Every home service business needs to be seen as trustworthy to win jobs. You and your team do this every day. But before potential customers reach out to you, they are likely spending extensive time researching online. One of the key factors influencing the undecided is the experiences of other customers. And one of the primary sources for people to learn about others’ experience with your brand is reviews. Positive reviews act as powerful testimonials that can sway undecided customers in your favour.

A hand giving a five star rating feedback. Hand is pointing at the last yellow star shape in front of black background. Giving the best score point to review the service.

Summer is one of your busiest seasons, and it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and neglect to ask for reviews. However, this is actually the best time to collect them. During this high-volume season, ask for reviews while you’re fresh in customers’ minds. By doing so, you have more opportunities to gather feedback and boost your online reputation.

The importance of social proof.

Social proof refers to any content that provides proof of your authority from an external source. That proof can then influence people’s behaviour by convincing them of your credibility. Examples of social proof include reviews, case studies, industry awards and 

For home services businesses, social proof is invaluable because it showcases the real-life experiences of customers. This feedback is particularly important in industries with a high emphasis on service quality and potentially high costs. Emergencies such as heating failures or water leaks can be stressful. Social proof provides impartial insights into your services, demonstrating value and reliability. In other words, social proof lets others do the talking, raising your credibility far more effectively than self-promotion alone.

When delivering a great service, customers will rave about it. Building trust with your prospects reinforces the idea that you are the right business to call. Glowing reviews show potential customers that you’re reliable, professional, and capable of solving their problems. 

Here’s how to get more five star reviews this summer

As the summer season heats up, so do the opportunities for home service businesses to collect five-star reviews. Here are a few ways to start building trust with new and existing customers:

Ask for the review.

Asking for a review seems simple enough, but it’s often overlooked as part of the job workflow. Asking for a review isn’t just important for building authority. It’s also a key step in gathering customer feedback. Consider these moments:

  • At the End of a Successful Job: When talking to the customer after finishing the job, ask them to leave you a review. This is a good time to request a review because the customer has a positive experience fresh in their mind. 
  • Follow-up Service Check Calls: Ask for a review while making a follow-up call to see if things have been taken care of.
  • Invoices and Follow-up Emails: Include a request for a review on your invoices and follow-up emails. This keeps the request professional and part of your routine business communication.
  • Contact Past Customers: Running low on reviews? Contact everyone who you’ve successfully serviced in the last six months and ask them for feedback.

Make the ask clear and easy for the customer.

When asking for a review, make your request clear and easy for the customer with these tips:

  • Ask for a Five-Star Review: Be direct and tell them you’re looking for a five-star review. Does it feel a little odd? Maybe at first, but you’re not looking to generate lots of three-star reviews. 
  • Focus on Specific Aspects: Ask about a specific area, this helps them know where to start (and helps you at the same time). Are you looking for a review of their experience with how you delivered the service? Are you looking for comments about how professional your team are? Being direct about one area helps your customer remember and articulate their experience better. 
  • Specify the Platform: Tell them which platform you want them to leave the review on. Focus on just a couple of platforms rather than spreading them out over too many. For example, having 50 reviews on two platforms is better than 10 reviews on 10 different platforms.

A good example might be: ‘Would you give us a five-star review on Google? We’ve had people looking there to see what our customers think about the quality of our installs is like. Your review would really help. 

You need to ask more than once.

Most of the time, you’ll need to ask for a review more than once. Repetition matters here. Here are a few ideas when you can ask at different places and times:

  • As You’re Leaving the Job: This should be your initial point of contact as you’re still top of the customer’s mind.
  • During a Follow-up Service Call: During a follow-up call to check on the service, ask again for a review. 
  • In an Email with the ‘Thank You for Paying’ Invoice Notification: Include a request in your payment confirmation emails. 

Why reviews matter

Reviews are more than just a series of stars; they’re real-life examples of how your business solves customer problems. Potential customers read these reviews to gauge your reliability and capabilities.

For example, Urban Heating & Cooling shared their experience with AnswerForce:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “My Small business has been using Answerforce for over 4 years. I can confidently say that my calls to my business are 100% answered 24/7!

It is feature-rich, to have multiple lines and website chat! The call script is tailored to identify potential new clients, active clients, and other business partners & to filter the spam callers!”

This five-star review highlights AnswerForce’s professionalism and how easy they are to work with, which helps with their goal of building trust with future customers.

A plumber sitting on the floor in overalls working with a pipe to fix a kitchen sink.

Summary of key points

  • Ask for reviews at multiple touchpoints: Ensure you ask for reviews at different stages of the customer interaction.
  • Make your request clear and specific: Specify what kind of review you want and guide the customer on what to focus on.
  • You can ask more than once: Repetition is key to getting more reviews.

By incorporating these proven strategies, you can leverage the busy summer season to gather more five-star reviews, enhance your social proof, and attract more customers.