Online reviews are a big, big deal for home service companies.

You know this already, but just in case you’ve forgotten: 97% of your customers will find you via the internet, and 87% of them will read your reviews as part of their purchase decision.

Precisely because positive, recent, and plentiful online reviews have such a dramatic impact on businesses’ bottom line, some companies are … well… they’re cheating.

And the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has had enough.

The FTC is taking names. And publishing them.

The FTC’s job is to protect “consumers and competition by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices… without unduly burdening legitimate business activity.” 

When the FTC senses a company is taking advantage of consumers, it can issue financial penalties through its Penalty Offense Authority.  And in October 2021, they put hundreds of companies on blast for potentially “fake reviews and other misleading endorsements.”

These aren’t just little companies, either. The list includes Amazon, DISH Network, IKEA North America, Starbucks Corp., Target Corp., and a whole bunch of other places you’ve likely shopped in the last week. 

Now, this does not mean these companies have hired college kids to sit in a dank basement and churn out completely fabricated reviews. What it does mean is these companies (and maybe yours) may have engaged in “deceptive or unfair conduct around endorsements and testimonials.”

I’m not an attorney, but here’s my plain-English interpretation of the Notice of Penalty Offenses Concerning Deceptive or Unfair Conduct around Endorsements and Testimonials. 

It’s unfair or deceptive to:

• Make it seem like someone has endorsed your services when they haven’t.
• Present an endorsement that doesn’t actually reflect someone’s opinion.
• Have someone say good things about you when they’ve never actually used your services.
• Use a past endorsement unless you’re sure the person still agrees to what they originally said.
• Present a testimonial—even a genuine one—if there’s no evidence of the claims it makes.
• Use an endorsement from someone with a non-obvious connection to your company without saying they have a connection.
• Use testimonials that misrepresent an experience or result as typical.

It’s important to note “deceptive or unfair conduct” doesn’t necessarily happen on purpose. But it doesn’t matter. If you use dishonest reviews, intentionally or otherwise, you could receive a civil penalty of more than $40K per violation. 

That’s why it’s important to be familiar with the FTC’s Endorsement Guides. (That document is beefy. This FAQ may be more helpful.)

General Do’s and Don'ts of Online Reviews for Home Services Companies

Let me repeat: I am not an attorney, so you should not take this as the end-all-be-all guidance for online reviews. Take it as friendly advice from someone in the trenches with you.

DO ask for reviews.

None of this FTC stuff should deter you from gathering reviews. Social proof is simply too important to ignore, and people trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations. 

So have a process to get reviews at the end of every single service call:

Your feedback helps our prospective customers feel more comfortable giving us a try. If you have a moment this week, would you mind sharing your experience on Facebook or Google?

And follow up with an email. Every time.

Dear [Name] - 

Thanks again for trusting us to take care of your plumbing/HVAC needs. We feel lucky to have you as a customer, and we hope you’re pleased with how we treated you and your home/business. 

These days, most people look for online reviews before they’ll hire local companies, and we’d greatly appreciate it if you’d take a moment to leave a star rating and a couple of sentences on Google or Facebook. (If you can’t give us five stars, that’s OK, but please let us know where we missed the mark so we can make things right.) 

Thanks so much!  - [Technician’s Name and Contact Information]

NOTE: Yelp’s guidelines explicitly forbid solicited reviews. Even unpaid ones.

Do NOT incentivize reviews.

If the FTC and review sites find out you’re paying people to say nice things about you—without making it clear that’s what’s happening—you will incur penalties or be removed from the review site. It’s just not cool. Besides, obviously paid endorsements just don’t carry the same weight as spontaneous ones.

Keep in mind, “incentives” can be typical: “Leave us a review and we’ll give you a $25 Amazon gift card.” They can also be somewhat sneaky: “Leave us a review and you’ll be entered into a drawing for $25K.” And they can even be good-hearted: “Leave us a review, and we’ll donate to charity in your honor.” 

Now, if you want to thank someone with a coupon, gift card, and so on after they provide a positive review, you can. They just can’t be incentivized to give such a review ahead of time.

As the FTC says, “The question you need to ask is whether knowing about that gift or incentive would affect the weight or credibility your readers give to your recommendation. If it could, then it should be disclosed.”

DO disclose relevant behind-the-scenes information.

If your mom leaves you a positive review, make sure it’s clear she’s your mom. If your employees share one of your social media posts, make sure they add something simple like, “I work for Acme Plumbing, and check out this incredible deal we have going on.” 

Just like with financial incentives, if knowing the backstory of a testimonial might influence how customers experience the testimonial, you should disclose it. 

Do NOT use or edit reviews without permission.

If a customer sends you a nice email, don’t just copy-paste that thing onto your website. Ask them for permission first, even if you don’t intend to use their full name. 

For reviews you request, don’t take words out of context. Don’t remove the “meh” part of a testimonial to highlight the “yay” parts. Unless you ask permission. 

BTW: If you have Yelp reviews, you cannot copy-paste them into your marketing collateral. They belong to Yelp, and Yelp makes that super clear in their terms. 

DO keep a paper trail.

When you ask for permission to use or edit a review, keep records of those conversations. That might sound like overkill, but it’s helpful to have proof that your endorsements are legit.

Do NOT buy ratings, reviews, and/or likes.

Just… don’t. They’re not legit, and even if the FTC doesn’t catch up with you, your reputation will. 

DO respond to reviews.

I can’t write a post about reviews without mentioning how important it is for you to respond to them. Every one of them. Especially if it’s an ugly one. 

Follow these review response tips from The Book on Digital Marketing for Plumbing & HVAC Contractors. 

Responding to Not-Great Reviews

• Remember how many people are going to see your response. Your responses to reviews are public, which means lots of people are going to see how you handle tough situations. If you lose your cool, the original commenter isn’t the only one who’ll know it.
• Respond quickly. Since you’re checking your review sites daily (you are, aren’t you?) you’ll know right away if someone has less-than-flattering feedback for you. Respond to it within 24 hours or, if you need to cool off, within 48 hours. But don’t wait longer than that.
• Identify yourself. It’s easy for people to be angry with Hometown HVAC. It’s more difficult for someone to stay angry with “Matt, owner of Hometown HVAC for 12 years.”
• Apologize. Even if you completely disagree with someone’s criticism, it’s important to acknowledge their perspective and apologize. Keep it simple and sincere: “We are so sorry our technician was late.”
• Don’t overlook star reviews with no comments. If someone leaves a one-star review with no details, try a simple, “Oh no! It looks like we may have really goofed up. Can you let us know what happened?” If someone leaves a four-star review, respond like this: “Thanks for your kind rating. Can you tell us how we might’ve earned five stars from you instead?” More often than not, people will give you that last star simply because you took the time to respond. 
• Offer an offline conversation. When people are upset, a text-based conversation rarely results in a complete solution. Be sure to invite folks to call you so you can learn more about what happened.
• Don’t play point-counterpoint. If someone posts a bullet-point tirade, don’t address every concern. Instead, apologize and summarize. “Ugh. I’m so sorry to hear about your disappointing service call. What you’re describing is definitely not our typical level of customer service. How can we make it up to you?"

Responding to Positive Reviews

When a customer’s standing in front of you and they say something nice about their experience with your company, you respond, right?  Why would you treat online reviews any differently? 

• Say thank you. I don’t mean to sound like your mother here, but use your manners. If someone offers you a compliment, the first thing out of your mouth (or off your keyboard) ought to be, “Thanks!”
• Be specific. Reviewers want to know they’re hearing from an actual human being at the company, not a robot. So respond as specifically as you can. “Thanks for your kind words about Joe. He really does have a great sense of humor, and he genuinely cares about our Portland Plumbing customers.”
• Use keywords if you can.  Google crawls reviews, too, so while you don’t be ridiculous about it, it’s good to work in a keyword if you can. “It’s so great to hear how pleased you are with your water heater installation, Kim!” If you can naturally work in the name of your business, all the better.
• Include a CTA. Again, don’t go overboard here, but don’t be afraid to include something like, “Call us when you’re ready to set up a preventive maintenance plan for that new furnace!”

Need help with online reviews?

Reviews aren’t just good for your ego. And they aren’t just helpful to people who’ve heard of you and are trying to decide if they want to use you. They’re also really good for boosting your Google My Business ranking so you can get in front of more people. Let’s talk about building a review strategy to grow your business.