Most contractors understand the importance of a customer review. When customers praise the job they did, contractors can be sure that they’ll be called again for another project or be referred to others through their happy customer. But they also know how one unpleasant experience can damage their hard work at creating a trustworthy business.
With the onslaught of online review sites, many contractors are now implementing the use of review tracking techniques in order to learn what’s being said about their brand. While having a tool keep track of any and all reviews left about your business can provide you with some benefits, there are also plenty of disadvantages associated with contractor review tracking.
Unsatisfactory Feedback
Most people don’t turn to online review sites when they’re happy—they turn to them when they’ve had a very unpleasant experience. When all the feedback left on your page is negative, it may deter you from maintaining your business.
No Validation
Most review sites don’t require the user to prove that they were in fact a client of yours before leaving a review. Since some review sites, such as Yelp, reward their users for writing a large amount of reviews, it’s possible that the reviews your business received were created by people who were more interested in attending a review company party than actually helping out a local business.
Time Consuming
Monitoring what’s being said about you online is time consuming. Surprisingly the talented and available technology we have can still make review monitoring such a nuisance. Even if you use a third-party monitoring tool, such as Review Trackers, you’ll still be required to read reports and comment on any reviews, which can be exhausting.
Added Responsibility
As a business owner, you already have your hands tied with other responsibilities. When you add monitoring contractor reviews into the mix, you’re simply adding on another task that needs to be completed on a weekly basis. Now, you have to find the time in your schedule to commit to reviewing the information provided to you through tracking and see how you can use it to benefit your business.
Lost Business
If your pages on online review sites are littered with negative reviews, you can rest assured that it will have a negative effect on your business. Since your company is based mostly on the reviews and recommendations from others, it’s very important that you try to nip this in the bud as soon as possible. Otherwise, you’ll start seeing fewer and fewer clients until you eventually don’t see any anymore.
If you’re a contractor, make sure that you have a thorough understanding of the disadvantages associated with contractor review tracking. Not only will you receive little positive feedback, but you also won’t be able to validate claims made against you. Plus, you’ll also need to find the time to review and monitor these sites. Once you know the truth about what you’re getting yourself into, you can then make a more informed decision.
Joshua Reynolds is a writer for Review Trackers. He likes to write about review monitoring and the best contractor review tracking methods.
