Why Reviews Are An Absolute Must For Builders And Tradesmen
Having a strong reputation is essential if you are working in the building industry. Aside from helping your business attract new clients, it makes recruiting high-quality staff and forming new business partnerships much easier.
Traditionally, builders and tradesmen could build a strong reputation by simply turning up on time and doing a great job at a reasonable price. This would increase the quality of your reputation over time, as satisfied clients used word of mouth to promote the business in the local community.
However, the process of building a good reputation has changed dramatically due to the advent of the Internet. Builders and tradesmen can now improve their “online” reputation using reviews. These reviews appear on your own website and third party review websites. In this post, I’ll explain why obtaining online reviews is a must for builders and tradesmen, and how We Love These Guys can help.
Why Are Reviews Important For Builders and Tradesmen?
Reviews build trust and credibility
Consumers are increasingly likely to research businesses online before making a purchasing decision. An estimated 97% of people read reviews for local businesses and 90% of people surveyed claimed that positive online reviews influenced their buying decisions.
Consumers are using online reviews because they want to find businesses that are trustworthy and credible. They find that online reviews are authentic and give them better insight into the quality of a business. This is backed up by the fact that 91% of 18-34 year olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations —they trust reviews to tell them who to trust.
Building trust and credibility is particularly important in the building industry, where consumers are spending a significant amount of money. They are looking for a reliable business partner to work with and reviews give them more certainty when making a choice.
Reviews build brand awareness
Placing online reviews on third party websites can dramatically improve brand awareness. Consumers will discover your business’ brand as they read reviews and perform searches. Once your brand is in the back of their mind, they are more likely to make an enquiry or to seek out more information.
Reviews improve your performance in local search
Search engines like Google and Bing have developed “local search” functionality, which allows users to perform geographically constrained searches. When a person types in a phrase like “Builders near me” or “Builders in [city name]”, they will be presented with a map and list of local builders servicing the city where they live. This functionality is designed to make it easier for consumers to find local businesses.
Google and Bing use a variety of criteria to determine which businesses rank prominently in local search. One of the main ranking factors is how well your business has been reviewed. Essentially, the better reviews your business has, the higher it will rank. Why does this matter? Here are a few reasons:
- 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information
- 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else
- 88% of searches for local businesses result in a phone call or a visit to the business within 24 hours
- 78% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase
Builders and tradesmen who rank well in local search have a constant stream of online enquiries. This importance of local search highlights how much obtaining online reviews matters.
Reviews help your website perform better in search engines
Having plenty of positive online reviews can also improve where your own website ranks in search engine results. The more reviews you have linking to your main website, the more “authority” your website has within the search engines — which leads to a higher position.
A way to engage with consumers
Most third party review websites allow businesses to reply to the reviews that have been left. You can thank customers for glowing reviews or offer additional support to customers who weren’t as happy. Interacting with previous customers in this way is a very positive sign for prospective customers, as they will see that your customer service is of a high standard.
Customers are willing to spend More
A survey from 2019 showed that consumers are willing to spend up to 31% more on products and services which have good reviews. This means that having positive reviews will help you charge what you are worth and still obtain the go ahead for a project. This provides you with more leeway when pricing contracts.
How Do You Get Online Reviews?
The easiest way for builders and tradesmen to generate online reviews is by hiring an online reputation management company like We Love These Guys. We use a variety of cutting-edge techniques to increase the likelihood that a customer will leave a review on your own website and third party websites.
Our services can help you obtain hundreds of 5 star reviews across dozens of different review platforms. To learn more, contact We Love These Guys on 0207 018 1949 or via info@welovetheseguys.com.
