and health practices must keep every response free of any patient-relationship confirmation. Route profile setup to google-business-profile-optimizer, ranking strategy to local-seo-playbook, the post-five-star referral ask to local-referral-engine, and whether review volume justifies its labor cost to local-unit-economics.