Where to Leave Review on Home Advisor Polumber

Last updated: July 20, 2021

HomeAdvisor PRO (now called Angi Leads) is a fast and like shooting fish in a barrel way to get customers and grow your business. In fact, it'due south where I found some of my all-time clients for my handyman business.

However, it's a controversial field of study for contractors. Some businesses are experiencing massive success with the service, while others trash talk and describe it as a scam.

So who's right? And most importantly, should you use them to generate leads? That is the ultimate question I'll respond in this article.

Hither's what I cover in this HomeAdvisor Pro (aka Angi Leads) review:

• Controversial bug to exist aware of with HomeAdvisor
• Quick Facts and Stats
• The pros and cons of using HomeAdvisor
• Should yous utilise HomeAdvisor to grow your business?
• Tip for getting meliorate (and cheaper) leads while using HomeAdvisor

Why the Controversy?

Issue #1: Lots of complaints from other businesses

HomeAdvisor has had over 1,900 customer complaints with the Improve Business Bureau in the final iii years. Even though they have an A rating, that's even so a lot of complaints.

(Side note: This article alone has received over 280 comments from local businesses about HA – xc% of which are negative reviews. Experience free to scroll down and read them.)

This doesn't necessarily bother me, though, considering they bargain with tens of millions of projects every yr and accept over 100,000 small businesses using their platform. When you bargain with that many people, complaints are inevitable.

The real problem is with what those complaints are nearly.

Upshot #2: Simulated leads

Many of the complaints in the comments on this page and on BBB are near HomeAdvisor "scamming" contractors with depression-quality or fake leads.

I've personally dealt with dozens of bad leads. Some of them are "dead leads" who don't even answer the phone or respond when you follow up with them. Some of the bad leads are homeowners who are price shopping and don't realize their marvel costs contractors real money. And some of the bad leads are from competing businesses that are doing market research.

Depression-quality leads are a existent issue, but I wouldn't call it a scam.

When you pay $xv per lead, these bad leads get abrasive. But when y'all are paying $150 for a lead (which is the case for some services), it can be downright painful.

However, I think that a big source of these complaints is business owners who tin can't shut the auction. They are unable to turn leads into customers and stop up blaming HomeAdvisor.

It'due south of import to know that HomeAdvisor provides leads, not customers, and if a business doesn't follow best practices for turning leads into customers, they'll likely waste material a lot of money with lilliputian results.

A tool is merely as good as the paw that'due south using it, after all.

Result #3: Deceptive marketing practices (This is a Big one)

If you determine to sign up for HA, be certain to read the fine impress considering by signing up, you requite them the right to use your business proper noun, logo, and images for marketing purposes, such as directing links back to their ain site.

That means they tin become out, create a bunch of profiles on other online business concern directories in your business name using your logo and pictures, and then point those directories dorsum to HA, where they can so sell the leads to other contractors (or to you lot).

Several contractors and handymen have found out the hard way (including myself). Not only does HA build links back to their own site in the small business concern'due south name, but they as well listing HA'southward phone number. When a potential customer calls that number, they forwards it to you, the business owner, and charge you for what they telephone call an "Verbal Lucifer Lead."

I couldn't believe it myself until I read their terms of service and and then did a quick Google of my concern name. Certain enough, I institute that my YP.com list had all of my business organization information but the incorrect telephone number. Upon dialing that number, I was connected with HomeAdvisor! Not but that, but they spelled my business organization name wrong.

Not cool, HomeAdvisor, non absurd at all.

This is a pretty big issue for me, and it definitely hurts HomeAdvisor's image in my eyes. Although it is conspicuously explained in their terms of service, this is non something they explained when I signed upwardly. It's flat-out deceptive.

Still, this consequence tin can be mitigated by simply doing some cleanup work online. I've sought out these fake listings and changed them to reverberate my business's correct data.

I thing I recommend doing before signing up for HA is creating your own online listings. Past doing so, you reduce the risk of this happening to you.

Outcome #4 – Pushy and misleading sales tactics

Many of the complaints occur because pros were promised the earth by cold-calling HomeAdvisor salesmen, only to exist immediately disappointed by what they really get.

I pro complained that when he signed up, the salesmen said he would receive nearly two leads per week. Then, in the start week, he received ten leads, many of which were bad leads.

Unfortunately, the salesman failed to mention something that is stated in HA terms of service – which is that in some cases you can receive leads above your spend target. So, if your profile isn't carefully configured, yous could end upwardly spending more than on leads than y'all are prepared for.

Some other affair I dislike almost HA and other websites like YELP is that they are constantly common cold-calling pocket-sized businesses in an effort to sell them ads or premiere placement on their platforms. They are normally pushy and persistent, wasting the precious time of already time-poor business owners.

In that location'south a Better Way To Fill Your Schedule

Don't pay another dime for leads. Acquire how to attract loftier-paying customers to your habitation service concern consistently and reliably in this free study.

"80/20 Handyman Marketing"

You'll learn the i simple marketing strategy that volition keep your schedule booked solid all year long without paying a dime for leads or ads.

HomeAdvisor/Angi Leads Quick Facts and Stats

HomeAdvisor certainly has some questionable business practices, only they must be doing something correct. Otherwise, how would they have built a billion-dollar business?

• Originally chosen ServiceMagic, HomeAdvisor was founded in 1998.
• ServiceMagic rebranded in 2012 equally HomeAdvisor.
• HomeAdvisor merged with Angie'south List in 2017, forming Angi Homeservices Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI), which is the earth's largest digital market for home services, including everything from maids to handymen to contractors.
• In 2020, over 240,000 businesses used Angi Homeservices to connect with customers, and over 32 one thousand thousand projects were requested in more than 500 categories.
• In 2020, Angi Homeservices had revenue of $1.47 Billion, 10.v% higher than in 2019.
• In 2021, HomeAdvisor Pro was rebranded to Angi Leads.

Source: Wikipedia, ANGI 2020 annual study.

The Pros and Cons of HomeAdvisor

Pros

• Information technology'southward constructive. There'south 1 major reason that HA is still in business organisation, and that's because information technology works. With more and more than people turning to the spider web to notice service providers, having a strong online presence is essential. HomeAdvisor has an extremely powerful web presence and a well-designed website that makes it easy for homeowners to find pros. After all, they are role of the biggest digital marketplace for home services in the world.
• High long-term ROI. To some people, the price of leads seems expensive, but if you lot consider that many of the customers y'all connect with on HomeAdvisor volition end upward condign long-term clients, the value proposition becomes more bonny. For case, I paid $xx for a lead to mount a TV and that customer ended up hiring me for over $xx,000 in work over the following years.
• Practiced for new businesses.  Before you tin start generating customers from word of oral fissure, you need to really have customers. HA allows you to leverage their make to gain trust and gain your start clients. It besides allows you lot to reach customers that you lot otherwise wouldn't accept the marketing abilities or funds to reach.
• Easy to manage. Once you've ready up your account, it'due south straightforward to manage. You can even turn your leads on and off whenever you cull. This allows you to but apply the service when you are boring or trying to aggrandize your business. They even have an app where you tin manage customer requests and collect payments. HA clearly understands how to leverage technology to make their platform easier for both customers and service pros.
• Y'all choose which jobs you get leads for. One of my favorite things well-nigh HomeAdvisor is how you can option and choose which jobs you become leads for. If yous simply want leads for Tv set wall mounts, you can do that. If you discover that certain leads don't turn into customers, you can change your profile to cease getting those particular leads.
• Nifty for filling gaps in your schedule. One of the best uses of HomeAdvisor is to make full gaps in your schedule during slow times – like during wintertime when business tends to slow down or while y'all piece of work on other marketing strategies that complimentary you from having to pay for leads.

Cons

• Giving upwardly some rights to your brand. HA'due south terms of service clearly land that HA tin use any information on your profile to direct links to their site. This essentially allows them to employ your name to promote their business – and and then charge yous for it. And this extends to whatsoever pictures you upload, your logo, or fifty-fifty pictures of y'all. They get irrevocable access to use this however they want if you sign upwardly and agree.
• Bad leads. I've received several leads that were just people toll shopping with no interest in really hiring anybody. Sometimes leads won't even reply the telephone. A refund will be granted in some cases, merely I've still paid for several bad leads. This isn't surprising since it clearly states in HA'due south terms of service that they make no guarantees on the quality of the leads you get.
• It tin can get expensive. Paying for leads can swallow into profits fast, especially if yous are signed up for more expensive leads like kitchen or bathroom remodel leads and cannot catechumen leads into customers finer. But lead fees aren't the only fees. You can also pay for a subscription to merely take your business listed with your phone number (instead of HA'southward). You lot ofttimes have to pay an enrollment fee of $300 just to get started. They will effort to sell you other services like website evolution and hosting. There's even an pick to pay to use HA'due south seal on your website. If you're not careful, the fees can add upward quickly.
• It tin can be a headache. When you get simulated leads or leads that don't even respond the telephone, it gets frustrating – specially when y'all shelled out cash for those leads. Additionally, it can exist tough to differentiate yourself from the competition on HA. That oftentimes leads to having to be more competitive on price, which can farther consume into profits.
• Reviews aren't yours. The reviews y'all work difficult to earn while using the platform are owned solely by HomeAdvisor, and they conspicuously state that yous cannot utilize these or republish them in any form. The but way to legally post the reviews on your website is to purchase your website and hosting from HomeAdvisor, which I wouldn't recommend for anyone.
• Feeding the "brute" – Every bit I talk nearly in this commodity, using services like HomeAdvisor farther strengthens their already dominant position as the get-to identify for homeowners to detect pros. Equally useful as information technology may be, this gives the middle man a lot of power, which may not exist so good for pocket-size business organization profits in the long run.

Should you apply HomeAdvisor?

Here is the ultimate question, and the answer is that it depends.

Personally, I believe information technology's effective and I have personally had success using the service. In my first year of business, I spent $1,152 advertising with HA and gained $iv,425 in concern direct from leads received. Those numbers may sound small, just equally a handyman, my average job size is just a few hundred dollars. The real value came from helping me build a client base of operations from nothing while working on other, long-term marketing strategies that I rely on now. I was able to gain some excellent customers and advance my business in the short term, which gave me time to invest in less expensive and meliorate marketing strategies.

However, I don't agree with some of their business practices, namely how they use a company's name to straight leads back to their website. This is a real problem for me.

I no longer use HA, and I dropped them equally soon as I could keep my schedule filled without them. I view this service as a tool for jump-starting a modest business concern but non a long-term marketing tool.

Hither'due south What I Recommend

If you are starting your business and can't wait to grow your business organization slowly while implementing your own marketing strategies, and then HomeAdvisor is worth a examination run. The potential upside outweighs the downside. Yes, you will waste matter coin on bad leads, but sometimes y'all have to spend money to brand money and the momentum it can give your business is very nice.

It'south as well worth testing if you lot are already established and need a method to apace ramp upward leads either during the slow season or if y'all are hiring help to scale your business organization upwards.

Just be careful of which services you sign up for. HomeAdvisor does far more send you leads now. They will build and host websites for you, allow yous to apply their seal, have a subscription service, and fifty-fifty collect payments from customers. Who knows where things volition get next since they are part of a huge e-commerce conglomerate that also owns Angi and Handy platforms.

I wouldn't recommend having HomeAdvisor build or host your website – especially given how easy it is to do it yourself. It volition only further lock you into a company that you lot may not enjoy partnering with over the long term.

I wouldn't recommend their subscription member service either since all you are paying for is a list on their directory. If you are going to pay to exist in a directory, yous might likewise pay to be featured on YELP.

I also do NOT recommend paying to have their seal on your website. This is featherbrained and would only give a marginal improvement to conversions at best. Likewise, information technology will only matter if your website generates lots of traffic already, which if it did, you probably wouldn't demand HomeAdvisor in the first place.

At present, if yous don't demand customers immediately to survive, so at that place are better ways to generate leads that I recommend focusing on get-go.

Either way, don't make the mistake of totally outsourcing your marketing to Dwelling house Advisor, Thumbtack, or other lead generation companies. If you exercise, then y'all don't really have a business organisation. You lot have a job. Think about that for a minute.

Quick Tips to Maximize ROI with HomeAdvisor

If you do make up one's mind to use HA to grow your business, here are some insights that I've gained from my experience that volition assist you close more leads and spend less.

Tip #one:  Call leads immediately

This is the single most of import tip for making HA work for you, even more and so than having good reviews. I've found that 9 times out of 10, if I call within minutes of receiving the lead, I go the concern. Some customers take fifty-fifty told me that they always cull the first person that calls without even entertaining what the adjacent service pro has to say.

So, if you desire to get the business, phone call immediately. Don't even waste product x seconds. As soon every bit you lot go that pb, selection up your phone and call them.

Tip #2:  Only sign up for small chore leads (at first)

Leads for big jobs are expensive at $fifty and upwardly. With price shoppers all over the place, this can eat into your profits really fast. That'due south why I recommend only signing up to receive leads that toll under $25 (usually includes small repair jobs and handyman jobs). This fashion, yous can all the same get your pes in the door, build your client base, and then bank on the render business concern.

Once you get your sales procedure dialed in, so it makes sense to get-go paying for the bigger jobs like kitchen and bath remodels.

Tip #3:  Eliminate leads that don't pay

After you've been using the service for a while, it's a adept idea to get back over your past leads and see which lead categories paid off and which ones provide more often than not junk leads. When I did this, I noticed that leads for certain projects well-nigh ever turned into customers, while leads for "general handyman – multiple projects" NEVER turned into a single customer. I as well noticed that this was my nigh common lead. So, I changed my contour to no longer get leads for "general handyman – multiple projects." The result was lower lead costs, fewer bad leads, and just as many adept leads.

Tip #4: Read the Terms of Service thoroughly

Non only will reading HA's Terms of Service page give you a amend agreement of what you're signing up for, but it volition also help you understand the different means to use the platform. HomeAdvisor is constantly creating and testing new ways to connect service pros with customers. In fact, buying leads is merely ane fashion to use HA to gain customers. By taking xxx minutes to read the terms and conditions carefully, you will proceeds insights into different programs they are running and be meliorate armed to talk to the salesman earlier signing upward.

Tip #5: Don't be afraid to negotiate

Just like cable companies, HA has designed its pricing to maximize profits. That means those who are lazy will pay a premium. Simply, if you are willing to ask a few questions and even threaten to quit or walk abroad, you can probable exit of paying huge enrollment fees and loftier subscription rates. At a minimum, information technology never hurts to inquire for a better bargain.

Conclusion

HomeAdvisor (now Angi Leads) can be an effective tool to attract customers and grow your business. But simply like any tool, if it'southward used incorrectly, it can cease upward pain you. Use information technology with caution.

A good dominion of thumb is to employ it as much as necessary, and equally piddling as possible.

I hope you lot institute this commodity helpful. If yous'd like to proceeds more insights, tips, and practical strategies for growing a better business as a service pro, consider signing up for my email newsletter. Y'all'll learn better ways to attract customers and grow your business. I've got a no BS arroyo, and you can unsubscribe at any fourth dimension.

To sign upwards, click the button below to download the free written report.

Cease Paying for Leads – Utilise This Strategy To Keep Your Schedule Filled Consistently

Paying for leads has its place, but there are better means to market your business organisation.

Learn how to attract high-paying customers to your habitation service business concern consistently and reliably (without paying for leads or ads) in this costless written report.

"80/20 Handyman Marketing"

This elementary marketing method works for any local service concern – whether y'all detail cars, groom pets, or remodel kitchens.

Download this costless study now to larn all near information technology.

taylordiagat.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.handymanstartup.com/home-advisor-pro-review-what-you-need-to-know/

Share this post