Overview

Contractors have heard for years how important reviews are, yet why do so many fail to collect them on a regular basis? They simply forget and don't have time. As a former landscape company owner, there are thousands of things to be done beyond installing plants or mowing lawns. Anything that is not pressing or doesn't produce some kind of instant result often get's forgotten about. This includes collecting reviews from your customers as we simply hope the happy customers will be so happy they'll post one on their own and pray the occasional unhappy customer won't.

But this rarely happens and landscapers are left with an unpredictable and slow drip of reviews which are often skewed to the negative ones as happy customers rarely leave reviews on their own but the unhappy ones almost always do.

Marketing companies told me for years to ask for reviews and they taught me different tactics to do so. They told me to save a review link on my phone and when the job is done, approach the customer, click the link, ask for them to leave a review, and hand them my phone. The problem was that nearly all of my customers were not home when we were on site working.

Another agency wanted me to leave behind a postcard on each customer's door asking for a review. But this never worked either as I am sure most people tossed it right in the trash with the junk mail.

There had to be a better way that didn't add time to my day but also got me the reviews I wanted. So part of LandscapAI does just that. I am going to walk you through the Review Cycle and how LandscapAI automates nearly every step of it.

Obtain Customer

To get a review, we first need a customer. LandscapAI can help with this in many ways including automating follow-up and outreach with emails, texts, phone calls, ringless voicemails, and more. LandscapAI can also use AI to help you launch paid ads on all the major platforms, post to your social media profiles, and find commercial clients on a Google Map. Now that we have a customer, it is time to move to the next step.

Perform Work

Unfortunately LandscapAI isn't going to mow your customer's lawn for you, clear their parking lot of snow, or cut down their dead tree, but it can help with Project Management, client communication, and more throughout the job. The next step is where LandscapAI really powers up in the Review Cycle.

Request Review

Now that the work is done and the customer is happy (make sure they are happy before starting this step), it is time to ask for a review. LandscapAI can ask for this review by sending out an automated text or email requesting they leave you a review. It will also follow-up with them on this request depending on your setting in the system.

Collect Review

Once the customer leaves a review on Google or Facebook, LandscapAI will pull the review into the system using a pre-built API. This is the prep stage for the following steps in the Review Cycle.

Respond to Review

Responding to reviews shows the customer as well as viewers from the internet (potential customers) that you care about your work and company. But even companies that are good at requesting reviews regularly rarely respond to them. So with our ReviewAI, we send the review to AI for it to determine the review intent (a good or bad review), generate a response to that review, and then post the response as a reply to the review on Google or Facebook. The landscaper doesn't have to remember to do this, craft a response, or go and post it.

Promote Review

Now you have a review (with a response) and that is great. But only so many people will see that review since it will only be visible under the review section in the search they are using (Google or Facebook). But you want those reviews being blasted out to as many places as possible. So LandscapAI has a dynamic website widget that will update with the newest reviews automatically to be displayed on the landscaper's website. Next, the review can be posted to all their social media accounts (including LinkedIn) on autopilot for all to see. While review gating is against the TOS for most platforms, LandscapAI can filter what reviews are actively promote. So the landscaper can use settings in LandscapAI to choose the minimum star level for reviews to be put on their website widget and posted on their social media.

Lead See Review

The last step of the cycle is that leads see your reviews. They may see them on the original search provider (Google or Facebook), on the landscaper's website through the widget, or on one of their social media profiles. This will generate trust and credibility in the leads mind that will make them want to choose that landscaper over others, which causes the Review Cycle to repeat itself.

Benefits

On top of the customer care aspect discussed earlier as well as the trust and credibility created mentioned in the previous section (which is called Social Proof), a steady, high volume flow of positive reviews will increase SEO which leads to higher rankings on search results. This will put more eyes on the landscaper's website and bring in more leads. This increase in reputation will multiply their lead volume and increase their sales, which in turn causes the Review Cycle to repeat itself numerous times leading to more and more sales.