Starting a new business requires a lot of effort and no one knows this better than Beau Couden, manager of Elm City Energy Solutions, a contracting company based in Woodbridge, Connecticut. After being in a family of contractors their entire lives, Beau and his brother Andrew decided to branch out and start a company of their own focusing on the benefits of environmental efficiency in the home. As they built a client base, the brothers soon realized the importance of getting positive online reviews and the impact that could have on their business. However, it was too time consuming for them to follow up with customers after every job with limited staff and resources.
Beau Couden, Manager
After a little over a year in business, Beau and his team signed up with Yodle for help with their marketing needs. Particularly, they were interested in finding a simpler, faster approach to online reviews. “It’s really just my brother and me running this business. We put a lot into making sure everyone is happy in the end and so reviews mean a lot to us on a personal level too,” Beau says.
Beau started using Yodle’s reviews feature at night after work and was immediately impressed with the ease that included the ability to send pre-populated customized emails. “If I know a client had a great experience, I just go to the contacts I’ve set up in the Yodle dashboard, click on their name and send them an email. I also let the customer know in person that I’ll be sending it to them,” he says.
In just five weeks, Elm City went from no reviews to five and counting, all of which were automatically posted to his website through Yodle. Beau also started learning some tricks to make sure his customers were posting. “I use a personal approach. I tell them it will mean the world to me and sometimes send them a quick text or email to remind them.” He says customers have found the review process so easy, he hasn’t come across anyone who has refused.
Elm City’s positive reputation has begun to create changes across the company as well. By responding to every review with a quick thank you message, they’ve been able to continue a dialogue with past customers and receive additional referral business in the process. Beau has also noticed that Elm City’s social media presence has been more active since every review is also instantly shared through Yodle on the company’s Facebook page.
“In the future, I definitely want even more reviews. We do a lot of trade shows and at every event I give out my Yodle adversite address so clients can see our reviews. It’s helped our marketing and definitely helps the client’s decision making process,” Beau explains. “At the end of the day, this is a really important part of our business.”