Consumer reviews represent, perhaps, the most powerful advertising messages you can develop. The good news is you don’t even have to pay to get them published.
All the promises you can make in advertising will still only result in prospective clients looking online to see what perfect strangers say about your organization before they will believe you. The average consumer will trust a total stranger more quickly than they will believe anything you have to say.
So, what could be a more logical marketing strategy than to get those who know and trust you to tell your story to those who don’t? And, the amazing thing is that such a strategy costs a tiny fraction of any advertising you can buy. In fact, it does not have to cost a penny. But, it does take a conscientious effort.
There are software programs that make it dramatically easier to get reviews. This is critical in the home care arena because of the demographics with which you deal. Software developed for the home care industry specifically just makes it easier for your team and makes you far less reliant on self-generated client cooperation.
Why should you care? First, over 80 percent of people will look up a business with which they have not previously done business before ever calling it up. This is the average. For higher-ticket items (like home care) the percentage is even higher.
Over half (55%) of prospective clients will avoid businesses with negative reviews. The good news is that a few negative reviews seen in the context of dozens of positive ones is actually a good credibility builder. No one realistically expects you to be able to please everyone all the time. If you had all five-star reviews the prospective client (or the family members doing the research) would be suspect that they were not legitimate
Almost as bad, is having too few reviews. Lack of information leaves the prospective client wondering. He or she will move to other choices where there is more information with which to work.
Proactivity. The problem with happy customers is that they expect to be happy. Doing your job well is not an “event” for them. They may appreciate your professionalism and courtesy, but rarely go out of their way to say so. It takes a bit of encouragement for them to do this.
The mere fact of asking a customer to leave a review demonstrates a level of caring about their opinions that engenders a strong continuing relationship with that client and his or her family.
A continuing flow of current reviews can significantly improve your search engine performance. This, of course, is vital to attracting more clients. Reviews often represent a significant amount of the fresh content on your website (spiders love this) and are one of the top seven factors in Google rankings.
Are you curious about the software to make this easy? CLICK HERE and we will send you an 11-minute video that explains it all.
If you still need help, give us a call on 719-992-0390.