5 Questions Propane Customers Ask That You Can Blog About

Whether you’re an avid blogger or you haven’t even contemplated blogging, it’s important to establish a sense of trust between your propane business and its customers and prospects.

To our anti-bloggers, you might want to come to terms with the fact that blogging is a proven way to establish that trust.

Not only does blogging help you build trust with your audience, it gives propane companies an opportunity to improve search engine ranking, and win more leads from your website.

And we’ve seen it happen. Blogging helped this local propane company rocket to the top of Google search results. Read the case study for Kauffman Gas.

There are many reasons propane companies should start blogging. But one of the best reasons is that it helps your prospects by answering their most pressing questions.

Addressing Your Prospects’ Concerns

Whether it’s about price or installation or safety, your prospects share similar concerns.

In fact, you’ve probably heard questions about these concerns over and over so many times that you’ve perfected your response.

Blogging gives you a platform to address the prospect questions that your customer support staff hear on the phone every day. 

It can help you build an online library where prospects and customers can find answers to their questions before they even call you.

When you consistently provide valuable information to important questions, you educate your prospects. And when a potential buyer understands what they are purchasing, they will view you as an expert and a trusted source of information.

By now, you should (hopefully) be gung-ho about blogging. So what do you blog about?

Well, we’ve made that easy for you.

We surveyed more than 20 propane suppliers nationwide about the most common questions that they are asked by prospects.

I’m confident you’ve heard these questions more than a few times yourself. Consider this your jumping board for blogging.

How Much Does Propane Cost?

No matter what someone is buying, the first thing that comes to mind is the price.

As a propane supplier, you probably groan a little at this question and its different forms (Why is the other guy’s cheaper? How much will propane cost next week? Next month? Next year?).

It’s hard to give prospects a clear cut price or price projection considering how much propane prices fluctuate. But just because you know that doesn’t mean your prospects do.

Instead of just giving them a price or a blanket “it depends”, educate them on what the “price per gallon” really means.

Blog About Price Fluctuation

Just because you say propane prices fluctuate doesn’t mean your prospect is going to have any idea why that happens and what that means for them. For all they know, you could be making it up.

Back it up with a blog post.

Write about why propane prices change with the unexpected weather patterns, or seasons, or supply and demand. Boom, you’ve got 3 blog topics ready to go.

Having information on your website about price fluctuation can help soothe an angry customer. By reading your posts, they can better understand why their bill spiked and understand that it’s not because of you hiking up the prices.

Education about price fluctuation placates your customers AND gives you endless topics to write about. Sounds like a win-win!

Prove Value of a Higher Price: Less Isn’t Always More

One downside of answering the price question is the fear of being undercut by a competitor. Let’s say you’re charging $2.50 per gallon of propane and your competitor is low-balling prospects at $1.99 per gallon. How do you convince a prospect that you’re the better option?

Educate your prospect on the value behind your fair market price by blogging about hidden fees companies tack onto the bill when they advertise a cheap price-per-gallon.

By exposing the truth and putting more value on your slightly higher price, you become more appealing as a possible investment.

What Size Tank Should I Get?

200 gallons or 500 gallons? It’s unlikely that your prospect will know which is better. A quick blog post or two can educate your prospect and show the expertise behind your recommendation.

Connect tank size to the prospect’s bottom line: price. Educate them on:

• Why tank size matters
• How they can get a lower price per gallon with a larger tank
• How the number of appliances and people can affect price
• How the size of the building might influence what tank your prospect should purchase

When it comes down to saving money, prospects want to hear about it!

While the answers may seem simple to you, a collection of posts can be very useful in steering prospects towards what size propane tank is best for them. This should make your prospect feel a little bit more knowledgeable and secure in purchasing from your company.

How Do Installation, Maintenance, and Delivery Work?

It takes a lot of trust to let a group of strangers putter in and around your home. Put some of the fears at ease with blog posts detailing the process of delivery, installation, and maintenance. (In fact, you should create a blog post on each!)

Not only can you build trust with your prospects this way, you can educate them on the importance of keeping up with maintenance, which is beneficial for both of you.

Blogging is a great opportunity to outline your maintenance procedures that guarantee reliable and long lasting service.

With propane maintenance comes delivery. Blogging about delivery options not only informs your prospects but acts as built-in advertising for things like automatic delivery. It would also be smart to explain how customers know when to call for a tank refill, which we’ll discuss later.

While these topics could be split up into a million different blogs, don’t feel the need to outline every mechanical detail of propane service. Your prospect is most likely not going to understand all of the things you are referring to.

How Safe Is Propane?

Propane is safe. You know it, I know it, but do your prospects know it?

Maybe it’s some evolutionary protective measure, but some people tend to imagine the worst possible scenario when doing just about anything. There are just enough propane horror stories to plant that seed of doubt.

So to reassure your prospect that their house is safe, outline the specific safety procedures your company takes.

Educational posts about how prospects can keep themselves safe at home are also a good idea (what propane smells like, how to turn off the gas, etc.)

Outlining these procedures makes your prospect more comfortable in the decision they’ve made. Knowing your company has thorough precautions to prevent mishaps is better for everyone. No one wants a paranoid customer calling every time they hear a noise.

How Do I Check the Level of the Tank?

When your customer runs out of propane, it’s usually not themselves they’re angry with, it’s you.

If you provide automatic delivery service, this might not be something you have to worry about, but for customers who like to double check, it’s a good idea to have information regarding how to read the tank level.

A blog about how to read the propane gauge and what level of propane means it's time for a refill is helpful for those customers who don’t have automatic delivery.

Your customer service techs are going to be especially thankful since they’ll have to fend off less calls from customers asking how to read their propane gauge.

Don't do all the hard work yourself. Hire an expert. 

Assuming you are an expert in your field of work, it’s difficult not to write about every little detail. We know you want to make sure your client has the best information, but it might not be the most understandable. 

This is when it might be a good idea to consider hiring an expert writer. 

 An outside agency or writer is going to be able to communicate more effectively with prospects because they have a strong understanding of what language your prospects are using. They can simplify all the nitty-gritty details so that your prospects have a good grasp on the basic concepts you are trying to explain. 

 Whether you hire an outside writer or do it yourself, the important thing to remember is customers want to feel like they’re in the loop. Provide just enough information so that your customer gets a general idea of what’s happening and is assured that everything will run smoothly.

The Importance of Blogging

Pay attention to the questions your prospects and customers ask. Each question is a potential blog post opportunity.

And the more content you post, the more that Google likes you! (And isn’t that the goal in life? LOL)

If you crank out a steady stream of content, Google pushes you up the totem pole of their searches, making it more likely that a prospect clicks on your website. (Remember that Kauffman Gas case study I talked about earlier ;)

It might seem daunting to start blogging, especially if you are unfamiliar with the concept. But remember, you’re the expert and your main goal is to provide information. If you’re not comfortable writing blog posts yourself, hire an expert writer.

An outside agency or writer is going to be able to communicate more effectively with prospects because they have a strong understanding what language your prospects are using. They can simplify all the nitty-gritty details so that your prospects have a good grasp on the concepts you are trying to explain.

When that prospect sees you have a boatload of clear and helpful information, whether written by you or an outside source, they’ll gravitate towards your company. You’ve established a sense of trust between them and your company, so why wouldn’t they?

Next thing you know, they are customers. (OK, not quite true. You need a website that converts the visitors into leads for your sales team, but that is a different blog post.)

Now that you know the countless pros to blogging, what are you waiting for?