This article originally appeared on the BUILDER website.
The Internet has created unparalleled opportunities for even the smallest home businesses to get in front of vast numbers of customers, and contractors should take full advantage. Today’s homeowner is likely to use the web or social media to find and research service providers, and they usually don’t just pick the first one they find.
Our research shows that 42% aim to get three or more quotes for their project. To make sure you’re in the consideration set, you first need to get noticed. That means getting good reviews. From our research surveying over 10,000 homeowners each quarter, we found that “online ratings and reviews” is the third most important factor in choosing a contractor, behind only personal references and price quotes.
The rise of online review sites has magnified the importance of focusing on a business’s online reputation. Before Yelp!, Google Reviews, Angie’s List and other ratings and reviews-oriented products were developed, having a convincing “About Us” page on a website might have done the trick. Now, the prevalence of online review sites requires a business to not only deliver great service, but also provide online visibility for customer satisfaction with that service. Part of the ratings and reviews game, after all, is ensuring your most ardent fans give you five stars while your biggest critics don’t rate you at all.
Here are the five most important practices that lead to success in this area.
1. Determine the target sites you want to focus on. Many may be obvious, but it’s worth going through the process of finding what sites your potential customers follow, whether that’s a contractor listing site, Yelp, Facebook or geo-searching on Google Maps.
Take stock of your reviews on each of these sites by plotting them along two lines, one for how important the site is to your business and the second for how much your reviews need improvement on that site. Then, start with the site in the top right corner and work your way back to the bottom left. Once you know which sites you need to enhance your reviews on, try the following tactics.
2. Ask your customers in the moment. The best time to get a positive review is when customers are feeling the glow from the benefits of your service. Have your technicians, as they’re getting sign off on project completion, ask the customer how they feel about your business. When the answer is positive, let them know that you’d love a review from them, and direct them to the specific site or platform where you need the most input.
3. Survey your customers. This can be done immediately after the service is delivered, or later, across your contact database. Find out which of your customers might rate you highly by asking a pre-qualifying question through an email survey. A great question starts with “On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your experience with your company name here?” For customers that select a high rating, immediately prompt them to leave a review on the site you are targeting.
4. Hire a third party. There are many online services that promise to increase the number of reviews you get. Many of these have become adept at nudging those reviews in a positive direction. A simple Google search for “improve online reviews/ratings” should do the trick in producing some potential candidates for help.
5. Assign responsibility. Pick a single person within your company to take responsibility for your online reputation. He or she should set up a regular cadence for checking for new reviews on key sites. Some sites will alert you when you receive new reviews.
It’s clear that having positive online reviews matters. According to a recent survey by BrightLocal, 85% of your customers trust online reviews of local businesses as much as they trust personal recommendations. And 57% of consumers will only work with a business that has four or more stars. You can make a difference by applying a few simple steps.
