Getting Started
      Back to home
      1. Help Center
      2. Getting Started

      Contractor Commerce Success Playbook

      Comprehensive guide to using Contractor Commerce

      Table of Contents:

      1. Onboarding
        1. Overview
        2. Checklist
        3. Additional Configuration
      2. Store Implementation
      3. Pricing & Discounting
        1. Overview
        2. Products
          1. Markup
          2. Auto Delivery Discount
        3. System Pricing
      4. Team Training & Activation
        1. Overview
        2. Scripts
        3. SPIFs
      5. Marketing
        1. Overview
        2. Website Design/Implementation
        3. Website Design Statistics
        4. Website Best Practices
        5. Additional Design Examples
      6. Assets
        1. Stickers/Magnets with QR Code
        2. Other Assets
      7. Grand Opening
      8. Ongoing Marketing
        1. Marketing Tactics
        2. Google Business Profile
        3. Google SERP

       

      Onboarding

       

      Overview

      Onboarding is a quick and easy process to set up your new Contractor Commerce account.  The Contractor Commerce Success Team is here to guide you through onboarding.  After you created your account, you were directed to a page to schedule your first onboarding appointment.  If you did not schedule onboarding, schedule it below:  

      Book an onboarding meeting

      or email us at success@contractorcommerce.com.

       

      Checklist

      During your onboarding calls with the Contractor Commerce Success Team, we will guide you through a predefined list of required onboarding steps and train you on how to access and use the Command Center to operate your new online store. The onboarding checklist is displayed when you log into the web-based “Command Center” dashboard at app.contractorcommerce.com.

       

      The minimum required onboarding steps are:

      • Sign Contractor Commerce Agreement
      • Company Profile
        • Logo
        • Website
        • Phone Number
        • Address
      • Signed Resale Certificate
      • Bank Account Configured
      • Shop Added to Website
      • Test Order or Lead

       

      Additional Configuration

      In addition to the basic required onboarding checklist, there are several other settings to review within your account.  The exact steps will depend on the store features you intend to use, but can include things like:

      • Add users
      • Configure notifications
      • Set your product markup
      • Prioritize products in your catalog
      • Add services to your catalog
      • Add systems to your catalog
      • Customize systems questionnaire

      For assistance with onboarding, connect with the Contractor Commerce Success Team at success@contractorcommerce.com.

       

      Store Implementation

      The Contractor Commerce plug-and-play online store solution is easy to install on your existing company website so your customers can shop and buy directly on your site without ever being redirected to another site.  This allows them to see your logo/brand throughout the shopping experience.  It is truly your store.

       

      To implement your store, take the following steps:

      1. Log into your company website content management system (CMS)
      2. Create a new page called Shop at www.yourcompanydomain.com/shop (top-level directory)
        1. Make sure this new page uses a template that removes any “hero banner” or left or right-rail page elements so the shop appears “above the fold” (no content between the top navigation/header and the shop) and is not horizontally restricted by left or right-side content.  Click this link for an example of a properly-implemented shop page: https://demoshop.contractorcommerce.com/shop/#/products
      3. Log into the Contractor Commerce Command Center at app.contractorcommerce.com and navigate to Settings > Shop/Store > Plugin/Code
      4. Copy the plugin code snippet (see screenshot)
      5. Paste the code snippet into the body of the new /shop page in your CMS
      6. Save the new page in your CMS

      *Note: If you need assistance, contact your website/marketing agency or our Success Team at success@contractorcommerce.com.

       

      Pricing & Discounting

      Overview

      Your new online store gives you an entirely new sales channel with different economics.  Your cost structure to deliver products and quote jobs will be different than your traditional brick-and-mortar business.  Also, often your online sales will be incremental to your core business, which gives you flexibility to experiment with different pricing models to attract and retain a new kind of buyer.

       

      Recurring revenue is a powerful business model that creates compounding revenue and increased customer loyalty.  Your online store is built to unlock and enable a strong recurring revenue structure within your business through auto-delivery product subscriptions as well as automatic recurring billing/renewal for maintenance memberships and other services.

       

      Products

      Markup

      The most successful companies choose a product markup between 20 - 40%.  A markup in this range usually allows you to be competitive with other online retailers while giving yourself enough margin to offer discounts to incentivize customers to sign up for an auto-delivery subscription or respond to a promotion driven by a coupon code.  A markup higher than this range may price you out of the market on certain items, and a markup below this range doesn’t give you the room you need to offer discounts.

       

      Auto Delivery Discount

      We recommend that you offer a discount to customers to incentivize them to choose auto delivery when buying a filter.  The discount should be at least 10% to get the buyer’s attention and motivate them to start a subscription.  It may be better to increase your overall product markup by another 5% so that you can offer a 15% discount for auto delivery.

       

      System Pricing

      Customers are coming to your website because they want pricing transparency on installed systems. When offering online system quotes, we recommend that you use your real fully-installed system prices.  You can choose to show your fully-installed price, your “pay over time” financing/leasing price, both at the same time, or neither.  We recommend showing both.  This builds trust with the customer and sets your company apart from the competition.  It also qualifies potential buyers so the people who do become a lead and schedule a home visit through the online system quoting questionnaire are much more likely to buy once they have seen your true pricing.  There are disclaimers in the store to inform customers that every price is an estimate and a site visit is required to confirm a final price.

       

      Team Training & Activation

      Overview

      Launching an online store is a team effort.  You cannot expect to implement an online store on your company website and maximize sales without involving your team.  Your employees, when properly trained, incentivized, and measured, will be one of your most important resources in driving sales through your online store.

       

      Every interaction with your customers, by phone or in their home, is an opportunity to educate the customer about your online shopping options and offer to assist them in placing an order.  Your customer service representatives in the office and your technicians, installers, and comfort advisors in the field need to understand why you are launching an online store and, ideally, be incentivized to help you reach your goals.

       

      Scripts

      The following are a few helpful scripts that your team can use with your customers:

       

      CSR Texting Scripts - FILTERS

      Thanks for booking your maintenance, _________. Don’t forget to order your filters on our website so that they are onsite for your appointment! Our technician will be happy to install them for you! [insert shop products tab link]

       

      We are so excited to do your system tune-up,________! Visit our website today to order your filters online so that our technician can install them for you! [insert shop products tab link]

       

      Did you know that you can order your filters online through our website, _______? Visit us at [insert shop products tab link]. You can even schedule auto delivery every quarter! Use code [insert coupon code] to get $___ off your first order!

       

      CSR Texting Scripts - Service Agreements

      Hi Mr./Mrs________! Thanks for calling us at ABC Heating and Air to do your service last week! Did you know that you can join our [insert name of membership plan] through our website? Visit us at [insert shop services tab link]  to see the benefits and sign up!

       

      We are glad that you scheduled your tune up for next week, Mr/Mrs________.  If you’d like to join our [insert name of membership plan] before our visit to get all of the additional discounts and benefits, you can do that online at [insert shop services tab link] 

       

      Hi Mr/Mrs_________! Did you know that we now offer monthly billing for our [insert name of membership plan]? You can sign up online by going to our online store at [insert shop services tab link] 

       

      It’s time to renew your service agreement with us at [insert company name]! For your convenience, you can now sign up and pay online at [insert shop services tab link] 

      Use code [insert coupon code] to get $___ off of your service agreement for [insert year]!

       

      CSR Texting Scripts - Systems

      Just wanted to make sure that you knew that we now offer online system design and quotes. Visit us at www.yourwebsite.com/systems to get your personalized estimate.

       

      These are just a few examples of texts that your office staff can send to your new and existing customers before and after scheduled calls.

       

      The use of coupon codes for the first service is a great way to drive traffic to your site. Coupons/promotions are great for out bounding to fill the board, great for follow up before or after a scheduled service call and great for text marketing when it’s time for service agreement renewals.

       

      Our suggestion is to have this document open on the CSRs desktop and copy and paste the chat for more efficient time management. Please make sure to personalize the text with your company name and the name of your maintenance plan.


      If you need help with training or a more personalized Contractor Success Plan, please email us at success@contractorcommerce.com.

       

      SPIFs

      Incentive programs can be a powerful method to focus your team on the behaviors that help customers and help the company.  Since it is so important for your office and field staff to help you promote the online store, Contractor Commerce offers functionality to launch and manage an incentive program to reward employees for making sales via the online store.  The platform is very flexible and can be customized. Our Success Team can work with you to configure your account to track SPIFs based on a % or a fixed dollar amount for each type of sale made in the online store.  During checkout, the customer is prompted to enter “Who helped you with this order?” like in the screenshot below.

       

      SPIF reporting is available within the Contractor Commerce Command Center at app.contractorcommerce.com, so you can log in and pull a report for any date range to see how many sales each employee made and how much they earned.

       

      Note: The Contractor Commerce system does not pay incentives to your employees.  We track it and you pay them based on our reporting.

       

      To learn more about the SPIF program, contact us at success@contractorcommerce.com.

       

      Marketing

      Overview

      Installing an online store on your company website will not result in very many sales unless you drive traffic to your store.  You can enlist your team to show the store to your customers and help them place orders, and you can also use targeted marketing to drive traffic to your store.  The right kind of marketing to your existing customer base and potential customers in your service area will drive results.

       

      Website Design/Implementation

      When implementing a new online store, start by thinking about how to capture sales from the traffic that you already have on your company website.  When visitors come to your site, you have an opportunity to show them “calls to action” (CTAs) to influence their behavior and help them know what to do on each page.  In this case, we want them to:

      1. Know you have an online store
      2. Know what they can buy or do in your online store
      3. Visit the online store
      4. Shop and buy from the online store

       

      Website Design Statistics

      1. 94% of first impressions relate to your site’s website design
      2. 75% of your credibility comes from design
      3. Well-designed websites have a 200% (or 3x) higher conversion rate for orders over  poorly designed websites
      4. Users develop an opinion about your website in less than 0.1 seconds (roughly 0.05s)

       

      Website Best Practices

      1. Assume every customer that visits your website knows nothing about HVAC or plumbing and design your website accordingly
      2. Your “hero banner” aka “slider image” on your home page is the most valuable real estate on your website. Use it to promote your most profitable services.
      3. Your website is an extension of your company. Use personal language that makes your website visitors feel welcomed and allows you to connect with them as if you were meeting face to face.  
      4. Implement the store at a top-level directory, such as www.yourcompanydomain.com/shop, not like www.yourcompanydomain.com/indoor-air-quality/shop.
      5. Place a link to the shop in your top navigation, not buried in a sub-menu, and make sure the link to the shop is visible in your main menu on mobile as well as desktop.  Only 38% of users even make it to the navigational links when visiting a site for the first time. This means you could lose out on 60% of potential first-time-customers when you don’t have an easily visible button on the front of your page and even more if the only link to the shop is in a sub-menu.
      6. Make the link(s) to the shop (“calls to action” or CTAs) stand out with a button or other design and make sure the CTAs are “above the fold” (near the top of the page where users can see them without scrolling down).  Use bright colors and urgency to generate interest.  On average, users only read about 28% of text on a page, so placement of your CTAs above the fold is critical.
      7. The most successful sites don’t limit themselves to one button or link. You can create CTAs to each of the shop modules that you are utilizing like your filter shop, services, as well as system quotes and invoice payments.  Create buttons for each module.
      8. Add “internal linking” to the shop from other pages on your site.  For example, if you have an Indoor Air Quality page or a Coupons page, you should have buttons/links within the content of that page to direct visitors to buy products from your store.
      9. Enable the “Floating Sidebar” feature in your Contractor Commerce account to draw even more visitors to your shop - see the “Buy Filters” button on the right side of the screenshot below.

       

      Go to https://demoshop.contractorcommerce.com/ to see a demo/example website where we have used our best practices to showcase these tips. For more information on how to structure your CTAs, visit our article.

       

      Screenshot below with CTAs noted. For more CTA examples visit our article

       

      Additional Design Examples:

       

       

      Assets

      Stickers/Magnets with QR Code

      Stickers, magnets, flyers, postcards, and “leave-behinds” can be used to effectively direct customers to your site to buy filters and other products and services from your online store.

       

      Email success@contractorcommerce.com for assistance with your own custom design like the examples below. For more information on QR codes visit our article. 

       

      Other Assets

      In order to support marketing efforts for a grand opening launch as well as ongoing promotion of your new online store, we recommend that you consider preparing the following assets:

      1. Email templates
      2. Social media posts
      3. Videos for social media
      4. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads

       

      Grand Opening

      The most successful contractors schedule a “grand opening” marketing launch to announce the opening of their new online store.  We recommend that you create a coupon code within the Contractor Commerce Command Center and offer a limited time grand opening discount to anyone who places an order within a specified date range.  The grand opening should be promoted to your existing customer base via email, social media, on your company website, and with stickers/magnets/handouts on every service call.  Your office team can mention the online store when customers call in.  This is a great way to build early momentum and educate your customers about this new, convenient shopping option.

       

      Ongoing Marketing

      Marketing Tactics

      Consistent marketing is key to drive customer engagement and sales growth. Here are a few recommendations:

      • Post about the store on social media every couple of weeks at a minimum. Run seasonal promotions with coupon codes to incentivize people to click and place an order.
      • Email your customers at least quarterly and remind them about the online store.  Like with social posts, run seasonal promotions with coupon codes to incentivize people to click and place an order.
      • Record videos for website, email and social media
      • Create a PPC campaign for instant online system quotes
      • Optimize SEO for the store - filter sales, service agreements and online quote tool.
      • Create employee sales contest - use the SPIF program within Contractor Commerce to track employee sales and SPIF earnings
      • Include a standard link to the store from every employee’s email signature, like: Click Here to Shop Online (make it an active link to your shop page)
      • Include a similar link in the footer of your company email template, invoice template, or any other document that your service management software or accounting software sends to your customers
      • Last but not least, leverage your Google business profile and your Google search engine results page (SERP) to bring more traffic to your store, as described below.

      Google Business Profile

      Update your Google My Business profile to add products so they show up when someone views your company in any Google application. This will allow your customers quick access to your products, services, and system quote functionality within your store. 

       

      This is even more important when customers are searching on mobile devices or on  Google Maps as your products show up under your profile.

      “Add Product” is a great way to showcase your key shop items. Add a picture and link your services, your system quote tool, or a specific product you’d like to feature.

       

       

      Google SERP 

      We highly recommend working with your digital marketing agency to update attributes on your website so that your online store appears as a “Site Link” in your organic search result, like the screenshot below.