Requesting Reviews from Customers

Why Proactively Request Reviews

Unprompted customers leave reviews at single-digit rates. A simple, timely request raises that to 25 to 45 percent for most fleets. More reviews mean a more accurate picture of your operation and stronger social proof for prospective renters.

Three Ways to Request

TrailerBase offers three complementary flows. Use all three for best results.

1. Auto-Request 24 Hours After Return

Turn this on under Settings > Reviews > Automation. When a booking is marked as returned, TrailerBase waits 24 hours and then emails the customer a personalized review request. The 24-hour delay is intentional — it lets the customer decompress, which produces more thoughtful reviews than a request at dropoff.

The email includes:

• A friendly line referencing the trailer and dates.
• A single prominent button linking to the review form.
• Your organization name and reply-to address.
• An easy unsubscribe for customers who do not want future marketing.

2. Manual Request on Any Completed Booking

From a booking's detail page, click More > Request Review. This is your go-to when auto-request is off, when you want to send the request sooner than 24 hours (say, for a happy customer), or when you want to re-send to a customer who did not respond the first time. Re-sends are throttled — the system prevents more than one manual request every seven days per booking.

3. Bulk Request to Last 50 Customers

From the Reviews page, click Request from Past Customers. TrailerBase identifies the last 50 eligible bookings — those that are marked returned, whose customer has not already reviewed, and where the last request (if any) was more than 30 days ago — and shows them in a checklist. Review the list, uncheck anyone you want to exclude, and click Send. This is the fastest way to jump-start review volume on a new setup.

Writing the Request Email

Go to Settings > Reviews > Email Template to customize the message. The default works well, but you can:

• Change the subject line.
• Edit the body, keeping the merge tags ({{customer_first_name}}, {{trailer_name}}, {{review_url}}).
• Add a P.S. with a simple incentive ("Reply to this email with any issue and we'll make it right" works well).
• Swap in a branded header image.

Keep it short. Two or three sentences plus the button outperforms long messages.

What the Customer Sees

The review link opens a clean, mobile-friendly form with:

• Star rating.
• Review body (optional, encouraged).
• A short set of category prompts (cleanliness, communication, value, ease).
• A photo upload.

Customers do not need to log in — the link is signed to their booking. This removes the single biggest friction point and drives submission rates.

The Success Rate Metric

Reviews > Insights shows your Request Success Rate: the percentage of review requests in a period that resulted in a published review. Benchmarks:

• Under 15 percent — your timing, subject line, or list quality may need work.
• 15 to 30 percent — healthy.
• Over 30 percent — excellent.

The dashboard also shows rate by flow (auto vs. manual vs. bulk) so you can see which is pulling its weight.

Tips

• Use all three flows. Auto handles the steady state, manual catches the high-value moments, bulk fills the backlog.
• Personalize bulk requests. Before hitting send on a bulk list, scan it and uncheck any customers you had issues with — those reviews are unlikely to help.
• Send on Tuesday or Wednesday. Midweek emails outperform Monday and Friday for this use case.