‘Modern day word of mouth’: how to promote your business online with Bark reviews

Word of mouth has always been a powerful tool for promoting your services to new customers – and it’s only getting more important as the services industry moves increasingly online.

A full 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, according to SEO experts BrightLocal. They’re the first thing customers look for when hiring professionals online, and having great customers reviews can give you a real edge over the competition when pitching for new business.

Today, we’ll show you why collecting reviews on Bark is an integral part of promoting your business online – and look at how you can start collecting great feedback on our site right away.

How Bark reviews improve your online presence

The moment you start collecting great reviews on Bark, you’ll be awarded a Bark star rating. Not only will this appear on your Bark profile and in our pro directory, but it will also show when people search for you in Google.

LexisTech five stars — *Collect Bark reviews to earn a 5-star rating on Google*

As digital advertising company WordStream notes, this boosts your online presence by making your profile distinct from the search results around it.

That means, when people see your Bark star rating, they’re much more likely to click through to your business page. Better yet, they’re also much more likely to hire you when they do.

Convert more business with Bark reviews

Online reviews are critically important to the vast majority of online shoppers. For example, diners regularly check reviews sites like Yelp to inform their decisions when choosing somewhere to eat.

Entrepreneur Magazine reports that more than 35% of shoppers say they’d never eat at a restaurant that had a 3-star review. What’s more, this Harvard study found that a 1-star improvement on Yelp can translate to a 5%-9% increase in revenue.

That’s a big difference, and we’re already seeing exactly the same thing happening in the services industry as more and more people use Bark to hire great local tradespeople online.

That’s why we believe collecting great reviews on Bark is an integral part of promoting your business online – and why we make requesting reviews from your customers as easy as possible.

Asking for reviews is easy with our ‘reviews tool’

The more great reviews on your profile, the more confident our users will be that you can provide them with a top quality service – and the more business you’ll be able to secure using our service.

We recommend asking each of your customers to review your services within 14 days of completing a job for them to ensure you’re still fresh in their memory.

To do this, simply log into your Bark profile and visit the ‘Reviews’ tab in your dashboard. Once there, enter your customer’s email address into the reviews tool and click ‘invite’ to ask them to review your services.

You can test it out right now by visiting your ‘Reviews’ tab and entering your own email address into the box provided.

Start collecting great reviews today
with the Bark Reviews badge

You can also start collecting great reviews today using the Bark Reviews badge. It makes collecting feedback easy by reminding everyone who visits your website to review you on Bark.

Absolutely anyone who clicks your badge can leave a review on your Bark profile, even if they didn’t originally find you through us.

Simply copy the code from the ‘Badges’ tab in your Bark profile into your website wherever you like – and we’ll do the rest:

*Collecting great reviews is easy with the Bark Reviews badge*

It looks at all the most popular website building platforms used by Bark pros like yourself – including WordPress.org, Squarespace, GoDaddy and more.

Click here to log into your Bark profile and visit the ‘Badges’ tab in your dashboard and follow the simple steps provided to claim your new Bark Reviews badge right away.

If you’d like any further help getting great reviews on your Bark profile, send us an email at team@bark.com or leave a comment in the space below!

**Want to hear about even more customers through Bark? Now you can!**

We receive emails all the time from pros asking to hear about even more clients looking for their services. Specifically, many people want to be alerted to customers from further afield than our Service Areas tool allowed.

“My biggest payer was a job from a PR agency 100 miles from London,” writes one Bark photographer. “If you were able to set it up to within 125 miles of London, that would be fantastic.”

“I am a photographer based in Dorset and have no interest in work in the South East or London,” says another. “Do you have a lead generation service for my area and surrounding 50-mile radius?”

There’s clearly a demand for larger service areas, so we decided to see what we could do about it!

50-mile service area 2 — *Due to popular demand, we’ve expanded our services areas to a 50-mile radius!*

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes over the past few weeks, and we’re proud to announce two big changes designed specifically to increase the quantity and quality of the leads you receive from us:

1) We’ve expanded the maximum service area size you can set in your Bark profile to a 50-mile radius.

2) When we alert you to a job you’re not interested in doing, you can now hide that Bark so it no longer appears in your dashboard.

To hide someone’s Bark, simply click the ‘I’m not interested’ button in their public Bark and it will disappear from the list of matches in your dashboard – leaving you with just the jobs you’re interested in doing.

Better yet, doing this sends us feedback that will help us tailor our service so we can provide you with better quality leads in the future.

undo 'hide Bark' — *Click the ‘undo’ button to recover a Bark you’ve hidden by accident*

This new feature should prove particularly useful if you cover a large service area and are receiving a high volume of requests from us.

(Of course, if you hide a Bark by accident you can always unhide it again by clicking the ‘Undo ‘not interested’’ button that appears in its place.)

We hope you find these changes useful, and that they’ll mean you can start winning more business than ever before with our service. So why not put them to the test right away?

Log into your Bark profile here to widen your service areas and try out our new ‘hide Bark’ feature to filter through the leads we’re sending you.

We’re always looking for new ways to improve Bark for you and your fellow pros, and later this month we’ll be sending out our summer Seller Survey to find out how you feel we’ve been doing over the past few months.

Keep an eye out for it for your chance to tell us what you really think of our service. In the meantime, let us know what you think of these brand new pro features in the comments below!

How to leave the perfect voicemail sales pitch in 5 easy steps

We’ll now give you instant access to a client’s personal phone number when you respond to their Bark, making it easier than ever before to secure new business with our service.

You’ll find each customer’s phone number beneath their name in the in the My Responses section of your Bark dashboard – so you can use it to call them directly.

But, from time to time, you’re bound to reach someone’s voicemail. To help you prepare for when that happens, we put together this simple guide to leaving the perfect voicemail pitch in five easy steps.

STEP 1: Get their attention first

Your objective right off the bat is to get the client’s attention, so don’t start your voicemail the same way as everyone else. As CRM company Salesforce notes, almost all sales voicemails begin: “Hi, my name is X and I’m calling from Y.”

Most people delete these messages straight away. If you recognise the company, you probably already have an opinion about who they are and what they do – and if you don’t, you usually don’t care who they are anyway.

A far better approach would be to take advantage of the specific information we send you about what each of our clients is looking for.

For example, if you were responding to Toby’s request for a wedding photographer, you might start your message: “Hi Toby, Bark just emailed to ask if I’m free to be your wedding photographer next month.”

STEP 2: Capture their interest

At this early stage, it’s really too soon to be going in for the hard sell. You’re just trying to get the customer to call you back to discuss their needs further – and for that, you need to capture their interest.

You might do this by explaining how you’ve helped people with similar requirements in the past, by running through any qualifications you have that make you perfect for the job, by stressing the benefits of choosing your service over your competitors – or all of the above.

Ultimately, the aim here is to present yourself as the best pro for their needs, and focussing on the specific details in each client’s public Bark is a great way to do this.

STEP 3: End with a ‘call to action’

It goes without saying that you should end your voicemails by giving your name and contact phone number. This is your ‘call to action’ – so be sure to state your number slowly, repeat it twice, and lead into it with the phrase “Please call me back on”.

One thing that works really well at this point is to give your client a specific reason to call you back. For example, if you were responding to a catering Bark, you might ask the client to call whenever is convenient so you can create a bespoke menu together.

STEP 4: Keep it short – but not too short

People don’t typically look forward to receiving voicemails from unknown numbers, and if your message is way too long (or too short) it’s possible they could delete it without even listening to it.

Inbound marketing experts HubSpot recommend aiming for the 20-30 second mark as a good rule of thumb. This should give you plenty of time to deliver your pitch, without taking up too much of the client’s time.

Remember, if you don’t hear anything back in a few days’ time, you can always follow-up again by text, or use the Bark Messenger to ask when would be convenient for you to call back.

STEP 5: Plan before you dial

Last but not least, always know what you’re going to say in advance. Before you even pick up the phone, give yourself a few seconds to summarise the purpose of your call in one or two sentences.

This will help you avoid long pauses and unnecessary stammers should the call go to voicemail, and will ensure you’re always ready to deliver the best pitch possible for your business.

Time to pick up the phone!

Sticking to these five simple steps should maximise the number of call-backs you get from your voicemail sales pitches, so you can win even more business thanks to our service.

Why not put them to the test right now by logging into your account here and reviewing your latest matches?

Or if you have any extra voicemail pitching tips or feedback about this latest upgrade to our service, let us know in the comments below!

Why wedding photographers love Bark

The best wedding photographers are masters of networking. They know the key to success is to be constantly meeting new people who might want to do business with you.

When you get down to it, the traditional avenues photographers use to grow their business online – blogs, SEO, social media and the like – are all types of networking. But, much like networking in real life, they can be time consuming. You can introduce yourself to dozens of new people without meeting a single potential customer.

That’s what’s different about Bark – we’re a more efficient way to market your services online. By ensuring that everyone you speak to is actively looking for the services you provide, we’re helping thousands of independent British photographers grow their businesses quickly and easily online.

“Bark.com has given me the opportunity to compete with the established photographers out there,” says Bark wedding photographer, Moritz Schmittat. “A year ago, I had a different job – now I am a full-time photographer.”

Bark helps another happy couple capture their special day on film – photo by Moritz Schmittat — Bark helps another happy couple capture their special day
on film – photo by Moritz Schmittat

“Bark users can compare my quality, customer service and pricing side-by-side with industry veterans,” he adds. “This has made it possible for me to set up a sustainable photography business within weeks after joining Bark.”

We invest heavily in online advertising campaigns to find brides and wedding planners throughout the UK – something that’s simply not an option for most independent photographers. Customers looking for wedding photography visit our site and let us know what they want, and we contact quality pros in their area on their behalf.

We’ve alerted Moritz to more than 200 customers since he joined the service in early 2015 – and he’s secured 20 wedding bookings through us in the first five months of 2016 alone.

Moritz isn’t alone, either. Photographers across the country are enjoying huge success with our service – like Adam van Bunnens, who’s been alerted to over 600 potential new customers since he joined the service in September 2015.

“I love Bark, it’s sleek and professional and great [for] Google ranking,” he says. “It is what the industry has been crying out for.”

“Using Bark is a unique, refreshing way to interact with clients and give them the photographs they desire for their special day,” he adds. “The experience is very rewarding.”

*Kissing the bride by moonlight – photo by Moritz Schmittat*

“Bark has indeed helped my business a lot,” agrees Laine Apine Photography’s Kristīne Pētersone. “I have many great quality leads coming in my mailbox – unlike some other services I have used where the budgets are almost always unrealistically low and the leads are scarce.”

So that everyone can test out our service and see how well it can work for their wedding photography business, we ensure our new pros can always contact their first three clients on us. That means joining Mortiz, Adam and Kristine today couldn’t be easier:

Simply click here and open a free account right away.

Bark has grown rapidly since our founders Kai Feller and Andrew Michael started it in late 2014. Over 60,000 small businesses up and down the country are already registered with us and helping regular people find everything from window cleaners to legal representation.

“We wanted to create a resource you can use to find local professionals for absolutely anything,” Kai explains. “That’s the vision, really – helping people find wedding photographers is just one part of it.”

He continues: “As a photographer, we’ll alert you to customers we find in your local area completely free of charge. When you see someone you’d like to help, it’s then just a small one-off fee to introduce yourself to them, and everything you make is yours to keep.”

Wedding photography has proved to be one of our most popular categories, with more people turning to us every day to find the perfect pro to capture their special day.

As such, we’re always looking for new pros to keep up with this rapidly growing demand, and if you think Bark could work for your business we’d love to welcome you on board.

We’ll alert you to potential clients completely free of charge, so you can pick and choose the ones that work best for you. We don’t take any commission, and there’s no obligation to continue using our service after you’ve used your three complimentary introductions.

So there really is nothing to lose – and potentially everything to gain.

Click here to open your FREE account and start growing your business with Bark today.

We’re partnering with the Association of UK Accountants to help British entrepreneurs grow their businesses

Great accountants are more than just bean counters – they’re business partners, who’ll use their wealth of experience to help your small business flourish and grow. That’s why we’re proud to announce that Bark is partnering with the Association of UK Accountants.

Unlike other accounting organisations, Association members work extensively in business before going into practice. As such, they’re focused on helping clients maximise their profits using management information, rather than simply helping with tax compliance.

Chartered Accountant, Steve Bicknell — *The Association’s Business Development Director, Steve Bicknell*

“Our clients tend to think of us more as business partners,” explains the Association’s Business Development Director, Steve Bicknell. “Because we have actual business experience we can provide real support in areas such as funding, cash flow, business strategy, performance measurement as well as advice on tax and compliance.”

He adds: “SME’s are the lifeblood of Britain. Our members are highly trained and experienced, we enjoy helping and mentoring, and our practices are focused on small businesses.”

As one of the largest accounting communities in the UK, the Association works with over 350 accounting practices nationwide.

Since it was founded in early 2014, it has established strategic partnerships with a broad network of companies, including crowdfunding platform Crowdcube, alternative finance experts Capitalise and angel investing site Angel’s Den.

According to the Association’s latest survey, 39% of its clients have an annual turnover of less than £100,000 – which goes to show it’s never too soon to find a professional accountant to help grow your business.

What’s more, the Association’s work with Angels and crowdfunders means it can develop fundable business plans and use its network of contacts to help start-ups.

“Very few businesses have a business or even a cash flow forecast,” Steve explains. “Often they are too optimistic on sales and don’t have a contingency plan. It’s really important to make sure you have enough resources to get your business started.”

*More than two thirds of Association business clients have an annual turnover below £500,000*

“Most entrepreneurs focus on sales and business development and don’t keep proper accounts,” he adds. “We have heard of shoe box accounting where at the end of the year the business owner goes to an accountant with a shoe box full of receipts. That’s no way to run a business and you can quickly lose control.”

“People turn to Bark every day to find skilled professionals to help them with everything from lawn mowing to legal representation,” says Bark cofounder Kai Feller. “We’re committed to finding the highest quality pros for our users, and this new partnership will make it even easier for us to help entrepreneurs throughout the UK find quality business accountants.”

To compare estimates from business accountants in your area – simply place a Bark using the link below and we’ll begin matching you with local pros right away.

Click here to find local business accountants today.

Turn bad reviews into great adverts for your company with our new ‘report, remove, respond’ feature

Even the best companies in the world get bad reviews now and then.

No company hits the mark 100% of the time. But what sets the customer service greats apart from some companies we could mention is how they respond when they do get negative feedback.

You see, a well-worded reply can turn even the most scathing review into a shining advert for your company – and our latest update to the Bark website is designed to let you do exactly that.

You can now report abuse, remove duplicate reviews and respond directly to any feedback you receive using the ‘Reviews’ tab in your Bark dashboard.

Today, we’d like to show you how this brand new feature works – and run you through our top tips for using it to handle negative customer reviews should the need ever arise.

Why bad reviews aren’t so bad

According to customer support experts Zendesk, a full 88% of customers make their buying decisions based on reviews. That’s why getting positive reviews on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor and Bark is so important.

But there is a school of thought in marketing that says a bad review can actually be a good thing.

For one thing, it makes people checking your reviews feel like they’ve “done their homework”, taking them one step closer to deciding whether to pay for your services.

It also helps to legitimise all your good reviews. After all, if you were going to fake them, why would you bother making up a bad one?

Most importantly, it gives you a chance to respond to the feedback and show people how great your company really is.

Remember, when responding to any review your prospects are your real audience. Show them that you care about your customers and they may decide you’re the right pro for them after all.

Here’s how to use our new interactive reviews feature to do just that:

How to effectively combat negative
reviews in three simple steps

Contrary to what many people think, negative reviews actually have the potential to increase the number of sales you make.

It’s all about how you respond to them – and thanks to our latest site upgrade, now you can! Simply log into your Bark account and click the ‘Reviews’ tab to the left of your screen to manage your reviews.

There, you can quickly ask your previous customers to leave you a review, report any abusive ones that come in, and reply to all the feedback you receive directly:

You can now view, report and respond to all your reviews in your Bark profile.

We’ll happily remove any review that’s abusive, or from someone you’ve never actually done business with. But please note that we’ll never remove a review simply because it’s bad.

Of course, we hope you only ever hear from your many satisfied customers. But, if you ever do need to deal with someone who was less than happy with your services, here’s how we recommend you handle it:

Acknowledge the issue and own it – your first objective when responding to any complaint is to communicate that you’re paying attention to the issue. Show anyone who reads the review that when someone has a problem, you listen.
Show that future customers won’t have this issue – next, you should communicate that something has changed and anyone reading this review needn’t worry about the same thing happening to them.
Offer to fix the issue, if possible. Even if you feel like the reviewer is way off the mark, and the problem is with them not you: don’t write that you feel that way. Stay polite and friendly, and suggest that the customer might like to email you directly to resolve the issue.

The important thing is to show anyone who reads this very public conversation that you care about your customers, and are doing everything you can to ensure they receive a superior service.

It’s easy to take negative feedback personally. So perhaps the most important advice we can give is to never send your response in the heat of the moment. Draft your reply, then take a little while to cool off. Come back to it later on with a fresh pair of eyes and make sure you don’t sound too defensive before you click ‘send’.

Of course, the best way to balance out bad reviews is to make sure your happy customers post about their experiences on your Bark profile.

But sticking to these simple guidelines should help you transform any negative feedback you get into glowing adverts for your future customers – which is exactly why we launched our new reviews feature in the first place.

We hope you find this new addition to our site useful! Let us know what you think of it by emailing team@bark.com, or leaving a comment below.

How we give you better leads than Google AdWords – for a fraction of the cost

If you’ve tried growing your business online with Google’s AdWords service, you already know it’s not for everyone.

The costs are increasing year on year. You’re competing with giants like Amazon that will happily spend £34million-a-year on paid search advertising. Even small businesses routinely spend upwards of £6,500-a-month on PPC, according to online advertising experts WordStream.

With some popular keywords costing as much as £38 per click, it’s easy to see why so many people struggle to make this kind of marketing strategy work for their business. It takes great deal of research and technical know-how to get up and running – and that’s where Bark comes in.

We provide an affordable service that sends you better quality leads than you typically get from paid search advertising, at a fraction of the price. That’s why we believe every small business can grow quickly and easily with Bark.com.

Yet some people seem to think we’re more expensive than Google.

So today we’ll show you how we beat AdWords on both quality and price – and why, if you aren’t already, you should start winning new customers with Bark right away.

The real problem with online advertising

The promise of “pay per click” (PPC) advertising is simple: if the people who click on your ads spend more than it costs you to provide your services and run your ads, you turn a profit.

Sounds easy, right?

The problem is, only a very small percentage the people who click your ads actually end up spending any money.

Imagine you’re a DJ looking to promote your services in Manchester. Let’s say you put an ad on Google which costs you 50p per click.

Being fairly tech savvy, your website is decent. But you know a high percentage of the people who click your ad will just be browsing. So, based on what you’ve read online, you expect around 12% of them to ask you for an estimate.

That means you can get 100 clicks for £50, and generate roughly 12 enquiries. That works out at £4.17 per enquiry.

Mind you, not all those enquiries will be useful. You might be busy on the day they need you, their budget might be too small, or they might be too far away for the trip to be worth your while.

But let’s assume 75% of the enquiries you get are for jobs you want to do. So from 100 clicks you receive nine valid enquiries, costing you £5.55 each.

Even though you respond promptly and politely to each of those nine people, only six of them get back to you. Perhaps the other three weren’t really serious in the first place. Maybe they simply forgot to respond. It’s annoying, sure, but these things happen.

You still have six potential customers who have read your quote – and each of which has cost you £8.33. But, of course, most people will shop around to make sure they get a good deal.

In our experience, people like to get 2-5 different quotes before they make a final decision. So let’s assume each of your leads has also contacted two other sellers – giving you a one in three chance of securing the business.

That should translate into two new customers, and an average cost per booking of £25.

Here’s what Bark does differently

Ask a marketer what’s different about Bark and the’ll say we’re “further along the buyer journey” than Bing or Google. What that means is, there are fewer opportunities for the buyer to drop off.

We handle all the PPC for you completely free of charge, and hunt down quality leads for your business using a variety of other techniques.

Then you can see exactly what your potential customers are looking for in advance, from their budget, to when and where they need your services – and everything else you might need to decide if they’re right for you.

Plus, you’ll never waste money on people who aren’t serious about hiring you, as we’ll refund every estimate you give that doesn’t get read.

Now, the average Bark gets just over two responses, and each potential customer may have tried somewhere else too.

You can respond to a DJ Bark for just five credits, which will usually cost you £5 + VAT. So if we assume they’ve contacted two other pros in total, your chance of winning the business is one in three again.

That means, in this example, each booking costs you just £18, and you save 28% compared to what Google would have charged you.

That’s why we believe Bark is a smarter, more effective way to find new customers online – but the story doesn’t end there:

You could save another 30% today

The bottom line here is that, in many cases, using Bark to grow your business can be much better value than other lead finding services.

Of course, every business is different, and it may be that PPC strategies work well for you – and if so, that’s great.

But if you’d prefer not to bother with the hassle and expense of managing an AdWords account, and don’t want to deal with the expense of hiring an agency to do it for you: we can help.

Not only can we often send you high quality leads at a fraction of the cost of Google AdWords, but you can also enjoy extra discounts on packs of Bark Credits – making our service even more profitable.

In fact, if you open a new Bark account today you’ll be able to claim an extra saving of 30% on your first credit pack.

It’s free to sign up, and we’ll start sending you quality leads right away.

So, if you’re not a Bark member already…

Click here and claim your FREE account today.

Four essential steps to getting the perfect customer review

Last week we looked at how our new reviews tool makes asking customers to leave feedback on your Bark profile easier than ever.

We believe getting great reviews is one of the most important things you can be doing to grow your business. But, unfortunately, a lot of the stuff you read online about how you should go about it is just plain wrong. So we’re continuing on the theme again this week.

This time, we’ll run you through four essential steps to help you get great feedback on your Bark profile – and debunk some of the worst myths about how to get reviews online along the way.

Step 1: Ask the right customers

People generally won’t spontaneously leave positive reviews on your site, no matter how great you are. So, if you want them to give you feedback, the first thing you’ll most likely need to do is ask them.

But if it’s good reviews you’re after, asking all of your customers usually isn’t the way to go.

“The right customers are the ones who are getting the most value out of your product,” explains customer support specialist Groove.

“After all, the best reviews don’t just praise a product; they make it abundantly clear exactly who the product is right for.”

You can identify these customers in a variety of ways. For example, if a customer is referring others to your business, then they’re probably very happy with it themselves.

Similarly, if a customer comes to you for repeat business that suggests they like what you do, and are highly likely to write you a good review.

Step 2: Ask at the right time

Good service is all about making peoples’ lives easier.

You come to us because we deal with the expensive and time-consuming business of marketing your business online for you. Similarly, people come to you because you can help them with something they lack the time, skills or inclination to do themselves.

But if you you leave it too long to ask for feedback, customers won’t appreciate having to wrack their brains trying to remember who you are or what job you did for them.

So the second “essential step” is to ask a customer for a review when you’re still at the top of their mind. That way, it’s easier for them to recall what happened and write an honest review.

We recommend sending your review requests within 14 days of completing a job for someone. Or, better yet, if you work in an industry like Personal Training you can simply ask your current customers to post their feedback.

Step 3: DON’T ask for a good review

Contrary to what you might read elsewhere online, you can’t coerce people into leaving good reviews with special offers. It’s not that it’s impossible to get good reviews this way. But it is deceptive – and, more often than not, a stunt like this will backfire.

“Want to know the best way to increase the number of reviews for your business? Just ask.” writes Forbes’ Nellie Akalp.

“Your customers understand how important reviews are to your business, and as long as you provide an excellent product or service, they won’t be annoyed if you ask for a review.”

But, on the other hand, they may well be annoyed if they feel like you’re not really interested in their opinions.

So while you absolutely should be asking for reviews, you should never ask specifically for a good review. Instead, ask for an honest one.

Step 4: Don’t forget the basics

Most importantly, it pays to remember the basics.

There are no shortcuts that will get you tons of reviews overnight. But there is one simple thing you’re probably already doing that will work far better over the long term than anything else.

It’s simple, it’s straightforward – and it works.

You see, the single most important thing you can do to get great reviews on your Bark profile is deliver an outstanding customer experience.

In Oracle’s 2011 Customer Experience Impact Report, the data company cites research that found that 86% of customers will pay more for a better customer experience.

Happy customers help you grow your business in other ways, too. Studies have consistently shown that satisfied customers are far more likely to tell other people about their experiences.

It can be easy to forget that, ultimately, everything your business does boils down to the quality of service you deliver in the first place.

But if you do a great job and have satisfied customers, that’s half the battle. From there, it’s just a matter of remembering to ask them to give their honest feedback while you’re still fresh in their mind.

Stick to these essential steps and you’ll be getting great reviews in no time – and thanks to our brand new reviews tool, asking happy customers to post reviews on your Bark Profile is now easier than ever. You can see how it works here.

Let us know how you get on! As always, you can reach us by email at team@bark.com.

Getting great reviews on your Bark Profile is now easier than ever

It’s Saturday night. You’ve invited friends over for a film and you fancy a takeaway. Someone suggests an Indian, so you type it into Google and five local restaurants pop up.

Which one do you choose?

Well, if you’re anything like us, you go for the one with the biggest number of positive reviews. If other people like it enough to write about their experiences then it must be good.

That’s why we believe getting positive reviews from your customers is one of the best ways to grow your business and attract more customers.

In this week’s Bark Bulletin, we’ll run you through how we’ve made it easier than ever for customers to leave reviews your Bark Profile – and show you how to start getting great reviews right away.

Why nothing beats a
good review

As a small business owner, we’re sure you already know what a powerful thing a good review can be.

Every company will say it’s good, even if it isn’t. But people know they can trust recommendations from their fellow customers.

In fact, one Zendesk survey found that 90% of people say positive reviews influence their buying decisions, and 86% say their decisions are influenced by negative reviews.

To see this for yourself, imagine you’ve just placed a Bark for Driving Lessons and the following two companies give you an estimate:

All other things being equal, most people will opt for the company with the five-star review.

That’s why it’s so important to ask customers to give you feedback on your Bark Profile – and today we’ll show you how.

But before we get to that, there’s one more benefit to getting more Bark reviews we haven’t mentioned yet…

You could get five
stars on Google

If you have a few reviews on your Bark Profile already, you might like to take a moment now to Google yourself and see this feature in action.

It’s one of our favourite features, as it has the potential to really set you apart from any other companies that crop up when a potential customer searches for local services in your area.

As you can see from this entry for one of our top Computer Repairs specialists, your reviews will show up in Google searches as star ratings:

We’re sure you can imagine what a difference a Google star rating could make for your business.

It could give you a real edge over your competitors and significantly improve your chances of getting hired.

So right now, we’re going to show you how to get one of your very own.

Now it’s easier than ever to
get great reviews on your
Bark Profile

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to streamline our reviews process, and now it’s easier than ever.

In fact, you can now request a review in a matter of seconds.

You see, every Bark Pro has their own review code.

It’s a unique web address that takes people directly to the reviews section of your Bark Profile. When they arrive, a pop-up box will prompt them to leave their feedback:

So, to request a review you simply send a message containing your review link to one of your customers.

Anyone who’s used your services can leave a review on your Bark Profile, even if they didn’t find you through Bark.

But remember, recent customers are far more likely to get back to you than older ones – so it’s best to get in touch and request a review within 14 days of completing the job.

Now, your review code is usually hidden away in your Bark Dashboard under your ‘Profile’ tab.

But, to be honest, we reckon it’s a bit of a pain having to dig it out every time you want to ask someone for feedback – so we’ve created a handy tool that makes the process a whole lot easier.

If you have your customer’s email address, it will automatically send them a short message asking them to leave some feedback on your profile page.

You’ll find it in the brand new ‘Reviews’ tab on your Bark Dashboard, and it looks like this:

Better yet, it’s really simple to use…

Whenever you want to request a review from one of your customers, simply enter their email, click ‘invite’ and the reviews tool will do the rest.

That’s really all there is to it!

You can test it out right now by finding the tool in your Dashboard and typing your own email address into the box.

Let us know how you get on. And, as always, if you have any questions send us an email at team@bark.com and we’ll be happy to help.

You’re hired! Join Nick Hewer and Bark.com for a day of SME insight

We’re delighted to announce that Nick Hewer, former right-hand man to Alan Sugar and highly successful businessman is set to join Bark.com on Tuesday, October 6^th, for a day of expert advice and insight into SME success.

Nick Hewer, Kai Feller and Andrew Michael — Nick and Bark.com’s founders

After 10 years on The Apprentice, Nick retired from the show at the end of the last season, and is now working as a consultant for a number of small businesses as he continues to make his mark on the UK’s entrepreneurial scene (as well as, of course, presenting Countdown!).

He’s been working with Bark.com since our inception (here’s him explaining how Bark works back in March) and as part of our partnership, next Tuesday, Nick will be taking part in a live Q&A session on via the @barkteam twitter page, giving budding entrepreneurs and small business owners the chance to have their business queries answered by the man himself.

Kai Feller and Nick Hewer shake hands — The start of a great partnership!

Have a burning question? Let us know using the #AskNick hashtag and we’ll do our best to go through as many as we can. Or, if you just happy to sit back and absorb the insights, tune in from 1-2pm.

If you can’t make it though, not to worry – we’ll also be sharing Nick’s top tips for SMEs on our YouTube channel and via our blog, so watch this space.