Reviews can deter or attract potential customers to your home services business. You miss out on incredible business opportunities by not managing reviews.
Here are some interesting stats demonstrating the power of customer reviews:
- When browsing for local businesses, 75% of consumers read online reviews. Only 3% of consumers “never” read them.
- About half of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- Customers do not trust businesses with lower than 4-star ratings. Dropping from 4 stars to 3 decreases customer trust by 67%.
- Up to 86% of job seekers check a company’s reviews and ratings when deciding where to apply.
- Negative reviews make 92% of consumers less likely to use a local business.
FROM ONE OF OUR PARTNERS: 17 Sobering Online-Review Stats Every Contractor Needs to Know
Why do people look up reviews, anyway?
People seek reassurance and approval when making decisions. Reviews provide much-needed social proof to reinforce purchase intent. Plus, there’s truth in them.
Customer reviews represent real-life experiences. They are snapshots of your business’s value. Reviews demonstrate your relevance. Potential customers can then assume what to expect from your business.
Clearly, you can’t afford to ignore reviews.
The good news is that you don’t have to manage your reviews manually. You can delegate those tasks to a software application.
Let’s talk about digitizing review management for your home services business. We’ll go over the following points:
- How review management software works
- The benefits of review management software for home services contractors
- How to improve your business using review management software
- Getting started with review management solutions
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Understand Review Management Software Features
Review management software helps businesses collect, organize, and respond to customer reviews. It also draws actionable business insights from them.
A good review management solution has the following features and capabilities:
Automatic Review Requests
Collecting reviews is crucial. The more reviews your business has, the better. Unfortunately, customers are often reluctant to leave them.
However, research shows that 19% of customers will always leave a review when prompted.
Review management software helps you collect valuable feedback. It asks customers to rate your home services after every interaction.
The software also follows up on review requests. An occasional reminder encourages customers to share their experiences.
Centralized Review Management
Your customer reviews are probably scattered across multiple platforms. Customers can leave reviews on your website, Google profile, social media, or third-party review sites. Managing reviews from all the different sources can be challenging.
But not when using software.
Review management software gathers customer feedback from multiple sources. You can read and respond to all your reviews from one dashboard.
Review Monitoring
Review management software enables you to track review activities. Reviews sometimes evolve into heated discussions, debates, or mini forums. You need to know what’s happening with your home services reviews.
Review monitoring helps you identify active reviews. You can interact with the reviewers in real-time. That’s your chance to address misinformation, misunderstandings, or disgruntled customers.
Some solutions also let you monitor competitor reviews. You can listen to what people say about other home service contractors.
It’s not about being nosy. Customer reviews say a lot about your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Review Analytics
Review management software uses sophisticated technologies to analyze reviews. Through analytics, the system classifies and organizes reviews based on sentiment.
That’s right. The software can distinguish good and bad reviews. Even more impressive is that it can rank the reviews in order of importance.
For example, the system knows negative reviews and questions require swift reactions. So, it ranks those as urgent or important.
Review analysis also generates detailed reports. From these reports come actionable insights.
Automated Alerts and Responses
Responding promptly to reviews is very important. It shows you care about feedback. Plus, a quick response can turn a bad review into a good one.
Review management software alerts you to urgent reviews. You can even configure the software to respond to reviews on your behalf.
Mobile Integration
Review management solutions are cloud-based. Usually, the user interface is either a web or mobile app. That makes the software a portable tool you can use on the go.
Mobile integration is useful for home services contractors. It’s a matter of convenience. You can monitor reviews from the field, your desk, or the comfort of your own home.
Know What Problem You Need the Software To Solve
The review management software market is a thriving multi-billion-dollar industry. More businesses are beginning to see value in digitized review management.
Here’s why your home services business could use review management software:
Save Time.
As a home services contractor, you probably have a lot on your plate. From accounting and HR management to strategizing, everything must go through you.
So, every second on the job is precious—too precious to spend sifting through online reviews.
Don’t get us wrong. We’re not saying that review management is a waste of time. But it’s needlessly tedious and time-consuming when done manually.
Using review management software saves valuable time.
First, it consolidates reviews from different sources. You don’t have to comb through all your review channels.
Second, it organizes and prioritizes reviews for you.
And third, it automates responses.
Review management software does all the heavy lifting. It frees you and your staff to focus on more valuable tasks.
Improve Review Responsiveness.
We cannot overstate the importance of responding to customer reviews.
The numbers don’t lie. Nearly 90% of customers would buy from a business that responds to its reviews, and 47% of consumers would not use a business that doesn’t.
Speed is key when it comes to responding to reviews. However, reacting promptly to both negative and positive reviews can be overwhelming. That’s where digital capabilities come in.
Review management software boosts your response time. It tells you which reviews need urgent attention. The system can even craft personalized instant responses to every review.
Generate Business Insights.
Customer reviews are a great source of business insights.
Does your home services business get many 1 or 2-star reviews? That’s an obvious sign that something is wrong. But beyond the star ratings are even deeper insights.
Reviews often come with comments. These comments are revealing. They tell you, in plain black and white, what customers think or feel about your home services brand.
Unfortunately, review comments are unstructured. Unlike ratings, you won’t learn anything from glancing at a comment. You have to actually read and understand the comment. You can see how reading reviews can quickly become overwhelming.
Software helps you extract insights more easily.
The software analyzes sentiment. Sentiment analysis gives you a general overview of customer satisfaction. You can also search reviews for specific keywords or phrases.
Centralize Review Management.
A digital solution condenses review management in one place. It uses multiple sources to streamline review management. The same software draws valuable insights from customer feedback. Some solutions also feature customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities.
With review management software, you don’t need to switch between apps or websites to manage reviews. You control everything from a single screen. This is convenient and economical for your home services business.
Use Reviews to Boost Online Visibility
Managing reviews effectively increases your online visibility. They are powerful SEO ranking signals.
Both positive and negative reviews help expose your business to potential customers. Review management software shines a positive light on that exposure.
It first encourages customers to review your home services business. The software then equips you with the tools to respond to reviews appropriately.
Gather Positive Reviews to Increase Sales
Reviews are the internet’s equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing. This happens to be the most effective way to promote your home services.
A digital review manager collects positive reviews. Naturally, positive reviews translate into sales. Customers will likely spend 31% more on a business with “excellent” reviews.
FROM ONE OF OUR PARTNERS: How To Use Online Reviews to Generate More Leads
Manage Reviews to Improve Customer Retention
Home services contractors rely heavily on repeat customers. You’re up to 70% more likely to sell to an existing customer than a new prospect. And a mere 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by 25% to 95%.
Can review management software increase customer retention?
Yes, it can.
Taking your time to manage reviews makes customers feel valued. It shows you care about their experiences, opinions, and suggestions. This builds trust and loyalty between the business and its customers.
Analyze Reviews to Get Ahead of Competitors
Review management software enables you to spy on other home service providers—but in a professional way. You can apply customer insights from your competitors to improve your business.
For instance, people may complain about another company’s high service fees. You can learn from that and adjust your prices to be more competitive.
Insights from your own review analytics can sharpen your competitive edge, too. Reviews help you pinpoint areas that need improvement. Optimize your business model, offerings, or service delivery to differentiate your brand.
Put Your Best Face Forward
Reviews are part of your brand image. They’re one of the key things people associate with your business.
Subsequently, how you manage reviews is a big part of your brand image. Cultivating a positive brand image becomes much easier with review management software.
For instance, the software enables you to respond promptly to reviews. Doing so brands you as a caring, credible, and trustworthy home services provider.
FROM ONE OF OUR PARTNERS: The Importance of Customer Service in Home Services: Enhancing the Journey to Customer Satisfaction
How You Can Start Leveraging Your Reviews Right Now
If you want to increase customer satisfaction, managing your reviews should be a part of your strategy. As soon as they start rolling in, you should employ review management software to monitor them.
Your customers—and your bottom line—will thank you.
Here are some ways you can use reviews to your advantage immediately:
- Claim your business on your preferred review sites (Angi, Yelp, HomeAdvisor, etc.). People may post reviews at random, and it helps to know where they are.
- Add a review request to your invoices or other customer communications. Include a link to point them to your preferred review method.
- Feature customer testimonials on your home services website and social media.
- Monitor and respond to reviews to learn what works and the areas needing improvement.
- Identify fake reviews and request removal.
- Shop around for suitable review management software. List and compare features, pricing, and ongoing fees.