When you last bought an important product like a fridge or camera, how important were the reviews to you? Did you buy the product with lots of positive reviews or the one with none? We all want the social confirmation that something is safe to go ahead with. Help your customer trust you’ll provide value and give them that extra reason to go ahead. Positive reviews about your service can help you increase your sales. Here’s some stats to back that up:
- 93% of people say online reviews impact their buying decisions (Podium)
- 91% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations (Bright Local)
- Displaying reviews can increase conversion rates by 270% (Spiegel)
Why?
A customer will use a residential surveyor once every 21 years on average – that’s the typical length of time someone stays in their home before they move. As customers don’t deal regularly with surveyors (or others in the home buying process) and it’s likely been a long time since any friends or family have, it is left to reviews to give people an insight into who are the good companies in the area and what they can expect from you.
Collecting reviews
This is something to think about properly before rushing straight to the first review site. There are many places you can collect reviews:
- On your own website
- Review sites like Trustpilot, Feefo etc
- Lead generation sites
- Survey Booker
Each have their merits. You need to consider what your business plan is for the long term. Which service will most likely be with you throughout your whole time as a business? And can you easily display these on your site?
Why does choosing where to collect reviews matter?
As your business evolves you want your hard-earned reviews to stay with you. Move on from a review site and you can still show those reviews. But they offer less value over time. Why?
A review must show not only the rating but also the date when it was left. Potential customers place more value on recent reviews. It shows you are doing a good job right now. Reviews over a month old could potentially hint you aren’t satisfying people as much as you used to. Of course, a large number of older reviews help back up newer ones and show you consistently please your customers. Sporadic reviews hint at a lack of work or a lack of happy customers you’ve asked to leave one.
Take time to request reviews
Follow up with your customer a few days or a week after they get their report. Is there anything they still need help understanding or are they happy with what they should do next?
Once you’ve done everything to make sure they are happy, take the opportunity to request a review and send them a direct link to where they should leave it straight away.
Display reviews
Make sure you prominently display your reviews on your site and your social media. Showing those 5* reviews helps you to show your value when you provide your quote. Make it easy for customers to see you will make them happy and you are a safe bet to take.
Summary
Consider the best review site for the long term.
Collect reviews regularly to show your recent customers have had a good experience.
Display reviews prominently on your site and in emails to clients.
We can help you follow up with customers after they’ve had their report asking them to leave a review.