A home service professional digital makeover centers on a solidly defined and set up field service management (FSM) software. We then train service professionals to use the FSM software optimally. Next, we integrate the FSM software with other business information systems like websites, customer relationship management, and accounting.
This is how more and more customers want to order home services…with a few clicks from their phone.
Ready to get your home services business more customer-centric? Here’s a list of clear-cut numbers that tell you what customers want. And the survey says, “If you’re not catering to the digital demands of your customers, they will go elsewhere.”
Reason 1: The Market Home Services Delivery Market Has Shifted
In their The Economy of Everything Home Executive Summary for 2021, Angi Inc predicts that:
“The continued migration of our lives from offline to online has the twin effects of
(a) allowing more people to live further from city centers in larger households, and
(b) pushing a digitally native generation to more seamlessly satisfy their demand for home services by migrating to online subscriptions and project fulfillment.”
Angi Inc.
More people are looking to get their home services fulfilled with the same ease, reliability, and convenience of placing and receiving an Amazon.com order.
Reason 2: Clunky Customer Service Will Not Cut It Anymore
DialogTech, Inc. (now Invoca), a company that helps businesses extract value from customer phone conversations, has this to say about catering to clients:
- 24. 65% of consumers have ditched a brand over a single poor customer service experience. Your customers will bail if you don’t have a frictionless caller experience (source: Digiday).
- 25. 32% of consumers say phone calls are the most annoying customer service channel. Home service businesses just can’t field inbound phone calls anymore; you need to have data on each caller to quickly and efficiently address their needs (source: Aspect).
Reason 3: Customer Expectations Have Changed
Home service software provider Jobber investigated in 2019 to discover what customers want from and think about small businesses. Here’s what they found:
- 27% of consumers believe that small businesses struggle with website management
- 24% of consumers feel that small businesses struggle with customer communication
- 25% of consumers think that small businesses struggle with payment processing
- 46% of people prefer to schedule appointments via email, an online platform, or a mobile app.
- 50% of people would be deterred from using a small home service business if they had slow response times.
- 52% of people would be deterred from using a small home service business if they had poor online ratings.
- 34% of people would be deterred from using a small home service business if they did not have a website.
- 28% of people would be deterred from using a small home service business if they had limited payment options.
Recent studies show that 56% of people would rather message a business (on a social media platform or website) than call them for customer service. At the same time, many home service businesses are not equipped to receive messages across multiple platforms such as SMS or Facebook Messenger.
If one out of every two customers wants to reach out to you in this way and you’re not set up for it, you’re missing a huge segment of your potential customer base.
Housecallpro.com
Customers want their home services providers to have a modern website, multiple payment options, easy booking options, and fast response times to inquiries.
HouseCallPro also delivers field service software to pros. Here’s a number they want home service pros to know about:
The Bottom Line
The customer is now in control of your brand or organization’s reputation and revenue – and every interaction with every agent or employee could mean the gain, loss or loyalty of that customer. Ensure that your culture, technology, brand promise and employees are all aligned to support customer experience, success, service and satisfaction.
State of Customer Service. Microsoft.com
Take your company digital if you want your home services business to thrive. Make it easy for clients to book your services. Quickly and accurately answer questions about your service fulfillment timeline. Use technology to bundle services for clients smartly. Give clients a seamless service experience and keep them coming back with polite service reminders. A digital transformation can do this for your company.
Contact Data Is Served today to see what a digital makeover could do for your company.
References
Andersen, D. (Feb 21, 2021). 28 Statistics Home Services Marketers Need to Know in 2021. DialogTech, Inc. https://www.dialogtech.com/blog/home-services-search-stats/
Bauer, E. (Jan 8, 2019). Home Service Business Trends: 8 Shifts that are Reshaping the Industry. https://www.housecallpro.com/learn/8-home-service-business-trends/
GetJobber. (N.A.). Jobber Small Business Statistics 2019. https://academy.getjobber.com/resources/articles/small-business-statistics-2019/
Micetich, M. & Fisher, Mischa, F. (N.A.). The Economy of Everything Home: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. https://www.angi.com/research/reports/market/
State of Customer Service | Microsoft Dynamics 365. (2021). Retrieved 29 October 2021, from https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-global-state-of-customer-service.html
Verified Market Research. (Jun 2021). US Home Service Market Analysis. https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/product/us-home-service-market/