Prospective Pest Customers Trust Reviews
87% of customers use reviews in their process of hiring a local services company according to a BrightLocal study. Pest Control companies must also do great work as only 48% of prospects needing your help won’t even consider your services if your average rating is below 4 stars.
Getting a large number of positive reviews on your Google Business Profile is far and away the most important place to have reviews. Google uses these reviews as one of their ranking factors in determining where your pest services company be displayed in the local map results – “More reviews and positive ratings can improve your business’s local ranking“. You can be assured that other online review sites also consider the number of reviews and ratings you’ve posted as ranking factors.
Can I Delete my Google Business Listing?
No.
You can’t delete your Google Business Profile Listing. You also can’t delete your company listing on other websites. Third-party websites are allowed to have a listing with your business information and collect customer reviews for your business. Any pleas you make to these websites will be ignored.
That’s ok.
You’re going to use reviews as a marketing asset for your pest control company. Ask each and every customer for a review when you’re done servicing their house. As your number of positive reviews grows, it will serve as a way to set you apart from your competition.
How Pest Control Companies Can Easily Get More Reviews
It is crucial to get as many customer reviews as you can. It must be done in conformity with the terms and conditions of the review site. Reviews can be requested for specific review platforms, like Google. For review services such as Yelp, you can’t directly ask for reviews according to their conditions of service. Yelp can be a bit challenging in this way.
It’s important to find out based on the review platform which kind of review collection activities are allowed.
If you are looking for ways to get reviews from customers, there are a lot of different options available. Below are the primary methods to get reviews for your pest control company.
Text a Review Link
The best method to get your customers to write a review for you is to send them a text message with the link to your company’s review page on a review site. It’s easy for them and easy for you. It is best to ask the customer their consent and ask would they be willing to receive a text link that will allow them to easily leave you an online review. Don’t send them anything until they’re onboard with receiving a text.
This is to be done when you’re finishing the pest control work you provided to that customer. Because the service they received is still fresh in their mind, this will increase your chances of getting the customer to write reviews.
Google is the most reliable place to get reviews. Follow this step-by-step process to obtain the link for reviews to your Google Business Profile. From your Google Business Profile, you should be able to click on the “Share Review Form” box to get a link to at you can give to your customer’s order to get more reviews Google provides you with a link for you to give to customers so they can easily give you a review right on your business profile. This prevents them from dealing with the hassle of trying to search for your company in order to leave you a review.
Go to Your Google Business Profile and select “Share Review Form” under the Get More Reviews section
Email a Review Link
The next best option is probably to send your customer a link for a review via email. This will likely get less response than the text link. You might get your email blocked and put into their spam folder. Or, they may see your email but ignore it since they’re already busy going through other, more important (to them) emails.
Use an Review Service
There are numerous online review platforms that can automate the review collection process for your company. Most online review services also will keep track of your reviews and let you know when you receive both good and bad reviews.
GatherUp
GatherUp provides review collection services that start at $99/mo for as many as 3,500 clients. To collect reviews, you can choose to collect both email (3,000/mo) and text (300/mo).
There’s an online review widget you can place to display on your pest control company’s web page. GatherUp provides detailed reporting services as well as review monitoring online.
GatherUp offers a 14-day free trial.
Grade.US
Grade.US starts at $110/month and is designed for marketing agencies, however you can also sign your pest services company to use the service and operate it on your own. You can also send 200 texts to customers to review your business per month at an additional cost. You can also install a review slideshow with reviews from around the web on your website.
Grade.US provides a 14-day no-cost trial.
Fake Reviews
Having a proven, repeatable review collection system using the strategies above will allow you to create all the great reviews you need from your pest control customers. Getting genuine reviews will not be a problem. You won’t feel the pressure to generate fake reviews in order to keep up with your competitors and their large numbers of reviews.
Don’t ever solicit people to give a fake review for your pest control company. Don’t encourage those who haven’t been a customer of your company to leave reviews on Google or on any other website.
The FTC is has been doling out warnings and fines for illegitimate reviews as they are a deceptive business practice. Do not allow relatives or friends to write reviews for your company. Don’t employ services to leave reviews for your pest control company. The practices aren’t limited strictly to text reviews – false endorsements in any manner (including even something that seems as meaningless as”likes” on Facebook) could be considered to be a misleading business practice.
Incentivizing Reviews
You’re not allowed to offer prizes or contests in exchange for reviews
Another practice that is forbidden by the FTC is to compensate people for leaving reviews. It could put you in serious trouble with both the FTC as well as the review platform. Review platforms are looking to make sure that the reviews are genuine to allow users to use their site. Don’t incentivize reviews like this – it can get you in hot water with government regulators and review websites.
Your pest control company shouldn’t provide any kickbacks, prizes, contests, or any chances to win something as a reward for a customer writing your company a review. These strategies aren’t necessary for a business that provides a high-quality service.
Monitoring of online reviews
You should respond to reviews as frequently as you can, and at a minimum, every week for most businesses. A majority of the review websites mentioned in this article provide review monitoring that allows you to automatically be informed as new reviews are posted for your pest services. You’re going to have to consistently monitor and respond to customer reviews for your company.
Response to Reviews of Your Pest Control Services
In general, it is important to respond to anyone who writes reviews on your review sites. This will show your customers and your prospects that you’re actively involved with the process and that you value feedback. It shows a level of openness and responsiveness that your competitors probably don’t possess. This could make you stand out and make your company much more attractive to prospects who are reading your reviews.
Reacting to Positive Reviews
It’s easy to reply to positive reviews about your company. Let them know it was an honor to collaborate with you and to thank them for their patronage.
The owner of the company or technician doing the pest control work does not have to be the one to respond to reviews. Just about any member of your team can be trained to come up with an adequate reply to good reviews like these.
Negative Reviews Must be Handled with Care
You’re going to get negative reviews. Count on it.
Even if you’re the most conscientious company owner and provide the highest quality pest services available on planet earth, you’re going to get negative reviews. As a business owner, you already understand that there is a certain segment of the overall population who won’t ever be satisfied no matter what.
Fortunately getting a negative review isn’t anything to worry about for your pest control business if you deal with it appropriately. Reviews that are negative can be an integral part of running a business. If a business has only positive reviews, it may appear fake to potential customers.
Search Engine Land reports that 90% of respondents don’t pay too much attention to a few negative reviews, especially if the business owner responds in an appropriate fashion. People reading your negative reviews will look favorably upon you – and not so much the actual reviewer – if you’re being calm, reasonable, and non-argumentative – while the reviewer is being irrational.
Marketing Opportunity targeted at Prospects
It might seem odd, but when you react to a negative review regarding your pest control services, your response will be more about your potential prospects rather than the customer who posted the negative review. Your response should reflect this fact with potential prospects in your mind.
If you and the reviewer are arguing, it will reflect poorly on both of you. Getting emotional and responding to an irate customer in a kneejerk angered manner can cause you to look unprofessional. Act professional regardless of what the reviewer is doing – don’t stoop to their level. Prospects reading reviews and comments appreciate professionalism and are likely to look poorly on whoever is acting like a jerk – whether it is the reviewer or the business owner. Make sure it isn’t you.
Be sure to have a rational, measured well-thought-out response. If possible, try to resolve the situation. Make sure you show that you are concerned. Don’t ever get into arguments.
You Made a Mistake and Got a Bad Review…
Accept it. Apologize for any mixups and be contrite. If you are able to, make amends with the homeowner or business owner. Fix any problems that occurred with your service.
If there was a legitimate communication or service issue, address it to ensure that you don’t have to face the exact same issues later on. Don’t be so proud to assume that you never make mistakes – be open to constructive criticism. Sometimes, these reviews are a chance for you to learn and improve your pest control systems and processes.
When You Didn’t do Anything Wrong
Even when you provide excellent service, you’ll receive a negative review. These are the ones that are the most difficult to respond to. Again, you don’t want to spark a heated argument with the customer.
You must thank the person who provided feedback and understand their feelings. If possible you can reach out directly to them in order to find solutions. It could just be a communication issue that could be properly resolved without much effort. Do your best to understand where the customer is coming from and if there is a way to resolve the situation in a way that makes everyone happy.
Fake Negative Reviews
Fake reviews are unfortunately quite common. If you haven’t already, at some point you’re going to receive a fake review from someone who has never used your pest control services.
In many cases, unethical competitors might hire a shady company to write negative reviews of your pest control company.
There are several steps if you are certain that you are a victim of fake negative feedback.
1 Contact the Review Platform
Inform them that the reviewer was not a client of your pest control company.
Unfortunately, review services are notoriously unresponsive and probably will not act on your complaint, which is why I suggest that you also:
2. Respond to the Review
If the review platform permits responses from the business’s owner, you need to make it clear that the person (who left the review) wasn’t actually a customer of your company. Make sure to emphasize that your company is committed to providing the top level of service and the review they’re writing about did not occur. It might be helpful to note that in the extremely rare occurrence that a client isn’t initially satisfied with your services that you will do your best to correct the issue to make the homeowner happy.
Best Reviews Platforms for Pest Control Services
You’ll want to frequently monitor the reviews that you get for your pest control business from various review sites. platforms.
One way to see where people leave reviews for online reviews for your company is to type in the name of your company followed by the word “reviews”. The screenshot below shows me looking for “Guardian Pest Control Reviews” – a pest control company in south Denver that I have no affiliation with.
There are reviews and mentions of the business on a variety of other websites that show up on the search results page. These listings that contain your company listing and reviews need to be maintained and closely monitored. This is a quick summary of what we’re seeing:
Google Reviews
In the screenshot above, Google Reviews are shown in (A). Google reviews are the most significant and will be visible to potential customers when they search for your business. Google reviews are worth more than any other review source website. Google needs to be at the top of your list for getting reviews and tracking reviews as they’re submitted.
Yelp Reviews
(B) in the screenshot above. Yelp is one of the leading third-party review sites and frequently appears at the very top of the search results and almost always on the first page for pest control companies. You must set up and maintain a Yelp Business page. Respond to Yelp reviews. You can see that your Yelp star rating is actually shown on the search results page – so you need to try to maintain a solid star rating on Yelp – which means you need to be involved in providing excellent work and keeping an eye on your Yelp Reviews.
Facebook is another social media platform that frequently appears in the search results – (C) in the screenshot above. Facebook’s ratings for your business will also appear on the search results page just like Yelp. Create a Facebook business page for review collection. Be sure to track your Facebook results to try to maintain a sterling reputation.
Other Sites
Other review sites you may see when you search for your company may include:
- BBB.org – people trust these reviews more than Google REviews
- nicelocal.com
- angi.com / homeadvisor.com (same company with multiple sites)
- pests.org
For each, make sure you have claimed your listing and monitor reviews
Local Services Ads Reviews
It is important to note that if your pest control company participates in Google’s Local Services Ads, Google will automatically email them review requests via the Local Services Ads platform. This makes it a ridiculously simple way for you to collect reviews.
The reviews are available only to customers who use Local Services Ads. They won’t be included in the Google Business Profile reviews. So in addition to this automatic review collection process via Google, you’re still going to need to have your own process to collect reviews for your Google Business Profile.
Online review management
Your pest services company is going to be listed on many websites that are totally out of your control, including review websites. These websites will not allow the removal of your business from their website listings.
Don’t fight these review websites. Instead, try to use them to your advantage.
These review websites can be viewed as a way to promote your business. Make sure your company’s profile is registered on all major review sites. Reviews, no matter how positive or negative, should be addressed by you or your staff.
When your customer posts negative reviews – regardless of whether it’s because of you or not, try your best to correct the issue. When you respond to reviews, potential customers will look at the content you post and be able to gauge how you handle difficult situations. It serves as a preview of what they can expect when they do business with you. If you respond like a jerk, prospects will be turned off. Be professional at all times.
Though negative reviews may occur, it is a normal part of the business. If you can, keep the dispute offline, and never get into disagreements with customers online.
