Recent survey by Neilson of 25,000 Internet users found that when looking for recommendations, people trust their real friends the most … 20% more than the next choice. While this is not surprising, it is still interesting to see that this validated through a rigorous study.
This is why connecting into the untapped referral potential of your previous (happy) customers is such a great opportunity. Your happy customers are your best marketers!
Related Resources:
Previously I wrote about the huge value of customer reviews of your business on HelpHive and inviting your customers to review your business on HelpHive.
Now you can easily add a link to your own business website which links visitors to your reviews at HelpHive! This is a great way to give looking-to-hire prospects a way of seeing an independent perspective on the quality and value of your work.
Here is the snippet of web code (HTML) which you can copy/paste into a page on your business website
<p><a href=”link to your business profile page on HelpHive.com“> <span style=”font-size: medium;”>See customer reviews<br /> of your business name on<br/> </span> <img src=”http://www.helphive.com/images/logo-sm.png” border=”0″ /> </a><br /></p>
Simply replace:
So, for example, Box of Rain Landscape, here is what the link on their website will look like:
See customer reviews
of Box of Rain Landscape on
You can also see the link on Box of Rain Landscape’s website.
I previously wrote about how positive reviews of your local services business are the gift that keeps on giving. Customers and prospects will see this positive independent feedback on your business for the days, months and years to come. With a free and open review system like HelpHive, those reviews will also be promoted across Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines as well as many other places on the Internet. Your reputation functions as a strong marketing program for your business … which is what you always hoped and expected it would … but it didn’t always work that way, right?!
Rich positive reviews bring your services to life
Here’s an actual review posted for a landscape design business called Cambium Design . You can see Cambium Design’s HelpHive page including this review. Carlin P. (a real person, you can see her profile here) is obviously a happy and satisfied customer! She’s provided some great, rich information about Cambium’s work including:
How valuable do you think this review is to Cambium?
As the Mastercard commercial says, priceless!
Here are a few tips for getting customer reviews posted on HelpHive:
Resources: Here’s information you can send to customers including a sample email requesting them to review your business.
One of the most valuable aspects of a positive HelpHive review of your business by a client is that this positive endorsement of your work quality and value can now be seen by every other prospective client going forward…forever!
This is worth a LOT! How much advertising would you have to buy to get the same value?
Most person-to-person referrals have low volume
Remember, your existing happy customers are your best marketers … if, and only if, they tell others about your work. The problem is that most clients “forget” about your work pretty quickly and only bring it up if they’re asked … “wow! I really like your landscaping. did you do that yourself?” or “my fridge is making a funny noise which I need to do something about.” These prompts from a friend might remind them about your work and you might get a referral. But the volume of these referrals is going to be pretty low.
Reviews are much better than references and customer quotes
“References are available” messaging is no longer useful. Prospective clients don’t have time to contact your references. Positive customer quotes/testimonials are also trusted very little. You have of course hand-picked these which means that they are not necessarily representative. New clients are looking for independent feedback … and prefer feedback from someone they know.
Online reviews are also richer
When someone writes up a concise summary of what work you did, what they liked about your service and why they are pleased and excited to recommend you, this has a lot of value to prospective clients. If there are photos of your work included, this is even more helpful both in visualizing your work and imagining what you might be able to do for them! Overall, this is a convenient and time efficient way for a prospective client to gain more confidence in you and is also much more detailed than a typical verbal referral.
Personal referrals are even better
If your client posts a review of your work and then shares that with their friends (using HelpHive’s friend connect feature), not only will their friends get notified about their review, but when their friends are searching in the future for a service provider … and they forgot that their friend recommended you previously … they will see their friend’s feedback highlighted for them! And, everyone likes a personal referral best!
How To’s:
Note: a review on HelpHive is likely 100’s of times more valuable to you than one on Angie’s List because Angie’s List reviews can only be viewed by the very limited number of Angie’s List paid subscribers, while HelpHive reviews can be seen by everyone!
Example of a HelpHive review:
