Use your rivals' bad reviews to write better ads

The free research most local businesses ignore

If you run paid ads, you have probably spent time looking at what competitors say in their adverts. Their headlines, their offers, their keywords. That is useful, but it only tells you what they want customers to think.

The reviews those same competitors receive tell a different story. Specifically, the low-scoring ones. A pattern of one and two-star reviews is essentially a list of unmet expectations, written by real customers, for free.

If several competitors repeatedly get complaints about slow replies, surprise charges, or confusing booking processes, you have just learned what customers in your area genuinely care about before they choose a business.

How to spot the patterns quickly

Collect around 30 to 50 negative or mixed reviews from two or three local competitors. Google reviews are the obvious starting point. Copy the text into an AI tool such as Claude or ChatGPT and ask it to group the complaints into recurring themes, showing how often each one appears.

You might find something like:

• Twelve mentions of waiting too long for a reply
• Nine mentions of prices being higher than expected
• Seven mentions of not knowing what would happen after booking

One complaint on its own could be a bad day. The same frustration appearing across multiple businesses suggests something the whole market is failing to deliver.

Once you can see the themes, ask what customers were actually looking for. Complaints about slow replies often mean people want certainty, not speed for its own sake. Complaints about unexpected costs point to a desire for clear, upfront pricing. Complaints about poor communication usually mean customers want to know what happens next.

That distinction matters. You are not trying to mock a competitor's weaknesses in your ads. You are trying to understand what local customers value and then show them you provide it.

Turning the insight into something you can advertise

Before you change a single word of your ad copy, check whether your business can actually deliver what the research suggests customers want. If slow response times come up repeatedly and you genuinely reply within the hour, that is worth saying. If you do not, do not say it. An ad promise you cannot keep consistently will only generate the same complaints you found on your rivals' profiles.

Once you have confirmed your genuine strengths, think about whether your current ads mention them at all. Many local service businesses fall back on lines like "trusted local experts" or "quality you can rely on" because they feel safe. The problem is every competitor could say exactly the same thing, so the words carry almost no weight.

Specific claims do more work. "Fixed-price quotes, no hidden charges" says something. "Response confirmed within the hour" says something. Compare that with "professional and reliable" and you can feel the difference.

If your ads become more specific, your landing page needs to follow. If you promise transparent pricing, explain how your pricing works on the page people land on. If you mention fast responses, tell them when they will hear back. A quick list of what happens after someone submits an enquiry can remove a lot of hesitation before the customer even has to ask.

Then treat it as a test rather than a certainty. Run your usual ad alongside one with the more specific message and see which one brings in better enquiries over a few weeks. Click-through rate tells you whether the message grabs attention. Conversion rate tells you whether it persuades. Neither figure means much on its own.

The most useful thing about this approach is that the research is already out there, sitting in public reviews, waiting to be read. You just need a bit of time and a clear question to make it useful.

If you would like a hand turning what you find into ad copy that works for your business, we are happy to help.