Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Energy Upgrade California™ “The Rise of Third‐Party Reviews: How to Make Them Work for You”
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
July 22, 2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Energy Upgrade California™ Home Upgrade
Energy Upgrade California offers rebates for saving energy and making homes more comfortable
• Tiered incentives drive comprehensive upgrades while allowing entry level installations
•
Points based Home Upgrade offers up to $3,500
•
Modeled savings based Advanced Home Upgrade offers up to $6,500
• Bay‐Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) is the contact for Home Upgrade projects within 9 Bay‐Area counties
Contact Information
PG&E Home Upgrade
• Build It Green, 510‐285‐6222, [email protected]
• www.PGE.com/EnergyUpgradeCA
BayREN Home Upgrade
• Home Upgrade Advisor, 866‐878‐6008
• www.BayAreaEnergyUpgrade.org
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
PG&E’s AC Quality Care Rebate Program
AC Quality Care is a rebate program aimed at improving the maintenance and operation of heating/air conditioning in homes. • Homeowners can get up to $700 in incentives for quality care of their HVAC systems.
Contact Information
AC Quality Care
• Build It Green, 510‐306‐2272 (ACQC), [email protected]
• www.acqualitycarerebate.com
• The program is based on Air Conditioning Contractors of America’s (ACCA) quality maintenance standard: ACCA 4 Quality Maintenance
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Upcoming NorCal Collaboration Forum
NorCal Collaboration Forum
July 30, 2014
9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Monthly meeting of Participating Contractors and PG&E and BayREN Home Upgrade implementers.
Identifying barriers and collaborating on solutions.
To receive forum notices, email Chris Cone at: [email protected]
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Upcoming Efficiency First Webinars
July 23, 2014 — 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Efficient Operations: The little things home performance companies can do to save time and money.
With: Ori Skloot/Advanced Home Energy, Dan Thomsen/Building Doctors, Tom Carroll/Neil Kelly
August 7, 2014 — 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Good, Better, Best: Navigating the All Important Kitchen Table Talk.
With: Jay Gentry/Con‐Com‐T, Rob Minnick/Minnick’s, John Redmond/Home Energy Solutions of the Triad
Visit: www.efficiencyfirst.org/education to register
5
Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Upcoming BIG Webinars
August 14, 2014
9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
FREE
With John Tooley, Advanced Energy
The First Step of Quality Management: 5S Methodology and tracking problems.
Look for e‐blasts with registration information.
6
Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
PG&E Regional Forum — Home Upgrade/AC Quality Care
August 12, 2014 / 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
San Ramon Valley Conference Center
3301 Crow Canyon Rd ., San Ramon, CA 94583
You are invited to the PG&E Regional Forum for Energy Upgrade Home Upgrade and AC Quality Care Participating Contractors.
Featuring updates on program improvements, marketing, training, and education, as well as networking and feedback sessions.
EUC Home Upgrade
1‐866‐970‐7348
[email protected]
AC Quality Care
1‐510‐306‐ACQC (2272)
[email protected]
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Our Presenter: Peter Troast
• Founder and CEO of Energy Circle, working with hundreds of home performance contractors in 46 states. • Provides services to help contractors excel at marketing and business operations. • Expert in marketing home performance and a leader in the use of social media to drive home performance. • Speaks frequently about marketing for contractors at ACI, RESNET, NESEA, BPI, EGIA, and AIA conferences and events.
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Attendee Guide
Enter text in Question Pane
• Questions may be submitted through the “Questions Pane” on your control panel, at any time during the Webinar.
• A Question/Answer session will follow the presentation.
• A recording of the Webinar will be available after the event, along with a PDF of the presentation slides.
• You can expand or collapse the control panel at any time by clicking on the red/white arrow in the top left corner of the panel.
• Please feel free to submit questions.
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
The Rise of Third Party Reviews:
How to Make Them Work for You
Build It Green Webinar Series
July 22, 2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Today’s Outline
•
The Latest Data
•How
Consumers Use Reviews
•Trends
•
Recent Changes: Google+, Yelp
•
Developing a Review Strategy & Process
•Which
Sites to Prioritize in California
•
Avoiding Review Filters
•
Building a System & Next Steps
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Word of Mouth
Is Still King
Customer Reviews Are
Word of Mouth on Steroids
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Why the Focus on Reviews?
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Nothing better than third party endorsement
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Fosters a customer-centric culture
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They drive conversion
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They drive margin
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The new customer mindset--check Reviews first
•
Key lead driver (search rankings via Google+ Local,
Angies/Yelp traffic, diversity = authority)
•
Some negatives are inevitable--bad experiences more likely
to generate a review than great ones.
•
Dilution is the solution
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
The Evolving Review Landscape
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
2013
Annual Survey of 33 leading
Local Search Consultants
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
2013 Local Search Ranking Factors
Review Signals
Review Quantity, Review Velocity,
Review Diversity
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
do you read
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7/22/2014
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7/22/2014
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Less than 3.5 stars = danger zone
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7/22/2014
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
What Do People Trust?
Forrester Research, March 21, 2013
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Growth of “review” Searches
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Effect of Reviews
Source:http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2007/11/Online_Consumer_Reviews_Impact_Offline_Purchasing_Behavior
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Reviews: Increasingly Accessible
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7/22/2014
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7/22/2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
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7/22/2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Who Gets the First Click?
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Review Data in Summary
•
Consumers/Homeowners Increasingly Relying on
Reviews
•
Remains a Significant Search Ranking Factor
•
Evidence That Better Reviews = Higher Pricing
•
Reviews Are Everywhere (First Click?)
•
Less than 3.5 Star Average Very Dangerous
•
Not Going Away
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Online Review Priorities
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7/22/2014
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7/22/2014
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7/22/2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Review Priorities in CA (IMHO)
1.
Clout of Google, Ranking
Factors, Presence in Search
2.
Growing fast in Service Biz
categories; strong in search;
more critical in tone
3.
Most relevant to
contractor/service sector.
Evidence of growing traffic.
4.
Feeder for other review
sites.
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
The Second Tier (if necessary)
Why These?
They are the most common
review sources for the
search engines & have
greatest impact on local
search rankings.
Source: http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml#reviewengines
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
But Don’t Forget Facebook
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Google My Business Review Tool
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Angie’s List
HomeAdvisor
Thumbtack
Facebook
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
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7/22/2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Avoiding the Dreaded
Review Filters
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Listen to Mother Google
“Sometimes our algorithms may flag and remove
legitimate reviews in our effort to combat abuse. We
know this is frustrating when it happens but believe that
overall, these measures are helping everyone by
ensuring that the reviews appearing on Google are
authentic, relevant, and useful.”
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Avoiding the Filters Generally
1. Steady, regular review pace (velocity)
2. No duplicate reviews (for Google especially)
--not on your site
--not on other review sites
3. Don’t incentivize reviews (or pay for them, ever)
4. Don’t review yourself
5. No URL’s in Reviews
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Why Yelp Reviews Get Filtered
■
Are from someone who has only written 1 review
■
Are from someone who has no profile info (profile photo,
additional info, link to Facebook, etc.)
■
Are strongly slanted both positively and negatively
■
Short and lacking details
■
From a location other than where the business is
located
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
When You Get that Negative Review
(because you will)
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7/22/2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Dealing with Negative Reviews
1. Fix the Problem with the Customer
2. Respond to the Review
3. Dilute with Positives
4. Appeal if You Think You Can (rarely works)
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Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Developing a Review
Strategy and Process
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Getting Reviews is HARD
1. Review sites don’t make it easy
must be member (Google+, Angies, Yelp)
bad user interface design
aggressive filters
2. Customers are Time Starved
or lazy?
or lack computer sophistication?
3. You Have Nothing Else To Do
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Making Reviews a Business System
1. Commit to a Feedback-centric Culture
2. Determine Your Process
When to ask?
How to ask?
How often to repeat request?
3. Repeat Systematically
4. Leverage the Reviews (but avoid duplication!)
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Ways to Make it Work
•
ASK!
•
Ask when perceived value is highest
•
Expect one review per customer
•
Let them choose their review site
•
If Gmail address, target Google
•
Younger people more likely to be reviewers
•
Tune your request: “help us get the word out”
•
Slow and steady wins the race
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Some Thoughts on Process
•
Solicit Everyone
•
Identify Your Happiest* Customers (Evangelists)
•
ID Most Likely Evangelist Reviewers
•Do
you write online reviews?
•Younger/computer
savvy
•Gmail
•
Repeat the Ask (it’s OK)
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Some Thoughts on Process
Consider Sending
a Survey First
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Net Promoter Score
www.netpromoter.com, The Ultimate Question,
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Wrap Up/Next Steps
1. Assess Your Current Status
2. Develop Priorities
Google+ to 5 or more reviews
Yelp
then others
3. Operationalize Feedback/Review Solicitation
4. Commit to the Long Haul
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Contact
Peter Troast
Energy Circle
207.847.3644
[email protected]
Twitter: @EnergyCircle
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/petertroast
Energy Circle PRO Blog: www.energycircle.com/pro/blog
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Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Attendee Guide
Enter text in Question Pane
• Questions may be submitted through the “Questions Pane” on your control panel, at any time during the Webinar.
• A Question/Answer session will follow the presentation.
• A recording of the Webinar will be available after the event, along with a PDF of the presentation slides.
• You can expand or collapse the control panel at any time by clicking on the red/white arrow in the top left corner of the panel.
• Please feel free to submit questions.
63
Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Upcoming NorCal Collaboration Forum
NorCal Collaboration Forum
July 30, 2014
9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Monthly meeting of Participating Contractors and PG&E and BayREN Home Upgrade implementers.
Identifying barriers and collaborating on solutions.
To receive forum notices, email Chris Cone at: [email protected]
64
Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Upcoming Efficiency First Webinars
July 23, 2014 — 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Efficient Operations: The little things home performance companies can do to save time and money.
With: Ori Skloot/Advanced Home Energy, Dan Thomsen/Building Doctors, Tom Carroll/Neil Kelly
August 7, 2014 — 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Good, Better, Best: Navigating the All Important Kitchen Table Talk.
With: Jay Gentry/Con‐Com‐T, Rob Minnick/Minnick’s, John Redmond/Home Energy Solutions of the Triad
Visit: www.efficiencyfirst.org/education to register
65
Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
Upcoming BIG Webinars
August 14, 2014
9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
FREE
With John Tooley, Advanced Energy
The First Step of Quality Management: 5S Methodology and tracking problems.
Look for e‐blasts with registration information.
66
Rise of Third-Party Reviews
Peter Troast, Energy Circle
7/22/2014
PG&E Regional Forum — Home Upgrade/AC Quality Care
August 12, 2014 / 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
San Ramon Valley Conference Center
3301 Crow Canyon Rd., San Ramon, CA 94583
You are invited to the PG&E Regional Forum for Energy Upgrade Home Upgrade and AC Quality Care Participating Contractors.
Featuring updates on program improvements, marketing, training, and education, as well as networking and feedback sessions.
EUC Home Upgrade
1‐866‐970‐7348
[email protected]
AC Quality Care
1‐510‐306‐ACQC (2272)
[email protected]
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