Online reviews of a service is the lifeblood of small businesses today. Reviews can make or break a small business and are a powerful tool consumers have for leveraging positive experiences from businesses.
Studies prove that when a customer is unhappy with a product or service, they are more likely to voice their frustrations online in the form of a negative review.
But if a customer is happy with a product or service they are less likely to share that positive experience by leaving a positive review.
This is an ongoing struggle for all small businesses regardless of industry. There are paid services, companies can employ to gain more reviews, which can range from inexpensive to not cheap.
Often a potential client or customer is more likely to go with the company with the most reviews yet they themselves won’t leave a review.
In our business we have noticed a 20% follow through with our clients. Meaning 8 out of 10 clients who love our work, for whatever reason will not leave a review. Upon further research into this, it seems to be a common threshold across the board.
The other side to this coin are paid reviews. Some small businesses choose to buy reviews in order to gain larger market share. For instance, in order to get into what is called the Map Pack on Google, a business needs 15 reviews. For a small business just starting out, that can be an impossible pill to swallow. So to increase their marketability many small businesses will buy reviews instead of gaining them organically.
Of course it’s against Google’s rules but it’s a chance some business owners are willing to take.
At Carrigan Painting, all of our reviews are organic. After 15+ years we have worked very hard for the reviews we have and feel it discredits our company to fraudulently gain more.

If you’ve ever wondered who still fixes plaster in Western New York, well, that’s us. Carrigan Painting has spent 15+ years patching old ceilings, learning a few things the hard way. Carrigan Painting isn’t a big franchise or a fly-by-night crew and we’re probably the only painters in the area who get excited about old plaster and patchwork
We take a lot of pride in truly seamless repairs.
We don’t just claim we can do something; we back it up with hundreds of real job photos, all categorized by the type of job and location.
This Archive/blog isn’t a sales pitch, just stories, tips, and a few lessons from the field.
Every case study here is written and curated by our owner & founder, Dave Carrigan Jr., a third-generation tradesman and the driving force behind Carrigan Painting.
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