Ask for Reviews
Requesting reviews from clients should be part of your job-completion process. “Ask every customer to leave a review,” says Web consultant Mike Blumenthal, a partner in website hosting firm Blumenthals.com. “It’s about review diversity.”
One way to make it easier for clients to post a review is to offer them several links so they can go to the site they’re familiar with or where they are already registered. Some of these sites, such as Yelp, have a logo and a link you can place on your website.
Alternatively, offer customers sites that allow them to log on using their Facebook or Twitter account. Marentis creates a landing page on his clients’ websites where they can direct their customers to post a review. And don’t just ask once — people are busy and may forget, so be sure to remind them with a follow-up email or phone call.
Marentis also encourages remodelers to tell their project managers to capture any spontaneous praise from a client on video. That testimonial can be a powerful marketing tool.
Respond to the Negative
Positive & Proactive
Publicly thank your clients for posting a review. “It shows other users reading the reviews that the company owner is really involved and proactive,” says Ali Alami at Judy’s Book. It might also inspire other clients to leave reviews, he adds.
Consultant Chris Marentis suggests adding something personal that explains why you enjoyed working with the client. “This reinforces which clients you work best with,” he says. When you comment on a review, it creates another signal that is picked up by search engines, which boosts your online profile.
Because small-business owners are emotionally involved in their companies, Blumenthal says, it can be hard for them to read public criticism of their business. But it’s important to try to step back from that, he says.
“If someone has gone to the effort of leaving a bad review, you’ve probably already lost that customer,” he notes. Draft your response as if you’re addressing a prospective client. They want to see a reasonable reaction. Use your response to give future customers a sense of your business and its culture.
It’s rare that a negative review takes a remodeler completely by surprise, since it’s more than likely that there was already indication of client dissatisfaction during the job. In your online response to the complaint, Marentis recommends including the dates you met with the client and the options you presented to resolve the issue. And make it clear that you’re still willing to work on a resolution.
A negative review could also stem from your sales process — not all gripes come from clients for whom you’ve completed work. The prospect could be angry about the initial phone call or the degree of sales pressure. If so, apologize and offer to personally visit the homeowner to talk about their project.
Company owners with a Yelp business account can respond to a review privately or publicly. “A public comment is your best public-relations tool, since your comments are posted directly below the consumer’s review,” Walker says. “A good use of the public commenting tool is to state your policy or to clarify inaccuracies.”
On Angie’s List, reviewers evaluate companies based on price, punctuality, professionalism, quality, and responsiveness. List members also have the option to include a narrative, and companies are given an overall grade based on the average of all the reviews, says director of communications Cheryl Reed, with the most weight given to reviews where work was completed. Angie’s offers members a complaint-resolution service, and it also allows business owners to respond either publicly or privately.
But bear in mind that on most sites negative reviews are rarely taken down, so “the more documentation you have,” Marentis says, “the higher the likelihood that you will get someone’s attention.” Even so, the process can take a long time.
—Nina Patel is a senior editor at REMODELING. Follow her on Twitter at @SilverNina or @RemodelingMag.
For more information about online reviews, read our April cover story “Necessary? Evil?”