Why Contractor Reviews Matter: How Customer Feedback Can Win You More Jobs

Attracting new customers requires many marketing strategies. One of the most crucial is demonstrating social proof. This “proof” comes in the form of contractor reviews—that is, reviews your clients leave you about your contracting services.  

When clients share their feedback, you’ll enjoy many benefits. They help you improve your influence over an audience, build trust and loyalty, win more jobs, and deliver insights into customer experiences. 

In this article, you’ll discover why contract reviews matter, how to gain more, what a “good” review is, and how to learn from them. 

The Influence of Online Reviews in the Home Renovation Industry 

Hearing about a company’s performance from an actual customer online has become the modern version of word of mouth. 

When someone needs a service or product, they typically begin with an online search. As they begin to browse solutions, the first impression often revolves around the business’s reputation. 

For contractors specifically, a study revealed that 91% of homeowners said online reviews are an important factor in decision-making. This response demonstrates how critical reviews are to ensuring your company makes the shortlist. 

If you have few reviews or more negative than positive, you could lose business and not even know it. Consumers may automatically exclude you. 

The volume of reviews can have sway, too. A survey asked how many reviews a company needs to have to be trustworthy—the highest percentage of respondents said 20 to 49 reviews. 

Another aspect of the report compared online reviews to recommendations from people they know, and 42% of people said they trust them equally. Referrals from family and friends have likely been a way for your business to grow. 

With contractor reviews for your company online, you can continue to grow that sphere of influence. They become a trust sign, and anyone hiring a contractor places this quality at the top of the list. 

How Contractor Reviews Build Trust and Credibility 

We introduced the term social proof earlier. Let’s get into what it means. It starts with the principle that people are more likely to trust a business when their peers share their positive experiences. 

In any type of decision-making, we are looking for evidence that a business is reputable. You can prove this in many ways—how long you’ve been in business, showcasing your work, and, of course, customer testimonials. 

When past clients rave about your work and professionalism, you can earn social proof. Prospective clients don’t have to take your word for it. Instead, they can hear it directly from those you’ve helped. 

A big difference lies between self-promotion and client-written reviews. It’s never a bad thing to talk about your experience and expertise. You want to demonstrate your capabilities. However, they simply don’t have the same impact. 

A review is really a story. Someone had a need or problem, and you were the solution. When a customer tells the story from their perspective, it creates positive feelings. 

Social proof depends on positive reviews. These can be the foundation of trust. A potential client reading these glowing reviews begins to form an opinion and feel confident that your business is credible. It also helps reduce any doubts and concerns. 

It’s not easy to gain trust and credibility in the contracting industry. These projects can sometimes be high-dollar, and each customer has a vision of what they want and expect. By creating trust from the start with social proof, the relationship starts on solid ground. 

How Positive Contractor Reviews Lead to More Jobs 

The more positive contractor reviews you have, the greater the chance of attracting new customers. They don’t automatically mean you’ll win the business, but they certainly influence customer decisions. 

A positive review, however, is most credible if it’s verified. Any company could invent reviews to put on their website, and consumers are aware of fake reviews that can occur in the digital world. 

Thus, it’s crucial to have an objective system in place. There are many options, and the most popular, according to a study, are Google, Yelp, and Facebook. In all three cases, there’s a review verification, and you can’t change it. 

A potential customer may look for reviews in several spaces, with most using at least two. Positive feedback in multiple places helps continue to build trust. 

You may also see a side effect of positive reviews—higher search results. Google rewards businesses when these are present. It considers reviews as a factor in local SEO (search engine optimization). 

Positive Google reviews can increase your search engine visibility. Google sees them as a sign of being reputable. You can measure the effect by looking at organic traffic patterns as you collect more reviews. 

RELATED ARTICLE: SEO for Contractors: A Simple and Effective Guide 

Showcasing your reviews 

What’s the best way to showcase these reviews? Anything on third-party sites can also appear on your website. In addition, you can have a dedicated page for testimonials. Adding before and after pictures helps viewers see the story. 

For the happiest customers, consider asking them to make a short video about their experience. Real people talking about the project you completed is very powerful. 

You can use all these things in your marketing. Star ratings are great to add to paid search campaigns. A customer story would be a great hook for an email campaign. Sharing all these on your social platforms expands their value too. 

It may seem like a lot to juggle, but using reviews can be a growth driver. Many home services companies use review management software like pulseM to help streamline the process. 

FROM ONE OF OUR PARTNERS: 7 Tips for Using Review Management Software to Improve Your Home Services Business 

What Makes a Good Contractor Review? 

A “good” review includes many things. As you work on getting more reviews for your business, think about how you can guide customers. 

Asking for reviews from your clients 

It starts by deciding how you ask for a review. You have many options to nudge customers. You can leave behind a guide after the work is complete. Then, follow that up with an email. If there are no responses, you could reach back out via phone. 

It really only takes a few minutes to leave reviews, so make sure your ask has a direct link to where you want them to comment. You can also offer a bit of advice with some instructions like: 

• Tell us about your project and provide details about the renovation. 
• Discuss how we helped you create your vision. 
• Leave feedback about the quality of the work and professionalism. 
• Share before and after photos. 
• Describe what you liked best about working with us. 
• Reveal a challenge during the job and how we solved it. 

These are all concrete prompts for your customers. They can take these into consideration when writing their reviews. It also means they will include more details rather than general comments. This is a point that consumers care about. They want long, detailed reviews. 

Also, consider what consumers believe a “good” review should include. Overall, they want to hear about positive experiences. They also care about the star rating, how recent it was, and the company’s response. 

Responding to your contractor reviews 

Responding to reviews is also necessary. The local business survey noted above found that only 7% of people don’t expect responses. 

They don’t expect an instant response, but most say it should be within two to three days. Software can be helpful in managing this, too.  

If the review is positive, you can say how great it was to work with them. Going over some of the highlights, like including a design feature, would be useful too. 

There are also going to be negative reviews. It’s impossible to please everyone. You want to approach this in a professional manner. If the commenter doesn’t list specifics, you could ask why they were unhappy. 

You can also learn from negative feedback. It could be valuable in identifying areas for improvement. 

RELATE ARTICLE: How To Ask for a Review: 5 Tips for Contractors 

How to Enhance Your Contractor Business Based on Customer Feedback 

Contractor reviews can offer important learnings for you and your business. You can gain insight from positive and negative feedback. 

When a review is positive, you can take from it things like what customers appreciated the most (e.g., being on time, making changes quickly, being a good communicator). You’ll want to do more of this. 

These reviews may also identify your best workers and special things they did. Sharing that with your employees makes them feel proud and shows you care. 

If negative, they can be a map of what needs to improve. You could learn that: 

• The process took too long, so look for ways to streamline it. 
• Workers left behind debris or trash. If so, you should, if not already, put together rules of how to treat customer property. 
• There wasn’t enough communication. Review how you engaged with the customer. Consider how you could have been more proactive and do that going forward. 
• There are patterns in the negative reviews about some parts of the project. If that’s a weak spot, you can work on improving it. 
• Your selection of materials was too limited. If so, add more options for future consultations. 

Any feedback is a chance for you to change things for the better. After you do, you could see improvements in satisfaction scores. 

FROM ONE OF OUR PARTNERS: A Business Owner’s Guide to Responding to Negative Customer Reviews 

5 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Contractor Reviews 

More reviews can be a great boost to business. Here are some tips to consider: 

1. Explore different review platforms and their unique features. 
2. Make reviews part of your project workflow. Ensure that customers receive multiple touchpoints requesting reviews. 
3. Respond to all reviews. Thank those for the positive ones, and try to address those that are negative. 
4. Try to learn from all feedback to improve customer experiences. 
5. Use software like Joist Reviews to help you manage the review process.