Reputation Management
Definition
Reputation management is the ongoing practice of monitoring, earning, and responding to online reviews to maintain a positive public image for the business.
What Reputation Management Means for Your Business
What it means
Reputation management covers everything from review generation to responding to 1-star rants to flagging fake reviews. It is not glamorous, but it is as important as any marketing channel.
Why it matters
87% of customers check reviews before hiring a service business. A 4.8 star shop books twice as many jobs as a 4.2 star shop at the same ad spend. Reputation is the multiplier on every other marketing dollar.
How contractors use it
Shops automate review requests after every job, respond to every review (good and bad) within 24 hours, and actively seek to flag fake or policy-violating reviews. The best shops review their stars weekly in ops meetings.
Real-World Example
An HVAC company lifted its Google rating from 4.1 to 4.7 stars over 12 months through active reputation management. Lead flow from organic search grew 65% without additional ad spend, adding roughly $620,000 in annual revenue.
Related Terms
Review Velocity
Review velocity is the rate at which a business earns new online reviews, typically measured as reviews per week or per month.
Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is the free listing a business creates on Google that shows up in map results, local searches, and Google Maps.
Local Service Ads (LSA)
Local Service Ads are Google's pay-per-lead advertising format for local service businesses, where the ad shows at the top of search results and charges only when a qualified customer contacts the business.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is a 0-to-100 metric that measures how likely customers are to recommend a business to friends and family.
Customer Retention
Customer retention is the percentage of customers who continue doing business with a company over a defined time period, usually measured annually.
Put This Into Practice with Free Software
Kaldr Tech handles reputation management and everything else you need to run your shop. $0/month, 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction.