Review signals drive 20% of local pack rankings: Google’s algorithm weighs your review activity heavily, and response time signals you’re an active, engaged business¹
97% of readers see your responses: Nearly every potential customer reads how you handle reviews, making each response a public audition for their business²
Speed builds trust: 53% expect responses within a week, but same-day responses position you ahead of competitors who take days or never respond at all³
The revenue math is clear: Businesses responding to at least 25% of reviews earn 35% more revenue than those who stay silent⁴
When a homeowner searches “AC repair near me” at 2 AM with a dead compressor, they’re scrolling through your reviews and reading exactly how you handled the customer who complained about a missed appointment window. Your response to that complaint is either winning them over or sending them to your competitor.
Review responses are free marketing that most HVAC contractors ignore. The data shows responding quickly and consistently drives both Google rankings and customer conversions. The 24-hour response rule is the sweet spot where customer expectations, Google’s freshness signals, and operational reality intersect.
Why Google Cares About Your Responses
According to the Whitespark 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors report, review signals now account for 20% of local pack ranking weight.¹ That makes reviews the second most influential factor, trailing only your Google Business Profile itself at 32%. In a market where dozens of contractors compete for three spots in the map pack, maximizing this 20% is often the difference between visibility and obscurity.
Many owners spend thousands on website SEO (15% of ranking weight) or building directory citations (6%) while letting reviews sit unanswered for weeks. The algorithm is explicitly telling you where to focus. If you’re paying an agency $2,000 a month to build citations but ignoring your reviews, you’re burning money.
From Darren Shaw, founder of Whitespark: review recency now ranks among the top five most important factors in 2025-2026.⁵ When your profile shows recent reviews with owner responses, Google sees an active business worth surfacing. When your last response was six months ago, you look dormant.
Each response creates a small engagement loop. Google notifies the reviewer, they often return to check your reply, and that click-through signals to the algorithm that your profile is active. You’re proving you’re “alive” to both the bot and the human.
Businesses in the Google 3-pack receive 126% more traffic and 93% more actions than positions 4-10.⁶ Fast responses help you get there and stay there.
🎙️ Listen: The Lead Vetting System for HVAC Pros to Boost Visibility & Avoid Bad Customers — Nick Fergis discusses how to improve your online visibility and qualify better leads.
What Customers Actually See
Here’s the statistic that should change how you think about reviews: 97% of consumers who read reviews also read business responses.² Not some. Not most. Ninety-seven percent.
Your response isn’t private correspondence with one upset customer. It’s a billboard. Every word you type in that reply box is marketing copy for the thousand people who will read it over the next year.
Yet despite this, 63% of customers say businesses never responded to their review.³ That gap is your competitive advantage.
HVAC customers are particularly review-sensitive. A 2024 ACHR NEWS study found 91% of homeowners rate online reviews as important when choosing contractors, with 26% calling them “extremely important.”⁷ The average consumer reads 10 reviews before trusting a local business.⁸
When a potential customer sees a negative review from yesterday with no response, they assume the problem is unresolved. They project themselves into that reviewer’s shoes: “If I hire them and they break my AC, will they ignore me too?” In the distress purchase mindset of HVAC emergencies, silence equals negligence. A fast response tells them there’s a human at the helm who pays attention.
The Revenue Connection
Womply analyzed over 200,000 small businesses and found businesses responding to at least 25% of reviews earn 35% more revenue than average.⁴ Businesses that never respond earn 9% less.
The Cost of Silence
Revenue impact by response behavior
The math: For a $1M HVAC company, this behavior gap represents up to $350,000 in annual revenue swing.
Source: Womply Analysis of 200,000+ Small Businesses
Harvard Business Review research showed hotels that responded to reviews received 12% more review volume and improved ratings by an average of 0.12 stars.⁹ That might sound small, but in Google’s filtering, it can be the difference between appearing in a “4.5 stars and up” search or getting filtered out.
The mechanism works in HVAC too. When potential detractors know you read and respond to every comment, they become less likely to leave short, unfair reviews. They know they’ll be engaged. Responsiveness acts as a deterrent to casual complaints and encourages more thoughtful feedback.
Making the 24-Hour Rule Operational
Until you hit 50 reviews, write every response yourself. You’re building tone consistency and feeling the pain points that need fixing operationally.
For positive reviews, don’t just say “Thanks.” That looks automated. Try this instead:
“Thanks for the review, Jim! I’m glad Mike was able to get that condenser fan replaced before the heatwave hit this weekend. We pride ourselves on stocking those parts on the truck so we can fix it in one trip. Stay cool!”
This subtly reinforces your value proposition to future readers: you stock parts and fix things in one visit.
For negative reviews, use the HEARD framework: Hear the complaint, Empathize with the frustration, Apologize for the experience (not necessarily admitting fault), Resolve by moving offline, then Diagnose internally what went wrong.¹⁰
“[Name], I’m sorry your experience didn’t meet our standards. I can see how frustrating it is to wait for a callback during a heatwave. I’d like to make this right. Please call me directly at [number] so we can discuss this. – [Owner name]”
Never argue facts in public. The public forum is a courtroom where potential customers are the jury. Being defensive makes you look petty.
Set up daily monitoring. Google Business Profile notifications, morning routine: coffee, reviews, responses. The ideal response is same-day, not end-of-week. If a review comes in at 10 AM, respond by 2 PM. That “real-time” feel beats a response the next morning.
Start Today
Most of your competitors aren’t responding at all. Simply showing up and engaging with every review separates your business from the pack.
Here’s your action item: Set a phone alarm for review check. Respond to your three oldest unanswered reviews today. Build the habit before you build the system.
Your next customer is reading your last response right now.
Related Reading:
Additional Sources
Whitespark. “2026 Local Search Ranking Factors.” November 2025.
LocaliQ. “2025 Online Review Statistics.” January 2025.
ReviewTrackers. “2022 Online Reviews Survey.” February 2023.
Womply. “Impact of Online Reviews on Small Business Revenue.” October 2019.
Shaw D. “The Most Underrated Local Ranking Factor in 2025.” Whitespark Blog. November 2025.
SOCi. “2024 Local SEO Statistics.” December 2024.
ACHR NEWS. “91% of Homeowners Rely on Online Reviews Before Picking Contractors.” September 2024.
BrightLocal. “Local Consumer Review Survey 2025.” November 2025.
Proserpio D, Zervas G. “Online Reputation Management: Estimating the Impact of Management Responses on Consumer Reviews.” Marketing Science. 2017.
Pollack Peacebuilding. “The HEARD Method for Customer Service.” 2024.
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