Review management is one of the easier services for a local marketing agency to add. Every local business has reviews. Most owners know they should ask for more and reply to all of them, and few have time to do it every week. This guide covers how to scope the service, price it, set up your first client and report on it honestly.
What you're actually selling
You're selling a routine, not a result. Reviews come from your client's customers, so nobody can promise a number of reviews, a star rating or a ranking. What you can promise is that the work gets done, every week:
- Asking genuine customers for a review after every sale or appointment.
- Watching every review that comes in, on Google and the other sites that matter to the client.
- Replying to each review, with the client approving anything sensitive.
- Reporting each month on what came in, what was answered and what changed.
Pitch it that way and you set expectations you can meet. Pitch it as "more five-star reviews" and the first slow month becomes a cancellation.
Pick clients who will benefit
The service works best for businesses that see a steady stream of customers, in person or by appointment, and can contact them afterwards. Clinics, dentists, restaurants, hotels, trades, salons and car services are all good candidates.
Questions for the first call:
- Who manages your Google Business Profile today, and can you give us manager access?
- Where do you record customers: a booking system, a till, invoices?
- Do you have permission to email or text those customers?
- Who should approve a reply to an angry review?
- Which other review sites matter to your customers, such as TripAdvisor or Yelp?
Walk away if the client wants only happy customers asked, wants to offer discounts for reviews, wants reviews from staff or family, or can't give you access to their listing. The first three break Google's review policies and, in the US, the FTC's rule on consumer reviews. The last makes the work impossible.
Package the service
Most review management offers are built from the same parts:
- Setup: access to the listing, locations added, request templates written, review page and QR code ready.
- Review requests: sent after each sale or appointment, with one follow-up.
- Monitoring and replies: every new review answered within an agreed time.
- Monthly report.
- Optional extras: training staff to ask for reviews in person, printed QR cards.
Two ways to package them. These are illustrations, not market rates:
- Assisted: you set everything up, the client sends requests from their own system or hands out QR cards, and you reply to reviews and report monthly. Less of your time, a lower fee.
- Managed: you also run the review requests, import customer lists, handle follow-ups and escalate difficult reviews. More of your time, a higher fee.
A one-off setup fee covers the first month's extra work: getting access, writing templates and printing QR cards.
Work out your costs before you set a price
For each client location, every month, you pay for:
- Software to monitor, reply, send requests and report.
- Your team's time on replies, requests, report checks and client calls.
- Messaging, if you text customers.
- Printing, mostly one-off.
Then:
gross contribution per location = client fee − software − messaging − labour − other costs
Time is the cost that grows quietly. Track how long each client really takes for the first two months, then reprice if you need to.
Onboard your first client, step by step
- Get written permission to manage the client's reviews and contact their customers.
- Ask the client to add your team as a manager on their Google Business Profile, and on TripAdvisor and Yelp if those matter. Managers can reply to reviews; people without access can't.
- Add the client and each location to your review tool.
- Write the review-request email: short, from the business, with one link, and the same link for every customer.
- Agree a reply policy: what your team answers on its own, what goes to the client first, and how fast.
- Send a test request to yourself and check the link opens the right review page.
- Set a report date and walk the client through the first report.
- Agree what happens to the data if the client leaves. Their reviews and replies stay on their listing, and customer lists go back to them.
A reply and escalation routine
Your team replies to positive and neutral reviews within the agreed time, in the client's voice. Check with the client before replying when a review:
- mentions health, safety or a legal issue;
- names a member of staff or includes personal details;
- disputes a bill, refund or anything the client needs to check;
- looks fake or comes from someone who was never a customer. Report it to Google instead of arguing in public.
Two made-up examples:
5★: "Thanks, Sam. Glad booking online made it easy, and we'll pass your kind words on to Dr Lee."
2★: "Sorry about the wait on Saturday, Jenna. That's not the service we want to give. I've passed this to our manager, and if you're happy to, please email us so we can make it right."
Keep replies short, never argue the facts in public, and never offer anything in return for changing a review. More in how to respond to negative reviews.
Report value without inventing ROI
A monthly report that clients can check:
- New reviews, by site and star rating.
- Average rating for the month, and overall.
- Reviews replied to, and how quickly.
- Review requests sent, and how many customers went through to the review page.
- Anything escalated, and what happened.
These numbers show the service is working. They aren't proof of extra revenue, so don't present them as if they were. If a client wants to see business impact, agree how to measure it first, for example calls and direction requests in their Business Profile performance, compared with the same months last year.
Mistakes that lose clients
- Asking only happy customers for reviews, or offering anything in return for one.
- Promising rankings or a number of reviews.
- Selling "automatic replies" when someone approves each one.
- Starting before you have access to the listing and permission to contact customers.
- Pricing as if one person can look after unlimited clients.
Where software fits
For one or two clients, a spreadsheet and the Google app will do. Past that, logging in and out of each client's accounts eats the margin. Reputation management software for agencies puts every client's reviews in one inbox, sends requests on each client's behalf and produces a branded report for each one, so you run the routine above from one place. Localblend's agency pricing is per client-location.
FAQ
How much should an agency charge for review management?
There's no standard price. Work out your cost per location (software, time and messaging), add the margin you need, and check it against what the work is worth to the client. A managed service should cost more than an assisted one, because it takes more of your time.
What should be included each month?
Review requests, monitoring, replies within an agreed time, and a monthly report. Training and printed QR material are useful extras.
Can a business offer customers a discount for leaving a review?
No. Google doesn't allow incentives for reviews of any kind, and in the US the FTC's rule bans incentives that depend on the review being positive.
Do I need access to each client's Google listing?
Yes, to reply. Ask the client to add your team as a manager on their Business Profile. Anyone can read the reviews, but replies have to come from an account that manages the listing.
Can I white-label the service?
Yes. Many agencies sell review management under their own name, with dashboards and reports carrying the agency's branding. The review page a customer sees should still show the client's business.
See how Localblend helps agencies run client review workflows →