Customers looking for home remodeling professionals often go through a difficult decision-making process. Choosing between multiple options, price ranges, and trusting someone with your home can be a difficult task. That’s why customer reviews are so important for siding installers and others working in home improvement. Word-of-mouth is the most powerful marketing factor when it comes to how customers decide to trust and select a home remodeling service. Read on to learn more about customer reviews and how to get more of them as a home siding business.
Why Customer Reviews Matter for Siding Professionals
Customers want to find a fiber cement siding company that will treat their home like their own and who have a good reputation. Positive online reviews can influence a prospective client to call you, whereas negative reviews can convince a client to not pick up the phone or visit your website. According to Forbes, 90% of potential customers look at reviews of a business before contacting them.
Running a small business is a lot to take on, so it’s tempting to not pay attention to online reviews. This isn’t recommended, though. Even if you are dedicating a large budget to content marketing and website development, you still need to monitor online reviews and get yourself on platforms where reviews on home remodeling services are being written.
What’s more, is that you don’t want prospective clients to end up calling your competitors for home siding instead of you just because they have more positive reviews. So let’s discuss how to get more reviews and let them do the selling for you.
Strategies for Siding Installers to Collect More Customer Reviews
Before the world of digital marketing and online shopping, word-of-mouth between friends and family were one of the biggest factors driving new sales for home construction businesses. Today, people spend a lot of time examining online reviews before making a decision. Home improvement projects are costly and very personal, so trust is everything. These strategies can help you get more online reviews:
Make Sure You’re Easy to Find on the Right Platforms For Home Remodeling
To get the most out of the power of online reviews, you need to make it easy for clients to find you, so they can write about you. You may be familiar with some of the following websites:
- Houzz
- Angie’s List
- Next Door
- Yelp
First, make sure that you have a current profile on these websites and others like them. Fill out the complete profile including bio, photo, services you offer, siding materials you carry, location, website, contact information, etc. That way, you have an established page where past clients can write reviews on their experience with their siding installation. Also, prospective customers in your area will be able to find you on these sites as well and read the reviews.
Spread the Love and Share Past Reviews
Sharing reviews from your past customers on your website or your social media can get them in front of more prospective customers looking for siding installation. Increasing visibility will increase the power of online word-of-mouth for your business. Reviews that highlight your timeliness, high-quality customer service, and affordable options will help position you as a trusted siding business.
Be Proactive About Responding to Reviews and Solving Issues
It’s not enough to fill out your online profiles and wait for the reviews to start trickling in. You have to be on top of managing the reviews and responding to them. For example, leaving comments on a positive review, thanking the customer, and showing appreciation goes a lot way with prospective customers who are choosing between siding installers.
Negative reviews also have to be acknowledged and dealt with. In fact, if you don’t respond and make your best attempt to resolve issues, potential customers may assume that you don’t provide quality customer service or aren’t willing to be there for them if they hire you. Always reply to a negative review, apologize for the issue, and ask for more information so you can try to make it right. Asking for the reviewer to direct message you their information so you can follow up on your end goes a long way. Don’t forget to comment directly on the review too so others can see that you are working on the issue.
Ask for Reviews in an Ethical Manner
Writing a detailed, thoughtful review takes a lot of time and effort on the customer’s part. So make it as convenient and polite as possible. Since you will be installing siding on people’s homes, you can ask them in-person for a customer review. You can ask them to include pictures of their home exteriors and share how excited they are to have a new look, and durable home materials. Don’t be pushy and choose the right time to bring it up, most likely at the very end of the project.
To simplify and speed up the process, you may want to use an automated tool. In some POS systems, you can set up an automatic email that goes out to the customer once the payment is processed. Just be sure not to overwhelm your customers. Keep it short and simple.
Always follow ethical guidelines and be aware of the rules of each platform where clients are writing reviews on your business. Not adhering to the rules could create a huge headache and get you removed from the platform.
Leverage the Power of Online Reviews
Trust is super important in the home remodeling industry and online reviews help show new clients that you can be trusted with their home siding needs. Leveraging the power of online reviews will help you find new customers, build a strong online reputation, and help you come up in search results.
