Like most industries in today’s digitally-driven world, online reviews play a pivotal role in pest control marketing. For many consumers, the first step before committing to a purchase is to refer to the online community. In fact, according to recent data, 60% of shoppers browse online reviews weekly, 93% of whom say that online reviews influence their purchases.

As an owner or manager of a pest control company, online reviews can be one of your most effective tools for marketing your business. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits online reviews can have for your pest control company, as well as best practices for improving your ratings.

Impact of Online Reviews

Beyond providing social proof for potential clients, online reviews hold other significant benefits for your company. Here are 4 ways that online reviews can play a beneficial role in your pest control marketing:

1. Improves SEO Ranking

Although the details of Google’s and other search engines’ algorithms aren’t public, Google has made one thing clear: Online reviews play a role in your SEO ranking. Positive reviews can create momentum for your business in the search engine and boost your brand’s visibility. Most online reviewers not only mention the name of your company, but associated keywords that contribute to boosting your SEO ranking.

2. Increases Communication with Customers

Online reviews allow your company to demonstrate quality customer service. As online reviews are public, anyone will be able to see your response, and it’s a great opportunity to show that you care. A gracious, appreciative response to each review goes a long way in sending the message that you care about your customers.

3. Provides Opportunities for Improvement

Despite your best efforts, a few negative reviews now and then are inevitable. Fortunately, if approached the right way, even negative reviews can be beneficial for your company. Negative reviews often highlight pain points in your business, shedding light on opportunities for improving your customer experience that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

Negative reviews also provide an opportunity for you to respond, smooth over, and clarify the situation, not only for the reviewer, but for potential clients who will read the review. Showing your genuine concern and regard for each customer is an effective way to boost consumer confidence and trust.

4. Increases Your Brand’s Reach

What’s the best kind of marketing? Marketing that’s not only effective, but requires minimal company resources. Online reviews are free marketing–customers can discover your pest control business from sites like Google, Yelp. and Facebook. Although your company’s social media channels and website require your own resources to build and maintain, online reviews provide a reach that you not only can’t get for yourself, but that doesn’t require your company’s time or money.

How To Improve Your Online Reviews

Understanding the role that online reviews play in pest control marketing is important, but accumulating the wealth of positive reviews you need to see results is another. Let’s look at some effective ways you can build your pest control company’s online review portfolio:

1. Ask for reviews directly

In many cases, customers who go out of their way to leave a review on their own have a strong reason for doing so. These customers are likely to leave a polarizing review–for better or for worse. You’re bound to accumulate reviews like these naturally over time, but asking for reviews as a standard part of your pest control company’s protocol will help you build your collection of online reviews more quickly and increase the likelihood of positive reviews.

However, specifying what type of review your client should leave or offering a promotion for clients who leave positive reviews is not recommended. Search engines like Google typically don’t like this kind of “review-rigging” and you may find that the algorithm has deranked your company as a result.

2. Use review-generating software

Companies that offer review-generating services can make the process of improving and accumulating online reviews simple and painless–and you don’t need to have a marketing team to use them. 

Companies like ReviewTracker, BirdEye (our preferred partner), and Podium offer user-friendly platforms to help you accumulate reviews and manage your performance across different sites with minimal resources or effort from your team.

3. Handle negative reviews professionally

When a disgruntled review pops up, it’s easy to respond in the heat of the moment, especially when the review feels untruthful or unfair. However, responding in a compassionate, professional way and offering to discuss the matter offline improves the public’s trust and even opens the door for the customer to change their review.

Final Thoughts

Online reviews are one of the most powerful tools available to you for marketing your pest control company. Beyond increasing your customer conversion rate, online reviews will help you improve your SEO ranking, expand your reach, and improve your client relationships, along with other benefits. Discover the untapped potential of online reviews for your company today!