Online Reviews are Vital to Your Business

RCS Influencer Heidi J. Ellsworth says that reviews can make or break your company. 

Having a good reputation online is critical for any home services provider – including roofing contractors. Unfortunately, the media likes to cover stories about unscrupulous contractors who scam customers which makes it even more important that your business share its reviews from happy and satisfied customers.  

Most home and building owners will research online before contacting a contractor and they will most likely make up their mind based on your reviews alone.  

How do you capture online reviews? 

The first thing you must do is make sure that your business has an online presence. You want to have a Google Business profile and you also want to be sure you have listings on other sites such as Yelp and Next Door. Be sure that your profiles are up to date and contain images and information that can help potential customers learn more about you. If you are providing services to homeowners, having a current and updated Facebook presence is important too as people can leave business reviews for you there.  

Next, ask for the review. Once the job is completed, reach out to the customer with an email or even a text that has a link to your Google platform so they can easily leave a review. If the customer doesn’t leave a review, it’s okay to reach out again after a week or two and make the request again.  

What to do about a negative review? 

If you happen to receive a negative review, it is important to reach out to that person offline to try to resolve any issues that they may have. Once that is handled, respond to the review to let people know the issue was resolved. You can even ask the reviewer to provide an update to their review to let others know the matter was handled.  

Beware of bogus reviews 

In today’s technology era, it can be tempting to work with companies who guarantee to secure positive reviews for your company but be sure to do your homework as to how they do this. All of your hard work in securing authentic reviews from satisfied customers could be ruined by fake accounts sharing reviews.  

It takes some time and effort but it’s so important to stay current with your online presence and continually build your collection of reviews. Be proactive as well by sharing the reviews that you do receive as posts on social media platforms. It’s one more way for a customer to see what others have to say about your business. 

Heidi Ellsworth is owner of HJE Consulting Group and a partner at RoofersCoffeeShop.com. See her full bio here.