QR-Code Welcome Packets for New PCS Arrivals: Getting a Review Before Move-In Week Ends

A military family gets to Jacksonville after a PCS move and spends a week unpacking. In that same week they pick a locksmith, a cleaning crew, someone to haul off the boxes, maybe a lawn service. Each of those businesses gets one chance to make an impression, and most let it pass without doing anything on purpose.

A simple welcome card, handed over at the end of the job, gives you a way to use that week. It’s cheap to make and easy to keep doing.

Why that first week matters

A family that just arrived needs a lot of local recommendations and hasn’t settled on anyone yet. There’s no “we’ve always used them” working against you. If you do good work, you have a real shot at becoming their go-to for the rest of their time here.

They also talk. Military spouses swap recommendations all the time, in group chats and at unit events, and the next family moving in behind them will be asking the same questions.

What goes in the packet

Keep it short:

• A QR code to your Google review page. Ask plainly: “We’d appreciate a quick review of how the job went.” Give it to every new customer. Google’s policy says you can’t ask only the customers you expect to be happy, and a straight ask to everyone is simpler anyway.
• Something useful beyond your own business. A short “new to Jacksonville” list of a few other local services you trust, or basic info about the area. It shows you want to help them settle in.
• Contact info they’ll keep. A sturdy card or a magnet, not the back of a receipt. Something that ends up on the fridge or in the junk drawer where they’ll find it next year.
• Something easy to pass along. A card they can hand to a neighbor or snap a photo of for a spouse group chat.

Make it survive move-in week

This card is going to get tossed in a moving box, buried under mail, or shoved in a drawer for months, competing with every other flyer and receipt from the move. Thin paper doesn’t last. A slightly heavier card or a magnet costs a little more and has a much better chance of still being around when they need you again.

Build it once

The design work happens one time: the card layout, the review link, the short resource list. After that you just hand them out. Check the list and the link once in a while so nothing goes stale.

You can make the QR code yourself for free. In your Google Business Profile, look for the option to ask for reviews. It gives you a short link to your review form. Paste that into any free QR code generator, test it on your phone, and send it to the printer.

Hand it over in person

The ask works best at the moment the job wraps up, as the crew finishes, with the final invoice, or at pickup. A card handed over in person lands better than an email a few days later when the family is buried in unpacking.

A simple habit helps. Have whoever’s on-site ask early in the job, “Just moved here?” The answer doesn’t change the work. It just tells them who should get the welcome card on the way out, so the office doesn’t have to remember later.

Check if it’s working

After a season of handing these out, look at your review count before and after. If it barely moved, try changing where the card is handed over, how the ask is worded, or who’s handing it out before you give up on the idea.

Where to start

Print a small batch of cards with your review QR code, a short resource list, and your contact info, and start handing them to every newly arrived customer. If you want help making sure reviews keep coming in without chasing them, our review and reputation automation work covers the follow-up side.