Setting up a review card for a field technician
A review card only earns its keep if it gets tapped. The hardware side is trivial — it's a card, there's nothing to charge or pair — so what follows is mostly about people. This is how we'd set one up for a technician who visits customers.
Before the card arrives
Paste your Google review link into your account, then open it on a phone that isn't yours to make sure it lands on the right business with the review box open. Decide who's carrying the card and name it after them in the dashboard ("Dave, van 1"), so when the taps come in you know whose they are. If you take card payments on Zettle or Square and want taps lined up against jobs, connect it now and, in Settings, choose which staff login the card-holder uses. Then only their payments count towards "card jobs asked"; the office's don't.
Where the card lives
In the technician's pocket or wallet, not in the glovebox. The card has to be in hand at the moment the customer says thank you, and that moment is at the door, not in the van. Some technicians keep it in the phone case; some on a lanyard with their ID. Whatever means it's there without thinking.
What to say
The ask should be one sentence, said while the customer is still pleased: "If you've got thirty seconds, would you mind leaving us a quick Google review? Just hold your phone here." Then hold the card to the top of their phone. On most iPhones a banner appears straight away; on Android the page opens. The customer taps the banner and the review box is in front of them.
Two things help. Don't ask before the invoice is settled; it reads as pressure. And don't stand over them while they type. "I'll leave you to it, thanks again" and head back to the van. Most customers who get as far as the open box do write something.
When the phone doesn't react
It's nearly always one of three things: an older iPhone (7 to X) that needs the NFC reader opened from Control Centre; an Android with NFC switched off in settings; or a thick case. A two-second "try the top of the phone, just by the camera" fixes most of it. If it still won't read, say "no problem, I'll put the link on the invoice" and move on; a fumbled minute at the door is worse than no ask.
Reading the dashboard
The number to watch isn't taps, it's card jobs asked: the share of card payments where a tap happened within half an hour. If that's low, the card isn't being used, and the conversation to have is with the technician, not the customer. Taps with no payment nearby show up as "other jobs" — cash, bank transfer, or a quote visit — so they still count. Compare the monthly tap total with the review count on your Google profile; the gap between them is the share of customers who opened the box and didn't write. That gap is normal, and it narrows when the ask is made well.
Keeping it going
The first week is enthusiastic. The fourth week is the test. A quick look at the dashboard on a Friday, and a word if the taps have dried up, keeps it alive. If you add a second technician, give them their own card rather than sharing; the point of naming cards is knowing who's asking.
And when a review comes in, reply to it. Customers read the replies, and a technician who sees their name in a five-star review on Monday is noticeably keener on the card by Tuesday.