As a home service professional, setting aside time and effort to collect reviews is crucial to building a strong online reputation and securing a long term pipeline of leads for your business. With homeowners becoming increasingly cautious of who they let into their homes, reviews are at the forefront of their hiring decisions. While having reviews on more than one platform is suggested, there are critical differences between individual review platforms. Let’s take a look at the differences between HomeStars and Google reviews.
Google Reviews Are Not Monitored
The reviews left on your Google My Business page at one point or another may have left you scratching your head. Who is this person? When did we complete a job for them? Did they mistake my business with someone else’s? With Google Reviews, anyone, customer or not, can leave their feedback on your business. It provides anyone with the opportunity, including competitors, to leave a negative review that can potentially damage your online reputation.
HomeStars Has a Dedicated Review Moderation Team
The foundation of HomeStars is built upon the honest and verified reviews submitted by our homeowner community. What sets HomeStars reviews apart from other online review sites is that we have an entire team dedicated to verifying the content of reviews. We take these extra measures so homeowners can feel confident hiring from our network of pros based on the reviews they read! Homeowners have that added layer of security knowing HomeStars reviews are real and moderated.
Google Reviews Do Not Always Include Context
Many reviews on Google My Business are left with no feedback or explanation at all. Reviewers can select a 1-star review and provide no details on themselves or the experience they had, leaving businesses at a dead end. Contractors are left unsure of what went right or wrong, preventing them from continuing to improve or address problem areas or unsatisfied customers.
HomeStars Reviews Must Include Written Feedback
All HomeStars reviews have a required minimum word count, forcing homeowners to provide written feedback. This allows our network of pros to understand the customer experience, and, when applicable, learn what they should continue doing or where they can improve for next time.
You Must Have a Gmail Account to Leave a Google Review
There is a lot of variety when it comes to email clients, however, to leave a review on your Google My Business page, the homeowner must have a Gmail account. With plenty of homeowners using other email services outside of Gmail, this roadblock could result in a loss of reviews for your business, and prevent you from strengthening your online reputation with every happy customer.
Anyone With an Email Address Can Write a Review on Homestars
With HomeStars, anyone can leave a review, regardless of their email client. Whether they’re with Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or another email platform, homeowners can leave your business a review, hassle-free. Plus, with the HomeStars for Pros app, pros can easily send a review request to clients via text or email, which eliminates the need for a homeowner to create a HomeStars account, entirely. Fewer hurdles mean more reviews on your profile!
In summary, HomeStars and Google reviews are both valuable assets to building your online reputation. However, what sets HomeStars apart from other online review sites is that we’re built upon the honest and verified reviews submitted by our homeowner community. We’re here to help our homeowners hire right the first time, and we support our network of pros in building the golden reputation they deserve.
