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Is your business open during times the majority of customers are looking for your service?
With Google's emphasis on showing business hours AND hanging a big red "Closed Now" sign on your listing after hours, it's super important to make sure your hours are correct. And when she's showing that "Closed Now" label, have you ever wondered how much potential business you are losing?
If I had an emergency at 10PM, who am I going to call in the pack above! The one that's open right? Note that one at the bottom of the pack has the least amount of reviews - but if a consumer is in need, they'll call whoever looks open. (So in this case "Open" trumps both ranking and reviews.)
I read an interesting post By Dan Paradee Energy Circle last week.
<a href="http://www.energycircle.com/blog/2015/08/24/avoid-being-%E2%80%9Cclosed-now%E2%80%9D-google">Avoid Being “Closed Now” on Google! | Energy Circle PRO | Energy Circle PRO</a>
Most companies are open 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, so what happens when a customer is using Google at 5:30 pm? As of August 7th, Google has taken to hanging the ‘Closed Now’ sign shamefully around the neck of businesses after hours. Ouch.
A five month study of a successful home performance companies phone data found that 13.2% of calls occur outside the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00pm, while an incredible 19.8% of calls occur outside the hours of 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. If you have made the mistake of opening at 9:00 am instead of 8:00 am, you could be missing out on major call volume.
Above is just a partial snippet, click through to read the rest.
But Dan basically goes on to say everyone should set their hours to 24 hours a day as long as they have an answering machine taking calls, rather than lose business.
While I'm all for boosting sales, I would never recommend fudging hours. Google wants them accurate!. PLUS if I was the consumer with a leak & called you because your listing said you were open... I would be ticked that you weren't and I only got voice mail and a return call the next day.
However I would bring this up to clients, show them a screenshot like the one above for their business, when it's closed. And ask to be sure they have the longest possible hours set up on GMB when the phone can really be answered and service can be provided. Possibly encourage them to track how early and late most calls come in via voicemail and change staff hours so someone answers phone 2 hours earlier and 2 hours later, or whatever their call times dictate.
Most consultants think of hours as far as just making sure they are accurate. Depending on the type of business call times could be critical. So given the red "Closed Now" sign and how it could cost leads and sales - maybe it's time to think of hours as just one more small way to boost conversion rates.
Just one more thing to talk to clients about to ensure they know you have their back and are always looking for every opportunity to increase sales - not just ranking!
What do you think?
Have you ever looked at hours as a conversion rate factor???
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