What is Google Home Services? The initiative is part of the new Google Adwords Express Service. Through Home Service Ads, Google’s goal is to provide people who search for a particular service to see the best and reliable companies to contact. Google will offer up to $2,000 in refunds to unhappy customers on invoices from jobs booked through Google Home Services.
Google initially offered the service to select regions. This includes the San Francisco Bay Area, Stockton, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Google does have plans of expanding the coverage although the actual regions have yet to be revealed.
Are plumbers on the list?
When the service launched last year, electricians and HVAC services were among the first to be included. Plumbing services have since been added in select markets, as you can see in the above example for San Francisco. To see if services are eligible in your area, simply doing a search for “{city} plumber” will show you whether or not these listings are available in your area. Alternatively, you can also try following the “Get Started” button on the Google Home Services site.
Cost of signing up
Hooking up with Google is an investment in marketing that will be based on cost per interaction. A flat fee of $25 per lead will be charged although that is expected to spike once the program can get off the ground. From there, it may result in a bidding war similar to that of AdWords which might make it less affordable. Another key element of this structure is that plumbing contractors who sign up will want to make sure they’re closing leads at a high rate. Paying $25 per lead and only closing one out of ten could make this an extremely expensive marketing channel. Before diving into Google Home Services, we’d suggest having a look at our blog post Better sales conversion means more money with less work.
Once you feel you’ve got a good program in place for converting leads to sales, it might be worthwhile to try out this service before Google inevitably raises the fees. However, the risk here is that your competitors may be thinking the same thing and investing at the fixed flat rate. If that is the case, how can you hold a prominent spot in the Google Home Services listings when a search is done?
Target the Google Guarantee Home Service Advertisers circle
The best way for a service provider to gain credibility is by rendering excellent service. This will, in turn, draw good reviews and help build the company’s reputation.
For plumbers, it would be best to try and get into the Google Guarantee Home Service Advertisers program. Companies under this program get helpful ratings and reviews, building their reputation and improving their ranking.
Getting into the Home Service Advertisers niche isn’t exactly easy, either. Contractors will undergo a tedious process to earn that “Google Guarantee” tag. This includes:
- Background checks
- License checks
- Insurance checks
- Advanced verification
- Reputation assessment
To apply for the program, relevant businesses in supported locations can enroll here. It should be noted that if a company is accepted into the program, it is good only for three months. Re-certification can be done unless the member has done some changes like adding or changing personnel within the last reporting period.
What’s right for your business?
The thought of having to consider yet another marketing platform will be enough to annoy some plumbing companies. In the past twenty years, more and more have focused on using their website and other online sources to build their business. However, the landscape changes dramatically when the top of the search results force down Google’s traditional map listings and standard search results. The question becomes, can you afford not to be included?
Many plumbers and local service companies have tried and failed at other Google paid advertising platforms like AdWords, so many will approach this new platform with apprehension. Some would prefer to do business the old-fashioned way or to continue with existing channels for lead generation. The truth is there’s no right answer here, but as mentioned earlier, there probably won’t be a less expensive time to kick the tires on this program than when it first rolls out, so if you’re interested at all, we suggest getting prepared and giving it a try right out of the gate to see if it’s a cost-effective model for your plumbing business.
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