At what point does BBB accreditation become a good investment?

[JesseCWalker]

Hi Nakul,

No this is indeed quite helpful!

If I'm hearing you correctly you are saying that the conversion rate bump should be the main factor.  The SEO effects are minor in comparison.

The trial lawyers derive maybe 10% of their business from the webpage.  But the other theoretical groups derive most of their revenue from online leads (perhaps 80%).

The massage business makes 80k annually from online leads.  They traditionally convert about 1% of their local visitors into customers.   So if they could boost this to even 1.02% that would mean 2% total increase in revenue derived online or about $1600.  That is pretty good for a $350/year invest.

hmmm....   Thanks Nakul I think this is the clearer way to think about it.

[EGOL]

Jesse,

I really respect that you carefully thought about each member's posting and shared how it might apply to your projects.

It is beneficial for everyone to have these discussions.

Keep up the great work!

[NakulGoyal]

Yup. In that case, I'd go with a BBB listing for the Massage business as well as the Law Firm.

[EGOL]

One new contact as result of the trust signal is worth quite a bit to them.

Good point.  One new client could justify decades of membership fees.

[danatanseo]

Hi Jesse,

I agree with Robert here and also EGOL's comment below that your interaction and discussion has led to a fruitful conversation. BBB accreditation is something we have considered many times. Honestly, we've gotten great "acceleration" out of just focusing on our local business listings and citations. Since we haven't even completed the free opportunities there, there's no point (in our minds) of spending money until l we've exhausted all of our free opportunities.

I encourage everyone here to avail themselves of all the opportunities at http://www.getlisted.org and the citation tool at White Spark before biting the bullet with a BBB paid listing.

Cheers!

Dana

[JesseCWalker]

Thanks for the encouragement EGOL.

I also appreciate how diligent you have been answering questions on the Q and A.   I've benefited from your answers here quite a few times.

[JesseCWalker]

Hi Dana,

Thanks for the input.  I think that what we are learning from all the fine experts who have posted here is that the SEO benefits of the accreditation are not the primary factor.   As you say there are plenty of other options that are less costly that create movement in the SERPs.

Get Listed and Whitespark are fantastic and I would recommend both of these resources as well!

The BBB accreditation may be worth it if it can move conversions even a slight amount.  So the question for most businesses is as Nakul says: How much do you make from your website?

and then

How much will the accreditation boost revenue through increased conversions?

The higher the price point of the service/product (and the longer the research cycle before purchase) the more those 3 little B's are worth the investment.

[GKLA]

We have been members of the BBB of Los Angeles (Southland Chapter) for many many years. Within the last few days, the chapter we belong to was expelled by the National BBB Council - this affected tens of thousands of businesses in the Los Angeles area.

It is unprecedented and quite honestly pathetic.  We put our trust into an organization that builds trust with consumers.  I don't believe this has ever happened in the history of the BBB.

The National BBB council has set up a temporary website with all Los Angeles area businesses registered with the BBB - although ratings for every single Los Angeles business is blanked out.

[RobertFisher]

GKLA

Thanks so much for this post. I hope a lot of those who answered before will thumb it up so others can see. The point is this is a business (BBB) and they trade off of their being not for profit as meaning that they are unbiased. It does not mean that in the least. I have seen cities where reasonable industries are not allowed and yet they are allowed in others. I have seen individual directors where I have bought a business, offered to compensate those who had complained of the previous owners, and still not been able to change the director's point of view. That one person (who IMO "owns" that BBB) controls all. Yes, I have seen others who conducted themselves very well and I felt like it was money well spent. But, my first experience spoiled it all for me:

Years ago as an RN I started a nursing company in a major US city. (Top 5 in population). About 6 months to a year in, a guy comes to my office from the BBB. He starts in with how they are getting a lot of calls about my business and it was important that I be a part of the BBB. "How many calls are you getting?" Quite a few. "Really??" Oh, yes, people blah blah blah the BBB. "OK, give me the names or organizations of some of those who called?" Sir, we do not give out that kind of information!! We are not allowed to!!! "Oh, so can you tell me on what days they called and at what time?" No sir, that data is confidential and part of the blah blah blah as a non profit blah blah.

Please note that at that time my business was HIGHLY SPECIALIZED. I was a critical care registered nurse with very specific cardiovascular ICU abilities who started the business at the behest of a couple of CV Surgeons to bring people with my skill set to a particular hospital. We had branched out at that time to hospital number two and we did not have a sales force going out to hospitals. We simply had someone call us from hospital number one who knew someone at hospital number two. So, we were not good at marketing and we were too busy to do it. No one other than the management at those hospitals knew about us. The nurses we recruited were almost all word of mouth through our contacts and the nurses who worked for us due to the skill set that was needed.

Now, that does not mean they all lie or that they still use the famous "Lot's of people are a calling about ya." But when you are young in business and that happens, it lingers for a long, long, time."

Sorry to hear of your problem. Hope the word gets out so that others who are BBB members realize what can happen.

Best,

Robert

PS If you truly want to see how BBB handles a consumer complaint from the Businesses point of view sometimes, have a problem with a large auto sales company (branded dealer) that contributes a lot to one of their locations. Uhh, why do you need a car sir???

[JesseCWalker]

Thanks for contributing this GKLA and Robert, thank you for sharing your experience.  All of this confirms that gut feeling that I get in interacting with the BBB sales person local representative.

I haven't been impressed with how we have been treated.  A lot of hard sell and not much substance.  It's always just "Pony up your $350/year and people will trust you more".  It may be true but I don't think we should perpetuate the idea that buying an accreditation makes one business more trustworthy than the next.

Let's build our trust by being good to our customers instead of buying meaningless badges.

[shendison]

I just emailed a new client who asked the same question and answered that yes I did think so, and that I joined the BBB myself last year for the first time since i closed by brick and mortar computer store in 2002. I joined because thought (and still do) that it was a relevant and respected trust signal not just to Google, but to end users and anyone looking at my sites also, so I shelled out the $700+ annual fee.

That said,the BBB does sort of have an expensive racket going, don't they?

[JesseCWalker]

Hey Scott,

Thanks for the input.  I eventually decided not to advise the BBB to any of my very small clients.  For mom and pops with revenues of less than 100k I just can't see it being a good ROI (at 0.5% of total revenue.  And as much as 10% of the total marketing budget!)

That $500 per year could be better spent on a review campaign that would, I think, score a lot more trust points.

But a certain size I think the BBB does make sense but I'm not quite sure where yet.

[Patchryan]

Thanks for sharing those tools Dana. Planning on checking them out ASAP.

[Patchryan]

They do indeed have an expensive racket going. I just joined the chapter here in Denver and spent $700+ as well. Hopefully it is worth it.

[jsinteractive]

Patrick, was it worth it?

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