Why Timing Beats Wording
A well-timed review request outperforms a perfectly-worded one sent at the wrong moment. Customers respond when the job is still top of mind and their phone is in hand — not at 9 p.m. when they're winding down, and not three days later when they've moved on.
The Best Time to Ask for a Review by Text
Based on SMS engagement data from EZ Texting and industry benchmarks, the highest-response window is:
- 1–2 hours after job completion — the experience is fresh and positive emotion is peaking.
- Between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the customer's local time zone.
- Tuesday through Thursday tend to outperform Mondays and weekends for local-service customers.
Avoid before 9 a.m., after 8 p.m., and Sunday mornings — those windows feel intrusive and hurt your reply rate.
Why 1–2 Hours After the Job?
Wait long enough that the customer isn't still standing next to your technician, but short enough that the details are fresh. If you text immediately, it feels transactional. If you wait until the next morning, the moment is gone.
SoTrustworthy's automation triggers off Jobber job-completion events and waits a configurable delay (default: 2 hours) before sending — so every customer gets the ask in the sweet spot without you thinking about it.
What About Legal Quiet Hours?
The TCPA and most state laws restrict marketing texts to 8 a.m.–9 p.m. local time. Some carriers enforce stricter windows. Never schedule review requests outside those hours — a single complaint can trigger a carrier block on your number.
A Simple Rule of Thumb
If you wouldn't knock on their door at that hour, don't text them either.
Sources
Related Reading
Ask every customer for a review—without review gating.
SoTrustworthy sends a compliant, perfectly-timed review request to every customer after the job — no filtering, no gating, just more honest 5-star reviews on Google.
