Hixon Interiors Gains Traction Against Competitors in Local Search Rankings
INDUSTRY
Interior Design
LOCATION
Fort Collins, CO
SERVICES
Interior design, space planning, construction management, furniture procurement, kitchen & bath projects, basement finishes, aging-in-place design
YEARS IN BUSINESS
Over 45 years
Background
Hixon Interiors is a Fort Collins, Colorado-based interior design firm that specializes in residential interiors, including new construction, renovation, interior design and installation.
The company has been in business for over 46 years and has a long-standing reputation for both high-quality design and management services and client satisfaction. However, their Google Business Profile wasn’t optimized, and they had only a single Google Review from over six years ago.
In local search results, Hixon Interiors was lagging behind other area interior designers who had been around for a lot less time but had more great reviews. It was a prime opportunity to embrace a new area of marketing for the business!
Hixon Interiors
Objectives
Methods
We obtained a list of previous clients for the last two years from Hixon Interiors and developed an email marketing campaign designed to both refresh the business relationship and request a review. During the three-month project, we ran three email campaigns with different content in each email automation series, gradually adding previous clients to each campaign over several weeks.
We also created several ways for Hixon Interiors to begin asking new clients for reviews. We provided them with a direct link to the Google Review page they could share with clients, and a QR code that can be used on marketing materials. Hixon Interiors began using the direct link in their final project invoices for clients.
We set up a system for clients to provide feedback and manage responses if they’d had a negative experience with the business, but this was not used by any client during the course of the project.
We optimized the Google Business Profile by completely filling it out, and asked Hixon Interiors to begin adding project photos and blog post excerpts on a regular basis to generate interest and drive more traffic to their website. We added tracking code to the Website link in the Google Business Profile so we could see the behavior of users who followed the link to the website.
Results
email campaign.
Over the course of the three-month project, Hixon Interiors acquired six new Google Reviews, bringing their total number of reviews to seven, for an increase of 600%.
Five of the new reviews came from previous clients as a result of the email campaign series, and one was from a new client that Hixon Interiors asked for a review. We achieved a 37.5% response rate from past clients.
Google Analytics showed an increase in the number of onsite conversions and users who clicked the “Website” link in Hixon Interiors’ Google Business Profile. These users also had much lower bounce rates and spent more time on the website.
At the start of this project, Hixon Interiors had one 5-star review from six years ago. We ended with an average star rating of 4.9 (all 4- and 5-star reviews).
Hixon Interiors responded to all reviews, which is a good practice that can help to improve clickthroughs to the website. Studies show that 88% of consumers are likely to use a business that responds to all reviews, but only 42% of consumers are likely to use a business that never responds to reviews (Bright Local). 56% of consumers said that seeing a response from a business owner made them feel more positive about that business (Podium).
“I had very fast results with Lead Harvest. The combination of Debbie’s ability to help build a successful website along with her knowledge of what Google is looking for in regards to ranking well, have pushed my business to the top for search engine optimization.”
HIXON INTERIORS
Conclusions
These results show that Hixon Interiors is making great progress in attracting new customers and driving traffic to their website by leveraging their new Google Reviews and optimized Google Business Profile.
They are climbing in the local search results, and are beginning to break into the prime real estate of the Local Pack. If they continue to build up their 4- and 5-star reviews, and use the Google Business Profile to share project images and posts, it’s likely they’ll get more website visits and qualified leads as a result over time.
Hixon Interiors
If you need help getting more Google Reviews – or managing the ones you already have – learn how our local lead generation service can work for you.
Contact us for more information or set up a Discovery Call today.