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How To Win Big In Home Services With Call Tracking Tech

Contributed article by Chris Todd, Principal of Marketing Operations at CallTrackingMetrics    

It’s the middle of the summer and your air goes out, or maybe you’re supposed to have houseguests tomorrow and your guest bathroom sink is backed up, or it might just be a normal day when your water heater starts leaking. In any of these scenarios, you want someone (anyone!) to come to fix your problem — and fast. You frantically call a home services company, hoping for a quick callback — but for many consumers, that’s where it all starts to break down.    

A recent Harvard Business Review study found that many businesses are missing out on service opportunities because they fail to promptly respond to inquiries. The first hour after a customer reaches out is critical, especially in emergencies, and 63% of businesses don’t reach out within that timeframe. Nearly a quarter take a full day to call back. Worst of all, 23% of businesses never call back.     

Rapid response to customer inquiries is crucial for business success in the time-sensitive home services industry. Yet, a majority of companies fail to capitalize on this, highlighting the need for effective call tracking and management systems to improve customer service and capture leads.    

Solutions for home services

Home services companies face the same challenges as any business, like trying to get in front of the right customers and achieving first-page search rankings. They, however, face the additional challenge of timeliness. For HVAC companies and other home service providers, exceptional customer service isn’t just about fixing problems, it’s about being there when customers need you most. In an industry where emergencies are common and seasons are short, the ability to respond quickly can make or break a business.    

Home services businesses want to be the first company that customers reach out to when they need something. They also want to ensure that they’re the first to call the customer back. Unfortunately, this isn’t happening with the majority of businesses.    

To stay at the head of the pack, the smartest home services businesses are turning to dynamic software solutions with AI capabilities that can provide excellent call tracking and attribution to help them handle the fluctuations in seasonal business as well as gain valuable insights into website actionability, ad spends efficacy and call system responsiveness. To prevent workflow disruptions, these solutions should be able to integrate seamlessly with CRMs and other established technology infrastructure.    

Streamlined “one-stop-shop” platforms have proven to be desirable in home services spaces. There can indeed be implementation challenges (par for the course for the adoption of any new software, especially for smaller and non-tech-centric businesses). But the benefits of a unified call tracking and attribution system, such as easier data analysis and reporting and a holistic, transparent view into the entire customer journey, far outweigh the negatives.    

Convert more leads with call tracking tech

When a home repair emergency happens, customers don’t want to wait, so the process of reaching out to a home services provider should be as frictionless as possible — search for a home service provider on the web, call the number on the homepage and immediately set up a service appointment to resolve their issue.     

It seems simple enough, but if home service providers don’t have appropriate call tracking and attribution capabilities if they miss that call, they may miss out on that prospect altogether. An AI-powered call tracking and attribution system could help prevent these missed opportunities with features like automated callback reminders that ensure agents are following up with leads on time.    

Following up with leads is integral to business success, but so is understanding where those leads came from. With AI-powered call tracking tools, home services businesses can get analytics on calls — for instance, they can tell whether the caller originated from marketing outreach like online ads, social media, or any other type of campaign. Tracking the effectiveness of marketing campaigns can reveal which strategies drive conversions. By identifying the most compelling messaging, home service businesses can make informed decisions about their future direction. For example, if Facebook ads are driving the most engagement from customers, decrease spending on other, lower-performing areas and increase spend on the more valuable ones.    

Other tangible business benefits include:    

●       Preventing staffing issues. Home services businesses don’t want to be caught amid a spike in call volume with a skeleton crew. Analyzing call volumes and peak call times can help with more intelligent staff scheduling to prevent service delays as well as prevent overstaffing at times when calls are fewer and farther between.  

●       Understanding customer emotions. By analyzing real-time caller emotions, you can quickly identify frustrated or excited potential customers. This enables you to tailor your responses, address concerns promptly and capitalize on positive sentiment. 

●       Efficient call review. AI-powered scoring and tagging eliminate the need for manual review of hours of call recordings. By automatically categorizing calls based on predefined criteria and tagging them with relevant keywords, you can save time and easily access important information.  

●       Uncovering customer concerns. Discover the specific phrases and questions that drive customer calls. This valuable insight allows you to optimize marketing campaigns, improve website content and proactively address customer needs.  

●       Solving problems promptly. In the home services industry, during peak seasons, quick troubleshooting is paramount. Inefficient call routing or fluctuations in call volume can negatively impact revenue and growth, making reliable software and a skilled team essential.    

Sophisticated call tracking technology can help home services businesses gain a competitive edge in a fast-paced, highly competitive industry by revealing deeper customer insights, optimizing sales processes and driving sustainable growth. Call tracking ensures businesses never let a hot lead fizzle out before it can convert and home services businesses are positioned to reap substantial rewards from leveraging this type of technology in their daily operations.    

About the Author
Chris Todd, Principal of Marketing Operations at CallTrackingMetrics, is a professional digital marketer with more than a decade of experience in building and promoting brands. A digital marketing and social media expert, Chris earned his MBA from Univ. of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.