Online Reputation Management For Plumbing Companies

You’ve probably heard the old maxim for dealing with anything related to your business online: “Never read the comments and never spend time reading or responding to online reviews!” For some segments of the online world, this is sound advice because avoiding internet reviews and comment sections of articles prevent doomscrolling and unnecessary angst. Unfortunately for business owners of companies that offer private and business services through online marketing, such as the plumbing industry, actively monitoring your online reputation and keeping a close eye on what consumers are saying about you is something you can’t avoid if you want to keep your company growing. To keep your plumbing business growing, you need to know what your company’s reputation is to begin with—and be prepared to take an active role in monitoring your online reputation management, both to boost your SEO and to bolster and burnish your online presence.

Let’s take a closer look at how online reputation marketing works and how it can help or hinder your company as you gear up to grow your business to the next level.

The Ultimate Guide to Online Reputation Management for Plumbers

Do you know how many online review sites are talking about your company? Most people don't! This matters because you could have a solid five-star reputation with nothing but positive online reviews on Angie's List and only 3.5 on Yelp! or Google, and places you've never even heard of could have even more negative feedback for your company. But so what? Why should you care what people are saying about your company's plumbing services?

When people search for businesses, search engines take a comprehensive look at everything that concerns that company, industry, or niche online. While it’s unlikely that a bad review will come up if they do an organic search such as “best plumbing company 2022,” and even less so that a searcher will deliberately look for “worst plumbing company near me,” it is always a possibility. But consider that even if you don’t have a plethora of bad consumer reviews, if the only reviews your company has aren’t stellar or they speak to poor customer satisfaction experiences, those are the ones that show up in search engine results. This, in turn, may drive potential customers looking for an excellent plumbing company like yours to make the decision to go elsewhere, hampering your digital marketing efforts and making it more difficult to convert browsers into brand ambassadors.

As you can see, your plumbing company's reputation is more important than most people realize because it touches every aspect of your online reputation, from your social media marketing to how well or poorly your target audiences will interact with you.

That's why having an online reputation strategy, or hiring a reputation management company to take care of the creation and implementation of a reputation marketing strategy for you, is so crucial to your company's internet marketing success and, therefore, worth your time.

Here are five must-do tips and tactics for plumbing reputation management you can enlist right away to learn how to monitor reviews and how to respond to negative plumbing reviews and feedback in a positive way so you can get the top ratings your company deserves!

1. Deliver consistent, excellent plumbing service.

Every time the individuals in your company interact with customers, from the minute the customer makes first contact and goes on the service schedule until the last time you contact them to follow up about their experiences, they should be working hard, quickly, and proactively to resolve the customer’s issue at fair prices. For plumbing businesses, this may seem obvious, but happy customers are the beginning and end point for plumbing contractors to retain existing customers while generating new channels to grow your plumbing business through reputation marketing, which leads directly to increased purchasing and sales in the future.

2. Contact your customers and ask them to talk you through their thoughts regarding the plumbing services they've received, both at the end of the service call or project and anywhere from a day to a week later.

Ask if they noticed anything problems, issues, concerns, or anything especially noteworthy or praiseworthy with the service they've gotten, either regarding the technical details and whether the issue was satisfactorily resolved or the manner in which the service was executed. Listen to the responses and encourage them to elaborate. Some customers won't want to talk about any negatives for whatever reason, and that's fine! There's no need to push the point if they don't—it won't help anything, and it could very easily backfire on you. However, gently encouraging them to talk any issues over with you privately makes it less likely they'll put your service company on blast in a review later, and more likely they'll amend or remove negative reviews they've already written, keeping your brand and plumber's reputation just a little better protected. Talking to your customers may take a little more time, but making this an automatic practice will pay huge dividends in future sales generation and save time on your plumber's reputation management later.

3. Leverage customer happiness with your plumbing business's services into reviews you can use in your internet marketing.

You might say something like, "Hey, thanks! I'm so glad you were pleased with the service you received. Would you mind writing us a review on your favorite website for plumber reviews? It would really help us out, and nowadays, it's so important, especially for small and medium businesses!" You'd be surprised how often people will be happy to do so, especially when they know they're supporting local business, including plumbing companies from whom they've received great service. Again, making this an automatic practice can help you save time on review management later. Also, ask if they mind if you use their reviews in things like content marketing and press releases. Many customers will gladly say yes, and you can use their own words to help get your brand search engine optimized to capture more local business.

4. Dedicate some time to review management.

You generally don't need fancy reputation management software, although it can help—this is a job mostly for human eyes and a human brain. The top four places you're likely to see reviews of third-party service companies like home builder, pest control, real estate, HVAC and plumbing companies include Google, Yelp!, Angi (formerly Angie's List), and HomeAdvisor. This aspect of service reputation management may be tedious, but it's worth your while if you prefer to do your own online reputation management for plumbers rather than enlisting a specialist in the company online reputation management services.

5. Make sure all the information about your plumbing company online, including the website and elsewhere, is correct.

If you don't have a Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business, you need one posthaste because this crucial element of local SEO gets your business to show up in Google Maps and other local search results! Make it a point to audit this information on a regular basis so that when customers are looking for a plumber online, they know where to find you and when your company is available. A plumber's reputation can be exceptional in the offline world, but if potential customers don't know you exist, or if all the plumbers reviews they can find about you online are bad, they're probably not going to think twice about clicking on a plumbing web site that has a better reputation even if they end up getting inferior services to what you could deliver!

There are two things you should NEVER do when you're working on reputation management for plumbing companies.

These are very simple:

If you find a negative review, don’t clap back!

You might be tempted to clap back or call out the person who wrote it. The problem with doing this is that even if you're 10,000% in the right, you're the one who's going to end up taking the hit to your reputation. A good stock reply to this sort of problem goes something like, "We're very sorry you were unhappy with the service you received, and we'd like the opportunity to make it right. Would you mind contacting us so we can get more information and work toward a resolution?" This is a part of reputation management service companies often ignore at their cost and to their own peril. However, just using this innocuous framing can help deflect the sting of the initial review, especially if the customer was particularly vulgar or incendiary in talking about your company, and shows you care enough even about customers who are jerks in public to try to work it out with them. Getting a rep for engaging in "flame-wars" with customers won't do your plumber web presence any good, and it will create a nightmare that many professional reputation management companies would cringe to try to undo.

Get to know review sites' individual policies and procedures for reporting untrue, inaccurate, or defamatory reviews.

Part of the reason these sites have such a good reputation in the service business is that they only value correct information. Again, this can be tedious, but knowing how to work the system is imperative for fire protection, plumber, and plumbing companies who prefer to deal with online reputation management and marketing strategies for HVAC and plumber businesses on their own.

If this sounds like a lot of work, time, and effort, that’s because it is.

Get to know review sites' individual policies and procedures for reporting untrue, inaccurate, or defamatory reviews.

However, if it's not done, or worse, done poorly, having the best office manager in the world or delivering the greatest service in the history of plumbing may not be enough.

That's why Digital Marketing for Plumbers by Online Advantages is such a crucial resource. We have the skills, knowledge, know-how, experience, and passion to help your plumbing business achieve not only search engine success but keep your reputation intact and free from online scandal.

We also deliver a complete suite of plumber web designer and social media marketing services that includes:

To learn more about how Digital Marketing for Plumbers by Online Advantages can help your plumbing business grow and flourish, we invite you to click here to contact us for a free website analysis and SEO audit today.

And to find out more about online reputation management for plumbers, keep reading FAQs from plumbing company owners just like you!

Frequently Asked Questions about Online Reputation Management for Plumbers and Digital Marketing for Plumbers by Online Advantages

Your online reputation is your most important asset when it comes to building trust, and Digital Marketing for Plumbers by Online Advantages can help you keep your rep clean and shiny!

Why does online reputation management for plumbers matter? –Fritz, New Haven, CT

Although nowadays you’d think people have learned to take what they read online with a grain (or a whole shaker full!) of salt, the fact is we trust what we’re told, especially when it comes from sources that we consider authorities. This includes friends, family, extended social circles, and websites with good reputations. The problem with this trust is that few people take the time to do any other research or employ any critical thinking to what they read. This is one thing when you’re having a political debate, but it can be devastating when you’re trying to manage a plumbing company and demonstrate your business has the expertise your customers need and the ability to deliver when they need it. That’s why the ability to take control of your own narrative is so important and why online reputation management for plumbers is just as essential to your company’s survival as any wrench, fitting, or accessory in your toolbox. And it’s why Digital Marketing for Plumbers by Online Advantages offers expert online reputation management services for plumbing companies that let you get and keep control of what your customers see and hear about you before they decide to hire your competition instead!

My plumbing company has some poor reviews online. Is there anything I can do to get rid of them? –Otis, Rapid City, SD

You probably already know that one bad review takes between 5-10 great reviews to offset, and if you’ve got several of them, you’re probably already taking a big hit to your reputation. For what you can do about it, the short, honest answer is, “It depends.” If the reviews are honest and true to the facts, then the best thing you can do is acknowledge them publicly with a written response. NEVER offer excuses, don’t apologize, and whatever you do, don’t return fire! Instead of doing these things, you might say something like, “Thank you for taking the time to discuss your concerns. We have reviewed your comments and are taking steps to implement your suggestions for improvement into our company policy by [include a list of specific points the customer made and what you’re doing to correct them] so we can better serve you and all our other customers. We hope the next time you need plumbing services, you will consider contacting us again and giving us the opportunity to show you the difference your comments have made in how we work.”

However, if the reviews are NOT honest, accurate, or true to the facts, you can always petition the sites on which the reviews are hosted to have them removed. Lay out the facts and the inaccuracies in the original review. Be prepared to back your facts with evidence that will support your case if necessary. There’s no guarantee appealing to have the review removed will work, but it’s a good start. In this situation, the best thing you can say to the person who wrote the review is nothing at all—you’re not going to change their mind, and they’ve publicly lied about you, so why would you bother anyway? Getting defensive and trying to drag the other party into a flame war will only exacerbate the situation and leave you looking foolish, so it’s better to take it to the review site directly.

Of course, online reputation management for plumbers or any other service professionals takes a lot of time and a clear head. No matter how thick your skin is, it’s hard to keep your cool when your integrity, honesty, and work ethic are being called into question. That’s why it’s a good idea to hire an outside company for your online reputation management, like Digital Marketing for Plumbers by Online Advantages. We know and understand how review sites work and which tactics are most likely to help you remove inappropriate reviews from your online presence, so you can focus on continuing to improve your services and deliver the best and most timely solutions to your customers.

Question: Why does online reputation management for plumbers matter? –Fritz, New Haven, CT

Answer: Although nowadays you’d think people have learned to take what they read online with a grain (or a whole shaker full!) of salt, the fact is we trust what we’re told, especially when it comes from sources that we consider authorities. This includes friends, family, extended social circles, and websites with good reputations. The problem with this trust is that few people take the time to do any other research or employ any critical thinking to what they read. This is one thing when you’re having a political debate, but it can be devastating when you’re trying to manage a plumbing company and demonstrate your business has the expertise your customers need and the ability to deliver when they need it. That’s why the ability to take control of your own narrative is so important and why online reputation management for plumbers is just as essential to your company’s survival as any wrench, fitting, or accessory in your toolbox. And it’s why Digital Marketing for Plumbers by Online Advantages offers expert online reputation management services for plumbing companies that let you get and keep control of what your customers see and hear about you before they decide to hire your competition instead!

Question: My plumbing company has some poor reviews online. Is there anything I can do to get rid of them? –Otis, Rapid City, SD

Answer: You probably already know that one bad review takes between 5-10 great reviews to offset, and if you've got several of them, you're probably already taking a big hit to your reputation. For what you can do about it, the short, honest answer is, "It depends." If the reviews are honest and true to the facts, then the best thing you can do is acknowledge them publicly with a written response. NEVER offer excuses, don't apologize, and whatever you do, don't return fire! Instead of doing these things, you might say something like, "Thank you for taking the time to discuss your concerns. We have reviewed your comments and are taking steps to implement your suggestions for improvement into our company policy by [include a list of specific points the customer made and what you're doing to correct them] so we can better serve you and all our other customers. We hope the next time you need plumbing services, you will consider contacting us again and giving us the opportunity to show you the difference your comments have made in how we work."

However, if the reviews are NOT honest, accurate, or true to the facts, you can always petition the sites on which the reviews are hosted to have them removed. Lay out the facts and the inaccuracies in the original review. Be prepared to back your facts with evidence that will support your case if necessary. There's no guarantee appealing to have the review removed will work, but it's a good start. In this situation, the best thing you can say to the person who wrote the review is nothing at all—you're not going to change their mind, and they've publicly lied about you, so why would you bother anyway? Getting defensive and trying to drag the other party into a flame war will only exacerbate the situation and leave you looking foolish, so it's better to take it to the review site directly.

Of course, online reputation management for plumbers or any other service professionals takes a lot of time and a clear head. No matter how thick your skin is, it's hard to keep your cool when your integrity, honesty, and work ethic are being called into question. That's why it's a good idea to hire an outside company for your online reputation management, like Digital Marketing for Plumbers by Online Advantages. We know and understand how review sites work and which tactics are most likely to help you remove inappropriate reviews from your online presence, so you can focus on continuing to improve your services and deliver the best and most timely solutions to your customers.

To find out more about how Digital Marketing for Plumbers by Online Advantages can help you manage your online reputation for plumbers for less than you might expect, click here to contact us today!

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