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Cowleys Hire is a third-generation, family-owned business and the longest-running hire company in New Zealand. With four busy locations and 35+ staff, they’re a trusted name throughout Northland.
When Rachel and Trent Cowley stepped in to take the reins, they were keen to modernise their systems and processes. But there was one missing piece: customer feedback. They knew their team was doing great work, but they weren't hearing from the people who mattered the most, their customers.
Before betterbunch
Cowleys’ Google Business Profile was underutilised. With no system in place to collect reviews or feedback, they weren’t getting the insights they needed to improve, or the online reputation they deserved.
“We didn’t have a system in place to ask for feedback’ says Rachel ‘ and Google had been our platform to receive all feedback from customers, good or bad”.
With four locations to manage, they needed a better way to stay connected to their customers, one that could:
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Gather real, actionable feedback to keep customers coming back
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Showcase the quality of their service to new customers searching for a 'Hire Company near me'
So what's the solution?
When Rachel and Trent took over, they introduced betterbunch.
Each Monday, the team exports a list of recent customers from their Job Management system and uploads it to betterbunch. From there, SMS invites are sent out automatically, asking customers for feedback while their experience is still top of mind.
“It’s a really easy platform,” said Rachel. “From a user perspective, the platform is very user-friendly”
To help drive engagement, Cowleys also use betterbunch's Rewards templates, offering entry into a $500 draw (provided by betterbunch) in exchange for feedback.
And for those visiting the Cowleys website, there’s a simple feedback button that leads straight to their betterbunch 👍🏼 👎🏼 page, thanks to betterbunch links.
The results
Since introducing betterbunch, Cowleys Hire Whangārei has seen a huge uplift in both insights and engagement:
- Their Google rating lifted from 4.6 to 4.8
- Their Google Reviews jumped from 147 to 515 (and counting)
- On average, 52 customers share their experience each month
- 96% of feedback has been positive
- Constructive feedback has helped improve systems and service
And it’s not just the big-picture feedback that’s flowing in. Staff are getting named shout-outs in reviews, and Rachel says that’s been a huge boost for team morale
“We’re hearing from customers that have been coming to us for 30 years, who we never would have heard from before” says Rachel
For Cowleys, betterbunch has helped bridge the gap between their traditional values and today’s digital expectations. They’re still the same trusted team, but now, the online world can see it.
