Is Angie’s List worth the money if you are a remodeler, plumber, HVAC, Pest control contractor? Find out the pros,cons for your lead generation.
If you are a home services contractor (like a plumber, HVAC, pest control, etc.), or a home improvement contractor (remodeling, renovations) you have likely used Angie’s List… or knew someone who did.
The question is this: Is Angie’s List worth the money to join? Is it a good place to get leads for your contracting business?
Is Angie’s List Worth It?
Angie’s List, once a go-to platform for contractors seeking leads in remodeling, plumbing, HVAC, and pest control, presents a mixed bag in terms of value and effectiveness.
The platform’s worth to a contractor hinges on several factors, including the quantity and quality of leads, consistency of lead flow, and the overall return on investment (ROI).
While Angie’s List can potentially offer high-quality leads, thanks to its review-driven system that helps pre-sell services based on reputation, there are notable drawbacks.
Pros:
- High-Quality Leads: Angie’s List users tend to be serious about hiring, and positive reviews can significantly pre-sell your services, reducing the need for aggressive sales tactics.
- Reputation-Based Rewards: Good performance leads to positive reviews, which in turn can generate more business, creating a virtuous cycle for contractors who consistently deliver quality work.
Cons:
- Limited Membership Base: The reach of Angie’s List is significantly smaller compared to the vast audience available through platforms like Google, limiting its potential as a sole lead source.
- Self-Serving Platform Practices: Angie’s List promotes its own interests, sometimes at the expense of contractors. For example, links intended to showcase a contractor’s reviews may instead divert to a sales page for Angie’s List memberships, also displaying competitors to potential clients.
- Legal and Promotional Restrictions: Contractors face limitations in how they can promote their Angie’s Li
Is Angie’s List a “Good” Lead Source for Contractors?
To figure out if Angie’s List is a good source for contractor leads, you must first step back and ask the question, “What criteria determines a ‘good’ lead source?”
Here are the criteria I use to determine whether or not a lead source is “good.”
- Amount of leads. Does this method provide a sufficient amount of leads? Getting one “good” lead a month is better than nothing. But, I wouldn’t say it is a good lead source.
- Consistent flow of leads. Can you reliably count on these leads to come in? A good lead source provides a reasonably predictable flow of new calls.
- Quality of leads. Do a high percentage of them turn into actual business? Who really wants a lead source that wastes your time (generating an estimate or proposal) but rarely turn into a job?
- Cost effective leads. Do the leads provide a solid, profitable ROI? This is extremely important, unless you just like working for free (or at a loss). Being busy is not the end goal… making a solid profit is.
As you know, there is no “perfect” lead source out there—non-stop leads that are high quality AND inexpensive. That being said, some sources get an overall higher score than others.
Note: We evaluated the pros/cons of 15 of the most popular lead sources for contractors using the above criteria. Some were pretty lousy; others were pretty good. You can download this report free at the bottom of this article.
How does Angie’s List score out for home contractors?
Angie’s List – The Good and Bad as a Lead Source
Unlike some lead sources, it is difficult to score Angie’s List according to the above criteria.
Why? Because the amount and consistency of the lead flow depends entirely on you. If you get good reviews over time, your lead flow and consistency improves as more people pick you over another contractor.
As far as the profitability and cost-effectiveness of the leads, that depends on their current rates vs. how many leads turn into new business.
If you would like to determine the cost-effectiveness of your leads from Angie’s List, contact us here at 2nd Mile Marketing. We have a special calculator we use to determine if your leads are profitable… and by how much.
Let me give you my thoughts on the pros/cons of Angie’s List as a lead source for contractors.
The Pros & Cons Of Using Angie’s List As A Lead Source
1. Pro: The quality of the leads tends to be reasonably high because prospects are often pre-sold based on your reputation within the Angie’s List community. For many members of Angie’s List, this is their first (and often only) place they visit to find a contractor. Often, inquiries are like referrals—you will have to do less selling of yourself to a prospect since they already know you are reputable with good, verified reviews.
2. Pro: If you do a good job, you will be rewarded with more business (since people come to the site to find companies with good reviews). If you don’t do a good job, you will be exposed.
Note: To learn a scientifically proven “best” way to handle/defuse a negative review on Angie’s list, just click on the link.
3. Con: Limited membership. Compared to the searcher traffic on Google, the amount of paid members who visit Angie’s List is miniscule. It likely won’t be your only or main source of leads.
4. Con: Angie’s List exists only in part to help consumers find good, reputable businesses. They also have very self-serving interests.
For example, they offer an icon for your website that says, “read my reviews here” (which would help you get more business). However, instead of showing your reviews (which you have earned from Angie’s List work), it links back to a sales page to sell their membership. You can’t see the reviews unless you join. They also show the website visitor a list of your competitors instead of your reviews.
Here is the sad reality: They are using your reviews to sell their memberships. I even had a client who was threatened with legal action for even mentioning on their website they had 30 top reviews from Angie’s List. Why? They said he could only use their “approved” icon (with a link to their sales page).
What has been your experience using Angie’s List? Leave a comment below and tell us your pros and cons with Angie.
Summary Assessment: So, is Angie’s List worth it? Several of my contractor clients have found Angie’s List to be one of their many sources of good leads. But, some have been frustrated dealing with their ever present self-promotion. Finally, this may be a good source of leads, but you must determine your cost of involvement vs. actual profits you generate.
Angie’s List can be a good source for construction and contractor leads. But, you must consider (and avoid) several negative issues
Additional reading:
http://www.yelp.com/topic/palatine-is-a-subscription-to-angies-list-worth-it
http://www.everydaycheapskate.com/home-and-family/is-angies-list-worth-paying-for/
http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2011/10/is-angies-list-worth-the-cost.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie’s_List
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