The feedback from landscape contractors is that Houzz is proving to be an excellent source of leads that are better qualified and easier to close. I was able to connect with Ed Szczesniak, owner of Georgian Landscape Design, operating out of Georgia, who is having tremendous success with Houzz.
Szczesniak says that Houzz is, “The most incredible tool I have found in my marketing toolkit.” It has consistently generated high-quality leads. I get about 10 to 15 highly educated, quality leads from homeowners a month.”
What is Houzz and what makes it so special?
Houzz is a highly visual online design inspiration and collaboration website community that popped up on the scene a few years ago. It is quickly starting to gain traction as a viable social network that can bring in higher quality and more educated leads. Clients can easily search for contractors by location and specialty, and this results in a pathway of qualified leads for contractors. Contractors also have the added ability to easily collaborate with clients to get a firm idea on design direction and inspiration.
Benefits of Houzz as opposed to other social networks:
- Higher demographics. Average user is 20-plus million monthly unique users.
- 90 percent are homeowners
- 72 percent are ages 25 to 54
- Clients are there specifically for inspiration for home and landscape design ideas, and to find quality service providers and designers for projects. This, as opposed to Pinterest, Facebook, etc., where they can be easily distracted by the newest fall pumpkin recipe or a pair of trendy shoes.
- Contractors can showcase their work with highly attractive, visual images.
- Contractors can get automatic social proof from customer reviews displayed on their profile along with Houzz’s “best of” badges to highlight design and customer service excellence.
4 tips on how to keep ahead of the curve on Houzz:
- Continually add recent projects to showcase your work with high-quality images.
- Build rapport with potential clients by commenting and answering questions in the discussion areas, and responding to questions in a timely manner in regards to any of your project photos.
- Link your Houzz profile to your website and display any Houzz badges or awards.
- Szczesniak’s Secret Ninja Tip: Continually generate reviews to help you to stay at the top of the search algorithm on Houzz and to boost credibility. “I always send an email thank-you to clients after we complete the project. I include before, during and after photos and include a link to my Houzz profile. I then ask them to write a review if they were pleased.”
Have you used Houzz to generate clients? How is it working for you?
