Why Reviews Matter & How To Use Them To Win More Jobs

When a customer is choosing between three heating engineers they’ve never met, reviews are often all they’ve got to go on. Highly rated businesses get picked first, and Google shows them more often.

Reviews don’t just help you get found, either. Studies have shown that good reviews can sway a customer’s decision more than price can. That’s what lets you charge what the job is actually worth, instead of trying to be the cheapest quote they get.

Here’s how reviews help your business, how to use the ones you’ve got, and what to do when one goes wrong.

More reviews = more results. Click for some proven review strategies.

How reviews help customers find and choose you

1. Better visibility through Google searches

Google wants to connect people searching with the best local businesses, and reviews (both how many and how good) are one of the main ways it decides who that is.

For example, if you search “heating engineer in Cambridge” Google shows a map with three highly rated local businesses. Each one has claimed its Google Business Profile, which is where reviews sit alongside your address, opening hours and other key details.

Businesses with lots of good reviews are more likely to show up there. Those three get the vast majority of enquiries, because once a customer sees what they need, they stop looking.

How to set up your Google Business Profile 

The same goes for lead gen sites. Checkatrade says getting between 11 and 20 reviews on their site can double your conversion rate.

Reviews also travel offline and through street or neighbourhood Facebook/WhatsApp groups. Especially for new builds, a good review can end up with jobs down the entire street, as Dean from Jones the Gas shared on the podcast.

2. Reviews help you stand out

Compared with businesses that sell products, it’s hard for a service business to stand out on what it does. Most heating engineers offer the same services.

Which of these businesses would you choose to service your boiler?

Most customers browsing online will quickly skim through listings. Since Google, Checkatrade, and other sites will show local results, ratings and reviews are the quickest and easiest thing to compare. But good reviews do more than get you picked. They’re what lets you stop competing on price.

To most customers, a gas service is a gas service. They can’t tell a 35-minute visit from an hour spent cleaning the magnetic filter, checking inhibitor levels and testing the flow rate. Your reviews show them the difference in a way they understand.

We spoke about this in an episode of the Gas Engineer Podcast with Dean from Jones the Gas. In a nutshell, he strongly believes that a solid reputation is a heating & plumbing businesses best asset:

“We price for the best job, not the cheapest…and that’s where all your reviews come into it.”

In short, set your prices based on your costs and let your reviews do the talking. Our Free Pricing Calculator can help you add up your costs and give you an hourly rate to start.

GAS ENGINEER PODCAST

The Reputation Mistake That Costs Gas Engineers More Than They Realise

3. Offer customers an insight into your service quality

If nothing else, reviews a way for you to understand what your customers think of your service quality. Are they happy with your workmanship? Your customer service? What do you do perfectly and what could you be doing better?

Quality over and quantity

Having good reviews is the most important thing for your business. But having more good reviews? Even better. 

How to use your reviews to get even more customers

1. Respond to & manage reviews

Responding to every review you get, but try to avoid copy and pasting the same response for every review. 

For potential customers reading the reviews, this shows that you’re an active listener and business that truly cares about its customers. It will also help you rank higher on Google search results. 

2. Post happy testimonials on your social media

If you’ve been working on marketing, quoting reviews or using them as testimonials is an ideal source of content. Just be sure to ask if they’re okay with you posting it.

3. Add reviews to your website

Adding your reviews onto your website as social proof is a great way to double up on a single review. It adds credibility and trust to your brand and can be all that’s needed to convince a customer to ring up or request a callback.

You can also add little review widgets to your site, like Arton Plumbing & Heating has done with Trustpilot:

What happens if you get a bad review?

A bad review is not the end of the world. Even the best business will get a negative review from time to time, mostly because of a misunderstanding. 

Our podcast with Ryan Nesbitt from Revyoo perfectly covered what to do with negative reviews.

The biggest mistakes are rushing in, taking things personally, and responding negatively – there are no winners.

Instead, you should use them as an opportunity. Respond politely and helpfully (even if they’ve been unfairly rude), and try to offer a genuine solution to the problem. Engaging in a virtual argument in a public space presents your business in an extremely negative light, even if the customer is in the wrong.

Remember, an average rating of 5/5 isn’t necessarily the best thing to have. As you start to get more reviews (we’re talking 30-50+), a rating of 4.8 or 4.9 has proven to be more effective as it appears more genuine and trustworthy.

How to guarantee you get good reviews

The simplest and most effective way to get good reviews is simply to make your customers genuinely happy. This means following all the basics of good customer service.

Use Gas Engineer Software to get more reviews & more work

Few engineers want to be asking for reviews after every job. GES allows you to effectively automate the process by simply adding your review link to your invoice email.

Plenty of GES users do this, including James from Hellfire Plumbing and Heating (read his story here). It’s so effective because every customer is asked by default when they’re at their happiest from a finished job. See how to set that up in our full guide to getting more reviews as a heating & plumbing business.