Reviews & Consumer Behavior
We sent out four surveys to 300 U.S. consumers each, segmented across four age groups, to understand how online reviews influence roofing contractor selection, and what that means for your business.
What We Wanted to Understand
As a digital marketing agency that provides reputation management services, our team wanted to understand how much reviews impact consumer decision-making process when selecting a roofing company. Here are the questions we wanted answered:
- Do consumers routinely check online reviews before selecting a contractor?
- What ratings must a contractor have to even be considered?
- Where do consumers prefer to look for online reviews?
- How much do consumers value online reviews vs. personal recommendations?
Based on Pew Research Data, we already knew at least half of Americans checked online reviews before purchases. What we didn’t know was the weight reviews carry specifically in the roofing contractor selection process.
Our Survey Process
The Questions We Asked
When examining online reviews for a local roofing contractor, do you check more than one source?
If you needed to check reviews for a roofing contractor, which platform would you check first?
Would you consider a roofing contractor with less than 5 stars? What is the lowest rating you’d accept?
Which review star rating would make you feel most comfortable hiring a roofing business?
Gather Reviews From Multiple Sources.
Google examines hundreds of signals to determine how credible a website is. Since any roofer can claim to provide the “best roofing services,” Google looks off-site to establish trustworthiness, and reviews are a primary signal.
Client reviews are one of the most reliable trustworthiness indicators. According to consumer research, approximately 78% of Americans trust online customer reviews as much as personal recommendations (Statista). We designed our surveys to find out exactly where consumers look—and how important review diversity is to them.
Most consumers prefer to consult multiple review sources before choosing a roofing contractor. Only 7.9% claimed to use a single source. Meanwhile, almost 42% said they don’t typically check online reviews at all—indicating a preference for personal recommendations or reliance on Google search rankings.
Women are slightly more likely to check reviews than men, and more likely to check multiple sources. But the more significant gap is generational—younger age groups are increasingly likely to check reviews before selecting a contractor.
The business case for multi-platform review presence is clear. More review listings create additional backlinks to your site and provide validation for the segment of consumers who cross-check multiple sources. You can’t afford to miss over half your audience simply because your review presence is thin.
The charts below reveal where consumers actually go first, and the generational split in platform preference is striking.
Each subsequent generation shows less preference for BBB or Angie’s List over Google Reviews. The 35–44 bracket also shows much higher Yelp usage than older groups. Roofing professionals can use this data to determine where to focus review collection efforts, and where to advertise.
Less Than Perfect Is Still Great.
One of the inevitable struggles with collecting online user feedback is the trickle of negative reviews. Many roofing professionals consider rebranding entirely after a few one-star reviews. If you’ve been hit with unfair criticism, don’t be so quick to shut things down.
People expect a few negative reviews. Even Google expects them.
A broad segment of consumers is willing to accept ratings between 4.0–4.9 stars. Males are especially likely to give sub-5-star contractors a shot. Below four stars, acceptance drops sharply. Let’s see how age factors into these findings.
From age 35 to 64, consumers showed intriguing comfort with sub-perfect ratings. This may reflect growing wariness toward fake reviews commonly associated with perfect scores, or a perceived link between lower ratings and more competitive pricing. Regardless, many consumers are quite willing to try contractors with imperfect scores. Don’t restart your business over a handful of bad reviews. Instead, double down on asking happy clients for feedback.
Key Takeaways For Roofing Companies
Top Lessons on Client Online Reviews
Online reviews play an essential role in local SEO for roofing contractors, they directly influence local map pack rankings and off-site trust signals. Here’s what our surveys tell you about where to focus.
- Google and BBB are the best places to start your review collection. Facebook, Angie’s List, and Yelp are useful but secondary.
- Most consumers will still consider a contractor with less than a 5-star average.
- At least half of consumers are comfortable with less-than-perfect ratings.
- Males are more likely to accept lower ratings than female consumers.
- Younger demographics (35–44) are most likely to check reviews at all.
Rules for Asking for Reviews
If a few negative reviews are dragging down your star count, the fix is more positive reviews, not a rebrand. There’s a right way to ask, and many wrong ones.
- Never offer compensation, promotions, or discounts in exchange for reviews.
- Never solicit reviews from anyone who isn’t a real client.
- Ask within a few days of job completion, while the experience is fresh.
- Explain honestly how reviews make a difference for your business.
- Train your team to ask for feedback at the end of every job.
- Send a follow-up text or email with direct links to your review profiles.
- Experiment to find which approach gets the best response rate.
Ready to Improve Your
Online Reputation?
If you haven’t paid much attention to reviews in the past, it’s never too early to start. Our team at Roofing Webmasters is always happy to enhance your website and reputation management program.
Reach Out to Our AgencyHow to Run a Facebook Ad for Storm Damage Roofing
Hail storms, tornados, and other inclement weather conditions often present new opportunities for local roofing companies. Many affected homeowners require roofing services, which substantially expands your number of potential clients.
These are the best times to invest in storm damage roofing Facebook ads.
Key Takeaway
One way to maximize your roofing leads is to run storm-targeted Facebook Ads for your roofing company. These advertisements help your company get new customers during the window of opportunity that emerges in post-storm roofing conditions.
As unfortunate as it might be, the best time for roofing companies is in the wake of a storm. The key is to reach your audience when storms are on the horizon so that they turn to you if their home suffers damage. Capitalizing on local storm damage can make your company’s year financially.
Remember that several companies in your area compete for the same business. Therefore, creating ways to stand out and ensuring your brand holds local authority is critical in 2024.
The following post outlines how to run a Facebook Ad for storm damage roofing.
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How to Run a Storm Damage Ad on Facebook
- Enter Facebook Ads Manager
- Select “Create” on the top left
- Choose “Lead generation” as your objective
- Name your campaign something like “Storm damage ad”
- Choose your roofing company business page
- View and accept the terms and conditions
- Set your target audience, budget, placements, and schedule
- Choose between carousel, single image, video, and slideshow ad formats
- Input text for headline, body, and CTA
- Preview your ad
- Select “Contact Form” and add a form title, intro, questions, and privacy policy
- Select “Settings” and check “collect organic leads”
- Select “Finish” on the top right
- Review, publish, and confirm your ad
Facebook Lead Ads are the best option for storm damage campaigns because they collect client information directly from their Facebook profiles.
Collecting Leads from Facebook Ads
After you’ve published your storm damage roofing ad on Facebook, it’s time to start collecting the information from your leads. You can achieve this through a manual download or by setting up an API or CRM integration.
Depending on your CRM’s user interface, this process is relatively simple. You can manually download the leads as a CSV file if you don’t currently use a CRM for your roofing business.
Tips for Optimizing Your Storm Damage Facebook Ad
Offer Specials
People love to feel like they are saving money. However, in the event of a catastrophic event like a storm, homeowners will feel like they have to spend a tremendous amount of money for the repairs (and they likely are).
Offer discounts that make those repairs more affordable than ever and make the owner feel like they are getting the best possible deal.
You can even take it one step further by naming a specific storm system. Specificity shows empathy with your customers who might be affected by the storm and lowers your prices accordingly.
Whatever the method, you can’t go wrong with making your audience feel like they are saving major bucks by using your service.
Pricing is another excellent way to develop loyalty to your brand and get those all-important return customers that every business needs for growth.
Find what works for you, where you can offer those discounts, and where it will offer the least resistance to your bottom line. Where your customers benefit, so do you.
Highlight Storm Damage Experience
One of the most important aspects of recovering from storm damage is the time it takes for a roofer to resolve the problem.
Customers affected by a storm want to avoid long-term discomfort. Therefore, a company that can get to you quickly becomes all the more attractive.
You can address this pain point by incorporating past experience into your ad copy. For example, highlight your staff’s history of storm damage repairs and quick installations.
Customers who suffer damage feel peace of mind when hiring a reputable company. In addition, new customers are more willing to take a chance on companies that demonstrate social proof.
Make it Personal
Personalization is a great way to earn consumer trust. People are far more likely to go with a business they feel cares about them.
Developing that personal touch with your potential customers yields brand loyalty and goodwill.
Sometimes, personalization is as simple as in-person conversation and presentation. Are your sales reps pleasant? Is your staff helpful? These are important questions to answer before running storm damage ads.
Favorable sentiments translate into long-term revenue. Those customers who require future roofing services recall their previous interactions with your company.
Offer Referral Discounts
One of the best ways to generate leads for your business is to take on a referral program. These programs are a great thing to do in general, so don’t necessarily limit it to storm-related instances. The referral program is word of mouth, but word of mouth can be powerful.
You can offer discounts or perks to current customers who have used your services before.
For example, in the event of a storm, you can offer them a particular value if they refer someone who has experienced roof damage. It is a great way to reward your current customers, generate leads for new customers, and build brand loyalty simultaneously.
You can even build on this theme by partnering with other local businesses. So, instead of offering a discount on future services, you might offer a $50 gift card to a local restaurant. Something like that is a great way to generate business and interest in each company, a true win-win.
Final Thoughts on Hail Damage Facebook Ads
Facebook is one of the most crucial advertising methods for storm damage roofing leads. Taking advantage of that medium and using it to the best effect possible will make a massive difference for your business.
Take the steps necessary to reach your target audience in the most effective way possible. It will better utilize your advertising dollars and generate leads.
Keep in mind that ad creativity is an inexact science. Showcasing the essence of your brand through a Facebook Ad requires some trial and error. The key is to have patience and try to implement these strategies as clearly and concisely as possible.
Also, remember that a pre-established local presence makes ads more effective. For example, if you already rank on Google Maps and feature positive Google reviews on your business listing, your ads are going to convert at a higher rate.
5 Steps for Choosing a Roofing Company Domain Name
Some companies overlook the importance of choosing the right domain name for their website. Roofing domain names can make a monumental difference in how effectively your website is marketed to consumers in 2024.
Too many roofers choose their domain name on a whim, diminishing its importance. Don’t be one of these people. A domain name contributes to your brand recognition, SEO, and lead generation potential.
By taking the duty of choosing a suitable domain name lightly, you lower the ceiling on your roofing company’s long-term success.
Source: https://instantdomainsearch.com/
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1) Keep it Simple
The most popular websites have concise domain names. Think Google, Facebook, Yelp, Amazon, and others. As a result, when choosing a roofing company domain name, remember to keep it simple.
The average human memory span (for a number of words or numbers) is only 7. The fact is that people can’t remember long domain names or ones with a bunch of words in them.
For example, gutierrezprofessionalroofing.com is longer than abchomeroofservice.com, but the former presents fewer words to remember.
The ideal roofing company domain name will limit the number of words AND characters.
2) Maintain Brand Consistency
A domain name is part of your roofing company’s branding. People will trust a brand they recognize. So, domain names consistent with brands perform better online. In fact, consistent branding increases revenue by a healthy 33%.
When selecting your domain name, choose one that includes your company name. For example, if your company name is “Quality Roofing,” your domain name is qualityroofing.com.
Of course, this isn’t always possible because many domain names are already taken. Still, you can throw in specific keywords to differentiate yourself.
For example, you can add the city you operate to form a more unique URL of qualityroofinghouston.com.
3) Avoid Special Characters
Special characters within a domain name reflect poorly on your brand and reduce consumer trust.
Not only are these characters a nightmare to manually enter on mobile browsers but they are typically associated with spam websites like gambling and pharmaceuticals.
For roofers new to digital marketing, it can be an easy mistake to make.
For example, when qualityroofing.com is taken, the natural reaction is to choose quality-roofing.com as a substitute.
But now that you know about the negative connotation, you can avoid this costly mistake.
4) Consider Keywords
When your best-branded options for domain names are taken, you can add a keyword to differentiate.
For instance, if your company name is “Morris Roofing” and the domain name morrisroofing.com is taken, try adding a keyword that aligns with your business, like “tile,” “specialty,” or “commercial.”
For example, morrisspecialtyroofing.com or morriscommercialroofing.com.
A keyword adds to the length of your domain name but may also provide a slight boost in SEO. You have to be careful about it, though. A keyword is only useful when combined with your brand like “Morris.”
Also, only select keywords indicative of your primary services as you will attract these types of customers more quickly.
5) Check your Domain Name
Receiving a cease and desist order is much more frustrating than discovering that your first-choice domain name is unavailable.
That’s why you should cross-reference your intended domain name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office before making a final decision.
It’s a good idea to check your roofing company domain name against other databases and be on the safe side.
Consult with online databases to ensure your domain name is not already a legal entity of a competitor.
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