And that holds true for bad reviews as well as for good ones. But Audette and others suggest that home improvement companies should encourage all their customers to comment on review sites because the appearance of lukewarm or even the occasional negative review creates a sense that what prospects are reading about the company they’re considering doing business with is unedited, unfiltered, and the real thing.
“Say you’ve got 10 reviews on one site: seven are glowing, one is average, two are Stay Away,” Audette says. “The average prospect is going to look at the preponderance.” Audette points out that since homeowners expect a good experience when they hire a contractor, they aren’t inclined to write about it if they have one. He suggests sending 100 of your most satisfied customers a gift card for $10 as a reward, in advance, for writing a review of your company on a review site such as Bing, Yelp, or Yahoo. “Make sure that your satisfied customers are writing about you,” he says. “If you don’t ask, they won’t do it. So make it as easy as possible for them.”
MIXED MESSAGE Aggrieved consumers today can quickly and easily make their annoyance public by e-mailing comments to sites such as Ripoff Report, Complaints.com, or Pissed Consumer, or by posting on those sites directly. Complaint sites offer consumers a place to register negative experiences, which they do, by the hundreds of thousands.
Review sites, on the other hand, seek honest commentary about the experience customers have had, whether positive or negative. Such sites combine local reviews with social networking. It is to these sites that consumers increasingly turn before making that restaurant reservation or calling that contractor. Yelp, for instance, had more than 39 million unique monthly visitors at the end of last year.
Review sites typically ask reviewers to rank companies on a 1-to-5 scale. They’re also invited to explain their ranking. Many do. For homeowners checking out home improvement companies, such reviews have a far greater influence on their decision of whether or not to contact a home improvement company for an appointment than do the customer testimonials posted on a company’s website.
REPUTATION WRANGLER Many review sites (and complaint sites, too) invite companies to rebut or comment on postings by customers and prospects. Part of the job description for Alexandra Boehm, social media and online reputation manager for Thomas Construction, in St. Louis, is to monitor review sites and to respond when appropriate. For instance, of the 72 reviews of Thomas Construction on the Insider Pages website, Boehm has replied to seven, pointing out that in the case of one particularly outraged roofing prospect, the company has no record of having contacted anyone named “Joe D.” in that area. Company owners say sneak attacks by competitors on review and complaint sites have become common.
On Insider Pages, what prospects or customers have to say about Thomas Construction tends to be completely positive or — a minority view — negative verging on hostile. Boehm responds to both types of feedback. “If we get reviews that are really good, we put them on our blog,” she says. If customers express anger or outrage, Boehm explains company procedures in language that’s sympathetic and even-toned. She also includes her phone number and e-mail address, inviting unhappy customers to contact her to resolve complaints. Most often, she says, “I don’t hear back from them.” When she does, Boehm adds, she typically prints out the complaint and goes over it with company president Steve Townzen, after which the company takes action. “You never know what’s floating around about you,” Boehm says. “We like to be aware.”
