Boosting our Google ratings via targeted NPS review logic
Background
After a customer completes service with Safelite, we send follow-up communications in the following order:
Day 2: NPS survey
Day 5: Yotpo survey, if NPS isn’t completed
Day 7: Google review request, if neither NPS nor Yotpo is completed
Safelite typically performs well on internal surveys, with an NPS in the high 80s and a 4.7 Yotpo rating. However, our Google rating lags behind at 3.8. Google reviews are sent last in our communication cadence, limiting both volume and control over the narrative.
My role:
Lead researcher
Impact:
+1,600 Google reviews a week
+.2pt increase in Google ratings (from 3.8 to 4.0)
Tools:
Qualtrics, XM Discover
How do our Google reviews compare to those of our competitors?
Challenges
Google is our most visible and trusted review platform, yet it receives the least attention in our follow-up strategy.
75% of users check reviews on Google, compared to 52% on our website (Yotpo) and 42% on social media.
By prioritizing internal metrics (NPS, Yotpo), we allow more dissatisfied customers to shape our Google reputation, leading to lower ratings and more negative verbatims.
When reviews include comments, the average Google rating drops from 3.9 to 3.0, meaning prospective customers are exposed to even more negative feedback than the rating alone suggests.
Mismatched ratings across platforms reduce trust, making our website’s more favorable reviews appear less credible when compared to third-party sources like Google.
Safelite’s Google rating with verbatims is 3.0, compared to 4.6 for competitors, amplifying the negative perception when customers read detailed feedback.