For businesses who live on repeat work
Don't lose a customer over a problem you never heard about.
After every job, RateMate asks your customer how it went on WhatsApp. Unhappy ones reach you privately, in time to fix it. Happy ones come back and tell their friends.
No app to download. No WhatsApp Business account needed. You stay in control of every send.
What is RateMate?
RateMate helps you keep the customers you already have.
A simple tool you run from your phone. After each job it asks your customer how it went, on WhatsApp. Unhappy? You hear straight away. Happy? They bring the next job.
It asks every customer
One to five stars after every job, plus a comment if they want. Nobody slips through.
It catches problems privately
A low score comes straight to you, not the neighbours, in time to fix it.
It grows your repeat work
Happy customers come back and refer. Everyone gets the same review invite, never gated.
The problem
Unhappy customers don't complain. They disappear.
No angry call, no warning. They book someone else next time and tell the neighbours why. You never find out.
Often the first sign is an anonymous one-star review on Google. You take the public knock, but with no name you can't tell which job it was, or call to put it right.
Sources: Esteban Kolsky, ThinkJar customer experience research · Harvard Business Review, 2014 · Bain & Company research, via Harvard Business Review · Journal of Marketing, Wharton referral study, 2011
How it works
It all happens in WhatsApp.
Not just for your customers. You run the whole thing from the same chat you are in all day. Text RateMate to ask for feedback, forward a customer's contact, or check who is unhappy. No app, no login, nothing new to learn.
Send a customer a rating request
Your newest ratings and comments
Unhappy customers to call back
Your walk-in rating code
082 123 4567
You trigger every send, and every rated customer sees the same review invite.
Your trade
Built for the way your trade actually works.
Same RateMate, written for your week. Pick the one that sounds like your business.
Not on the list? RateMate works the same for any business that visits customers. Start free and set it up in ten minutes.
The save
A five-minute call instead of a lost customer.
A low score reaches your phone with the customer's number while there is still something to do about it. You call, you put it right, and the job you would have lost quietly stays yours.
Word of mouth
Someone is asking a WhatsApp group who to call.
That is still how most people find a trade they trust, and your customers are already putting your name forward. RateMate makes sure the story is a good one. Problems reach you privately, in time to fix them. And every rated customer gets a Google review invite, so the next person who checks finds real ones.
Every way a customer can answer
WhatsApp first. SMS and QR for everyone else.
Have a team?
Every job makes your reputation. Even the ones you never see.
For a solo, one bad job costs one customer. With people on the road, one struggling staff member costs customers every week until you find out. RateMate tags who did each job, so you see how every person is really doing.
Pricing
Less than one call-out fee a month.
A notification is one review request or one low-score alert. They share one monthly meter.
Busy month? Top up at R99 per 100 notifications. Low-score alerts always get through on Standard and Team, even past the cap. Cancel any time. See full pricing
FAQ
The questions everyone asks first.
I already ask people for reviews. Why do I need this?
Asking someone to their face rarely gets an honest answer. People say it was fine to avoid the awkward moment, and if you just point them at Google, the first you hear about a problem is a public one-star review. RateMate asks privately on WhatsApp, alerts you the moment someone is unhappy, and still invites every customer to leave a Google review.
Will my customers actually respond?
It is not a survey. It is one tap on WhatsApp, in the chat they already have, and it takes seconds. You can write the ask in English, Afrikaans, isiZulu or any language, because the wording is yours to edit.
Is this legal under POPIA?
Yes. Consent records, instant opt-outs and an audit trail are built in. POPIA without the paperwork.
I'm not techie and I don't have time.
There is no WhatsApp Business account to set up, no messages to write and no app to install. RateMate sends for you from its own number, and you can run the day-to-day from WhatsApp on your phone.
Will it look like a random number spamming my customers?
No. Every message names your business, you can add your logo and brand colours, and you trigger every request yourself. Nothing is sent automatically.
What about bad reviews?
You hear about problems privately first, with a name and number attached, in time to sort them out. Compare that to an anonymous Google review, where you often can't even tell which job it was. And to be clear about the other side: every rated customer gets the same Google review invite. RateMate never gates reviews by score.
It's another monthly cost I don't need.
Compare it to advertising for a new customer, or quietly losing one you already have. Keeping an existing customer happy is far cheaper than replacing them. One saved or referred job usually pays for months.
Your next job comes from your last one.
Set up in ten minutes. Free to start, cancel any time.
See it for yourself
Try it on your own phone
Enter your name and mobile number and we will send you the same feedback request a customer would get. Takes less than a minute.