User Tests Show The #1 Reason Your HVAC Website is Likely Losing Qualified Leads
on December 01, 2014
Want to know the #1 thing your customers really want on your HVAC website? Here are 3 user tests of an HVAC website. See if you can spot the common trend:
In case you didn’t watch them (you should), here’s the common thread: they want to know your prices.
This isn’t really groundbreaking. Ask any HVAC company’s CSRs what question they get asked the most, and it will always be about pricing. Yet very few (if any) HVAC websites actually deal with the question.
And it could really be costing you.
The cost of ignoring pricing on your HVAC website
Sure. There are plenty of reasons to ignore this common question. We’ve heard them all:
- “Pricing is complicated”
- “It might scare people away”
- “The price might change”
- “No one else has pricing information”
But have you ever thought about what you’re losing by not talking about price? Here are a few consequences.
Your call center is unnecessarily overloaded.
Most of our testers mentioned that they’d call to find out pricing before scheduling the repair. So now your phone center is handling calls that could easily be avoided.
And what happens on a busy day when there’s a long hold time? You can lose out on those customers as they hang up in frustration!
People are leaving your website.
It’s not a stretch to think that if everyone is looking for a price and no one is finding it, some people simply move on—frustrated.
How many leads are you losing?
You’re starting a customer relationship off on the wrong foot.
One of our testers mentioned that there must not be a diagnostic fee since he can schedule the repair online without any mention of price. When he finds out there is a fee, he’ll likely be upset that he wasn’t warned ahead of time, and you’ll be stuck playing defense.
A quick note: your customers aren’t being unreasonable
Before you ignore me completely, re-watch those clips. They’re not asking for exact pricing on every part and repair. They acknowledge that’d be difficult.
They’re simply asking how much it would cost to have someone come out to their home. In other words, what’s your diagnostic fee?
Seems like a reasonable enough request to me.
After all, imagine ordering pizza this way. There’s no prices online, you just have to order it and then they will call you to confirm and give you a price. Would you order online?
Excuses are like… well you know
Most of the HVAC companies we work with talk about their excellent customer service (and most deliver on it). But how can you brag about customer service and completely ignore your customers’ biggest question?
Sure, there are plenty of reasons NOT to have pricing information on your HVAC website. But there’s also a lot of opportunity you might be missing out on.
