What Should You Do When a Customer Replies to a Referral Text?

The short answer: Treat every reply as a signal and answer it like a person. If the customer is unhappy, fix the problem privately. If they say “I’ll keep it in mind,” they are happy, so ask for a review. Then keep the conversation going, because it takes 3 to 5 touch points before most customers send a first referral.

Key Takeaways

• Every reply is a signal: What a customer texts back tells you which outcome to ask for next.
• Detractors get a private fix: Find out what went wrong, make it right, and get better as a company before anything goes public.
• “I’ll keep it in mind” means yes to a review: It implies a happy customer, which makes it the natural moment for a Google review ask.
• One text is not a program: Across 300+ moving companies on Snoball, it takes 3 to 5 touch points on average before the first referral.
• The first ask belongs in the home: Crews who can read a happy customer should ask in person, and post-move follow-up picks it up from there.

Most moving companies have some version of a referral text. The move closes in the CRM, a message goes out, and a few customers reply. Then the reply sits in an inbox, or it gets a canned response, and the moment is gone.

Landon Taylor, CEO of Snoball, walked through what should happen next on Movified Mondays with host Mark Hirschi. His point was simple. Sending the text is part one. What you do with the reply decides whether you get a referral, a review, a saved relationship, or nothing at all.

What should the first referral text say?

Keep it short and low pressure: there is a program, here is what they get, here is what their friend gets, and here is the link. Landon described the opener this way: “Hey, we have a referral program if and when you have anybody to refer. Here’s the details, what you get, what they get. Here’s your link.”

Notice what it does not do. It does not demand names or push for an answer today. The phrase “if and when” gives the customer permission to say “not right now,” and that permission is what makes the replies honest. Honest replies are exactly what you need, because the next step depends on reading them correctly.

What kinds of replies will you actually get?

Most replies fall into a handful of buckets, and each one calls for a different response. Landon named the two ends of the range. On one side is the customer who says, in his words, “I will never refer you because I hate you.” On the other is the customer who writes back, “Hey, thanks for letting me know. I’ll keep this in mind.”

• The detractor: Something went wrong on the move and they want you to know it.
• The polite happy customer: A thank-you and a “maybe later.”
• The engaged customer: A question about the reward, or a name and number right away.
• Silence: No reply yet, which is not the same as no.

Sorting these consistently is where most teams fall behind. That is why tagging customer sentiment early matters so much. Once you know who is an advocate and who is a detractor, the right next step is usually obvious.

How should you handle a detractor?

Privately, quickly, and with the goal of fixing the problem. Do not argue by text, and never send a review link to someone who just told you they are upset.

Pick up the phone. Get the facts, whether it was a late crew, a billing surprise, or a damaged item. Make it right where you can, and log what broke so operations can see the pattern. A detractor you hear from privately is a gift compared to one you first meet in a one-star Google review, and a problem handled well can earn back real trust.

What does “I’ll keep it in mind” really mean?

It means the customer is happy, and it is your opening to ask for a review. Many owners read that reply as a brush-off and stop. That is a mistake.

“They’re implying they’re happy, right? So you’ve got that. You’ve kind of extracted that signal, then that’s a good way to ask... for the review,” Landon said. Answer warmly, thank them for choosing you, and send a direct link to your Google review page. The referral can wait. The relationship keeps going.

Tone matters here. A reply that reads like a template tells the customer nobody is really listening. Compare a canned and a personal follow-up side by side and the difference is obvious: one sounds like a system, the other sounds like the company they just trusted with everything they own. Speed matters too. Jobber’s 2026 Home Service Trends Report reports that 55% of customers expect a reply within the hour and 28% expect one immediately.

How many follow-ups does it take to get a referral?

More than one. “We found that it takes three, four, five touch points before you get the first referral... sometimes even longer,” Landon said. That matches what Snoball sees across 300+ moving companies: 3 to 5 touch points on average before the first referral.

So a CRM trigger that sends one text and stops is only the starting line. Landon’s shorthand is that CRM automations need a driver: someone who manages each conversation on a personal, proactive level.

Space those touch points out and give each one a reason to exist. A thank-you. A review ask when the signal is right. A helpful check-in. A friendly reminder about the referral program when life hands them a reason, like a coworker relocating or a neighbor listing a house. Each touch point should earn the next one.

Who should make the first ask?

Your crew, in the home, when the customer is clearly happy. “Don’t wait until some automation from your CRM triggers post-move. Empower them in the home in person, right? In person’s the best,” Landon said.

Post-move follow-up then plants the seed again and keeps it growing. Crew leads also need a rule for when not to ask. If the move ran long or the customer was frustrated, skip the ask and flag it for the office. That flag is your first detractor signal, and it shows up before the referral text ever goes out.

What should you do this week?

1. Pull the last 30 days of replies to your referral texts and sort them into the four buckets above.
2. Call every detractor who has not heard back from a real person.
3. Answer every “I’ll keep it in mind” with a thank-you and a direct review link.
4. Write a one-page reply playbook: for each bucket, who responds, how fast, and what the next ask is.
5. Give crew leads a simple way to ask in the home, plus a clear rule for when to hold off.

The text is only the trigger. The reply is where the real work, and the real referrals, begin.