NiceJob helps Canadian franchises build their reputation and drive sales through customer feedback
By Lauren Huneault
As local business owners, franchisees know that the connection they have with their community is the ultimate asset. Positive interactions lead to repeat customers, who then spread the word about their great experiences.
Beyond in-person word of mouth, business owners can gain even more mileage from their tried-and-tested credibility by building up their online customer reviews. As people turn to web reviews to validate a product or service before buying, the more likely it is that positive online reviews become a determining factor in whether a business gets the sale or not.
That’s where NiceJob comes in. The online platform helps you solicit customer reviews to fuel your business. “The goal is to help you drive sales through your reputation,” explains Jesse Sadja, customer success manager with NiceJob.
Campaigns that turn customers into fans
NiceJob’s origin story highlights the impact and importance of customer feedback. The company’s founder, Lars Kristensen, previously built a hugely successful window cleaning business.
“He started the business to test out his new proof of concept of how to grow your business with really the oldest marketing out there – word of mouth, with a modern twist on it,” says Sadja. “He grew this massive window cleaning company using what was the skeleton of NiceJob at the time – focusing on getting more reviews from customers and using those reviews to get more sales.”
NiceJob was born from this experience, and the company now uses its reputation marketing platform to help brands, including franchises, turn their customers into fans, and amplify those fans’ voices. The subscription-based software creates campaigns to help local business owners collect reviews.
The campaigns typically work like this: using a customer list provided by the franchisee, NiceJob will create a two-week campaign to reach those customers, starting with an initial text message asking them to leave a review. Then, several other touchpoints encourage customers to provide feedback. When a customer leaves a review, they’re automatically removed from the campaign. NiceJob’s other features – like widgets that post reviews directly on a franchisee’s website, and Social Sharing, which automatically adds all positive reviews to the company’s preferred social media pages – help to not only gather reviews, but ensure that they’re front and centre in their marketing efforts.
Sadja adds that one benefit for franchisees is access to the “super widget,” which compiles reviews from the brand’s different franchisee websites so all reviews can be found in one place. This also helps newer franchisees draw on the franchise’s brand power when they haven’t yet had the opportunity to build those local connections.
Building a strong franchise reputation
Oscar Wimshurst, manager of partnerships and alliances with NiceJob, says NiceJob is ideal for franchisees.
“Franchisees by nature are local businesses – in the way those organizations are structured, you operate in your area and NiceJob is just perfect when you’re trying to dominate a particular region in a particular industry.”
The NiceJob platform is cost-effective and easy to use, notes Sadja, which means franchisees have time to focus on other aspects of their business, and spend more time with their families.
He also points to the relationship between NiceJob and its customers as an asset. “We’re a customer-first company and one of our biggest mottos is ‘how can we turn our customers into fans of NiceJob,’” he explains. “My goal is to build the best relationship with you … We work hard to create a great experience for franchisees and franchisors.”
Sadja says the biggest benefit to franchisees is the increase in sales that comes with building a stronger online reputation. “Over 90 per cent of people will read into a company’s reputation before deciding to hire them. The goal is to make you top rated, especially on Google, in your area.”
Sadja highlights the work they’ve done with one of their successful franchise brands in Canada: Little Kickers.
Little Kickers provides soccer coaching for children at locations throughout the country. When the brand’s Canadian CEO, Frank Stanschus, started working with NiceJob, Little Kickers had received 200 reviews over a 10-year period. Now, eight months later, it boasts 2,185 reviews, with a 4.8-star rating. That’s a 993 per cent increase in the number of reviews in a 10th of the time!
“NiceJob was a solution that was easily implemented and allowed us to continue doing our jobs while the software worked in the background,” says Stanschus. “The reviews themselves are the ROI … When people look, they can see that we’re a very reputable coast-to-coast company that does a consistently good job for a large number of customers.”
Stanschus also notes the importance of working with a Canadian brand. “We are a Canadian company; we want to work with Canadian brands. And we want to be part of a big Canadian success story.”
Creating a complete customer solution
Sadja says that NiceJob is looking to expand its work with the Canadian franchise community. He also notes that, beyond ongoing changes to the platform based on customer feedback, there are big changes on the horizon for NiceJob.
In 2021, NiceJob was acquired by Paystone, a payment processing company, along with Data Candy, a customer loyalty management software. The reason behind the acquisitions is that “Paystone is creating a one-stop customer ecosystem, which helps your customers to pay, allows them to buy gift cards and collect loyalty points, and encourages them to leave reviews and referrals,” explains Sadja.
Wimshurst says integrating a gift and loyalty solution will ultimately help further NiceJob’s goal of turning its clients’ customers into their raving fans. “You can identify your best customers because they leave the best reviews, and you can send them gifts or rewards that turn them from great customers into raving fans and your best new ‘salespeople.’”
Putting franchisees on the map
Sadja notes that as franchisees receive positive reviews, the more likely they are to make it into the “local pack” section of Google, which highlights businesses in a certain area based on different criteria, mainly the number and quality of reviews.
“The goal is to show off that reputation, drive attention to it, and get people to contact you,” adds Sadja. “We’re basically adding what I call ‘social currency’ to the websites of our customers.”
Wimshurst adds that NiceJob is the perfect tool to help new franchisees get their name out there in the early stages of business ownership.
“It’s when it has the most impact, when you’re starting out and you’re looking for cost efficient and effective ways to grow your business,” he explains. “Most businesses start out by word of mouth, and this is turbo-charged word of mouth. We’re getting your reputation as strong as it can be, as fast as possible, and that’s going to get you off the ground as quickly as you can.”
To connect with the NiceJob team and learn more, please visit https://nicejob.grsm.io/franchisecanada.