Why Reviews Can Be Your Biggest Lead Generator for Next Spring

As temperatures drop and the winter slows down begins to kick in, turn your focus towards your business and how you are going to drum up leads for the following spring. Great news, we at One Click Contractor have an easy (and FREE) solution that is proven to be successful! Customer referrals. Although it may seem simple, referrals have a massive impact on your business. Check out the 5 ways that reviews can help your business below.

5 reasons why reviews can be your biggest lead generator for next spring:

1. Reviews drive new jobs now and down the road. 

Most customers' first step in the buying process is to look at a company's reviews. The majority of consumers read between one and 10 reviews before making a purchase.¹ And what are they looking for? They are going to evaluate your overall rating and what your most recent customers have said about your past work. They are also looking for the validity of purchases and actual customer testimonials. Ensuring that you have happy customers writing a review once you have completed a job is vital to your business. So how do you ask for the review? After the job is completed, create a templated follow-up email that you send out to all customers asking them to write a review on whatever outlets you use to advertise your business. 

2. Pick your review channels

Pick a few review channels to focus on. One should certainly be your website! Make sure to post before and after photos along with customer stories and testimonials on your website to help show the quality of your work. Also pick a third-party site as well like Angie’s List, Yelp, Google, Houzz, Facebook or another site to help validate your work. Even better, look into reviews like GuildQuality or a site that validates purchases to ensure that actual customers are reviewing your work and your business.  Why include these reviews on a third party? When people search for keywords included in your reviews, the more you have that mention those terms, the more likely you are to populate the top of the results page which will provide more leads for you. 

3. Show you are trustworthy. 

Many of your customers are investing large amounts of money to have you come in and tackle their next home improvement project. They want to know that you are trustworthy. Investing in third-party review sites like GuildQuality to verify the review based on an actual purchase helps to build a brand that represents quality and trustworthiness. With a third party’s stamp of approval, the customer knows you are looking out for their best interest and they trust you to work with them to bring their vision to life. Having past customers write about how you worked together helps prospects who are evaluating providers feel safe and ready to move forward with you. 

4. Reviews & referrals are proven to increase sales.

Positive reviews = more sales. It’s just that simple. Referral leads convert 30% better than leads generated from other sources. Referral and review customers also have a higher lifetime value. By having your review section built out with up-to-date customer stories and reviews, people who are casually looking for contractors are going to be more inclined to go with you versus someone who maybe only has 1-2 reviews. 

5. Expand  your network and find new lead sources

People talk, both online and offline. With how many pages come back from a single search result, it can feel overwhelming and easier to simply ask around for who neighbors or friends used for their most recent remodel. Use your customers to expand your network and ask them to refer you to any friends who may also be looking for someone to assist them with a project. You want to have a good reputation so when someone asks “Does anyone know a good contractor to put a new roof on my house?” All of your customers who had a positive experience with you can provide a positive rating/review either in-person or online through social media like Facebook, or neighborhood apps like NextDoor. Your reputation matters and can net you $0 leads that close at a high rate!

To learn more about best practices when it comes to reviews, download our Lead 101 tip sheet. 

Sources: 

1: PowerReviews find that virtually all customers depend on reviews to inform purchase decisions https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180319005257/en/PowerReviews-Finds-that-Virtually-All-Consumers-97-Percent-Depend-on-Reviews-to-Inform-Purchase-Decisions
2:R&G Technologies and Journal of Marketing: https://sharesomefriends.com/blog/11-surprising-referral-statistics/