Whether you’re in the business of tiling bathrooms or fixing appliances, requesting reviews is a crucial part of running a successful company. Reviews help boost your business’s online reputation, build homeowner confidence in your services, and land more jobs. At HomeStars, we’ve thought a lot about how to help pros take advantage of these benefits. We have convenient features to make collecting and displaying reviews as easy as possible, and we want to help you get the most of them. Following this checklist of “Do’s and Don’ts” will guarantee the number, quality, and credibility of your reviews to grow, and that you’ll be hired more as a result.
Do – Use the HomeStars for Pros Mobile App to Request Reviews
The Request a Review feature on the HomeStars for Pros app is the easiest way to collect homeowner reviews. We conducted a homeowner survey which told us that 85.5% of homeowners write online reviews for products or services between somewhat and very often, so there’s no reason to be shy. Simply input your customer’s email and phone number, and we’ll send them a text message to give you an honest review. If the text goes unnoticed, we’ll send them a friendly email reminder so you can add that shining review to your HomeStars profile.
Don’t – Write Your Own Reviews, or Have Family or Friends Do It
The purpose of reviews is to build homeowner trust, which is why HomeStars has an entire team dedicated to moderating homeowner reviews for authenticity. Just one or two false reviews can call the integrity of all reviews into question — affecting not just you, but all pros like you who use HomeStars. Make sure all the reviews you receive come directly from the clients you work with to keep homeowner trust intact.
Do – Add Photos to Review Requests
A lot of homeowners are visual learners. Not only do they want to read about the quality of your work before they hire you, but they also want to see it for themselves. The best way to showcase this is by adding photos to your online reviews. Simply attach photos of the work you’ve completed when requesting homeowner reviews, and if your photos are approved, they’ll appear online alongside your review.
Don’t – Share Your Device with Clients to Write a Review
If a review comes in from your personal or company device, our system will flag it as a review you’ve written yourself and your Star Score may be negatively affected. Instead of giving homeowners your device, explain to them how easy it is to write reviews on their own devices, and point them in the direction of some of our handy resources.
Do – Respond to Every Review, Including Negative Ones
Homeowners want to see whether you are open to customer feedback before they hire you. Responding politely to customer reviews — both positive and negative — is the perfect way to showcase your business’s professionalism and customer service. Just be sure to leave out identifying information, like your clients’ full names or addresses, in your responses to respect their privacy. Responding diligently to reviews with a friendly attitude is a great way to boost your Star Score.
Don’t – Incentivize Customers to Write Reviews
Much like you can’t ask friends to write reviews for you, offering incentives like gift cards and discounts in exchange for reviews presents similar problems. Homeowners can’t trust any reviews if they think some of them might be biased. You’re great at what you do — the quality of your work will be incentive enough.
Do – Investigate a Review When…
The reviewer is a homeowner you haven’t done business with. Keep a close eye on this, because reviews can only be investigated for 60 days after they’re published. You don’t want to end up with reviews from someone you have never worked with before.
Don’t – Hound Customers to Write or Alter Reviews
Reviews are important to the success of your business, but it’s equally important to respect the wishes of homeowners who choose not to review you and the feedback of those who do. Politely ask homeowners for reviews, but don’t press the issue if they decline. It doesn’t reflect the quality of your work. It just means the homeowner may be busy with other priorities. Similarly, it’s important to seek additional clarification whenever you receive negative homeowner feedback, but you should look at this as an opportunity to improve your business, not to change their minds. The old cliche — “the customer is always right” — applies to review collections, too. This will give you a great opportunity to improve your business practices.
Do – Follow the Steps In This Checklist
At HomeStars, we know a thing or two about homeowner reviews. Between easy-to-use features like our Request a Review option and our widely-viewed listings, we have the process of collecting and displaying reviews down to a science. The only remaining variables are the steps in this checklist. Review this straightforward checklist of do’s and don’ts once every few weeks to make sure you’re on the right track.
Create a HomeStars account to start receiving reviews today!
