As a roofing manufacturer, your website is an important sales tool. Are you using it to its full potential?
If you’re not optimizing your contractor locator page, you’re almost certainly not.
The rapidly growing roofing industry, on its way to reaching a $156 billion value in 2030, is very competitive and not slowing down anytime soon. If you want an edge on the competition, you’ll have to act on every opportunity to build up your sales pipeline.
Your contractor locator, as simple as it may seem, can be the perfect place to start. Done right, it’s an effective vehicle for increasing sales from your digital presence.
Here, we’ll cover 5 best practices for contractor locators that are proven to drive more roofing sales:
1. Implement Geolocation Detection
When a homeowner or commercial building owner needs roofing services — and specifically likes your brand of roofing materials — you’ll want to match them with a contractor that uses your products as quickly as possible, even as soon as they land on your website.
How do you do this? Geolocation detection. By automatically detecting the location of your web visitors, your site can instantly show them great nearby contractors.
This seems like a minor feature to add, but it’s a big deal. Roofing clients are busy and often have urgent roof installation or repair needs. If you can shorten their contractor search by even a few seconds, you’ll reduce the chances they’ll get distracted and leave your site, and move them much closer to the point of sale.
CertainTeed is a roofing manufacturer that gets this right. On their “Find a Pro” page, a helpful geolocation detection feature ensures that users only see products available in their area. Optionally, users can override this by typing in a specific zip code.
After that, users simply have to select the type of installation they need, agree to the terms and conditions, and click “Search” to find local contractors.
By doing a bit of work upfront — that is, determining where your web visitors are located and showing them the most relevant results — you’re closing the gap for them and making the eventual purchase easier.
2. Show Reviews and Other Contractor Details
The needs of roofing clients are often stressful enough. The last thing they want to worry about is picking the right contractor.
Finding one who has great credentials and years of experience to show can provide much peace of mind. That’s another key function your contractor locator can serve.
Include a rich level of detail about the local contractors who use your materials, and you’ll instantly engage those prospects who need more info before spending on installations or repairs.
Customer reviews are especially important to show in listings. They give your prospects a clear sense of what to expect when they sign off on roofing work. Other key data to feature includes certifications, project specialties, and promotions.
Owens Corning shows us how to do it. Their locator shows contractor reviews, specialties, and training certifications, helping customers make a quick informed decision.
After reviewing those details and choosing a professional they’re interested in, users can click the big red “Request a Quote” button. This should enable both Owens Cornings and the contractor to follow up later.
Your customers will never fault you for pointing them to a great local contractor, and on top of that, you are displaying reviews and extra info about their services. Using these elements on your locator page will increase the value of your website overall.
3. Use a Locator Software That Generates Leads
Not all contractor locators are built the same.
If you want to know who your roofing leads are before they even pay a contractor, make sure you have a locator that’s able to collect their contact details. Few locators can do this, but those built with the Bullseye Location software can.
Bullseye-built locators are lead generation tools that allow you to nurture relationships with prospects, rather than just handing them off to contractors and losing insight into who they are.
Through email follow-up, customers will get to know, like, and trust your brand over time. This means only good things for your revenues and overall sales process.
Bullseye’s sales benefits for roofing manufacturers also include the ability to:
- Link to rich content that builds your website’s local SEO and helps customers even more in deciding among contractors
- Highlight contractors who earn great customer service marks and drive the most business
- Promote a contractor’s local deals and seasonal promotions to customers in your area
With Bullseye, you can show goodwill and demonstrate ROI with select contractors as your locator page generates more and more leads for them over time. That represents a key competitive advantage you can gain over other manufacturers.
At the same time, you’re helping end consumers by giving them all the information they need in a well-designed “Where to Buy” page. It’s a win-win!
4. Design Your Locator Page for a Great User Experience (UX)
Your web visitors want to get information and connect with a contractor quickly, and with minimal distraction.
On your website, the process should be more than convenient. It should be a pleasure. That’s what great user experience (UX) design achieves. For a contractor locator, a superior experience entails everything from geolocation detection to a clean, simple, and accessible design.
Rollex, the manufacturer of steel siding, does a lot well in this regard. Their locator’s geolocation detection automatically shows local dealers to the user, sparing them from typing in an address.
In seconds, prospects instantly know how far the closest dealer is and can plan a visit accordingly. A large, dynamic map helps to visualize driving distances.
What’s missing here that would make the user experience even better? A call-to-action button that allows leads to submit contact info and make inquiries, as well as local content pages that share more detail on each pro’s services and specialties.
Note: Bullseye adds these features to contractor locator listings in a snap.
Nonetheless, Rollex’s page is well-designed, free of distractions, and perfectly clear for customers looking for the closest siding dealer. The locator makes it easy for customers to save dealer information if they come across one or two they like.
Those are great starting points for keeping web users happy and focused on the right next step. In building your locator page, give thought to any details and design elements that can make the contractor-finding experience as pleasant as can be.
5. Implement Local SEO Content
Gone are the days when manufacturer websites were just static digital brochures. For a site to make sales, it should be filled with content that builds your brand and reinforces your local relevance wherever contractors are using your materials.
Local search engine optimization (SEO) can help you achieve this. 46% of searchers are looking for local information online, so you’ll want to be found by them right away.
It starts by adding great local content, and optimizing it where you can with the keywords those searchers are using. Weave those phrases throughout the text in a sensible way, and Google will reward you with better listings in search results.
The top roofing manufacturer GAF does exactly this with their locator. First, the geolocation detection feature automatically takes users to a listing of nearby contractors. From there, customers can click “View Profile” to see some locally optimized content about the pro they’re interested in.
This makes it more likely that someone Googling the words “roofing contractors in Charleston SC” will land on GAF’s locator and find exactly what they’re looking for.
Other things that GAF does well: an internal search bar (so that users can find what they’re looking for, no matter where they are on the site), ratings, contact links allowing users to place calls instantly, and a separate section listing GAF’s “Certified” contractors.
By personalizing the experience and using SEO best practices to capture specific search queries, you’ll attract more customers with wallet in hand.
Want More Roofing Sales? Use a Contractor Locator Built for Business
Make no mistake. Roofing manufacturers must stand out in an industry that’s as competitive as ever.
Your peers are quickly learning the value of the internet in driving sales, so this is no time to lose ground.
To stay on top, ensure that you’re driving sales through the main digital “bridge” on your website: your contractor locator. It should offer a great user experience, provide rich detail on contractors, automatically detect user locations, and offer hyper-relevant local info. All of that makes it easier for your prospects to buy.
The most powerful thing your locator can do, however, is generate leads.
Bullseye contractor locator pages capture lead information with ease, while providing a best-in-class experience to web users. It also lets you attribute sales to specific contractors, so you can prove ROI and influence even more purchases of your products.
Bullseye allows your locator to become a helpful assistant for end customers, a strong appeal for contractors, and a boon to your sales. Ready to see what it can do for your bottom line? Schedule a free assessment of your current locator page toda
