Trustpilot - fast becoming the five-star go-to for big brands

Which is right? The Sunday Times* or Trustpilot? First: the Sunday Times...

*For those unable to read the Sunday Times article there is a similar one on the BBC website.

'Poor record on complaints'

Now Trustpilot...

First the headline score on Trustpilot's website - the one that businesses use in their marketing...

Rated 'Excellent'

Surely they cannot both be right? Let's mine down a bit (something very few customers will do until they have an issue with such a business): here is the breakdown of that score...

...which shows that over 1 in 10 customers rate the business at one star. Just to be precise, that is over 18,000 customers (and those are just the ones that have taken the trouble to find the business's Trustpilot listing and write a review) .

So now let us look at some of the headlines of those one-star reviews...

Still 'Excellent'? Oh, we forgot to say, all these 1* reviews were written in the last week!

And do Revolut use those reviews in their marketing? Sure they do, in this order...

...but we assume they do as so many other large multinationals do, they monitor click-through rates assiduously and they find that human nature, whether when buying a pair of shoes or looking for a financial product, is satisfied with a headline score over 4. And we suspect there is a reason the link to their Trustpilot listing comes after the ten selected positive reviews.

Oh! and of course there is the other Trustpilot 'advantage': that their reviews seldom show in a search on a business's name. In the case of a search on 'Revolut'...

Most businesses actively want their reviews to show in this kind of search (given that few consumers actively search out reviews these days - they are used to having them spoon-fed by Google)

...we went as far as page 10 of Google search to see if Trustpilot's reviews were returned. Nothing. Our question: is Trustpilot engaging in 'negative optimisation' to expressly prevent their customers' reviews appearing in search? It definitely looks like it.

Conclusion

Trustpilot is being used - wittingly or not - by businesses to

• a) gain 4 out of 5 stars to use in their marketing (plus the 'Excellent' Trustpilot rating you see above - we'll leave you to decide whether that is appropriate or not)

• b) hide negative reviews - in their thousands.

We issue a challenge to Trustpilot here: show us how many visitors a business such as Revolut gets to its listing over any given timescale. 

And finally

If, on the other hand, you would like your business's reputation to show in every single Google search, specific...

...or local...

...and, unvarnished, on your website...

If you visit this business's website you will be able to click on the number of reviews - red arrow - and be taken straight to all 713 of their reviews and read them in whatever order you choose, including 'latest', 'best' and, of course, 'worst'. You will also then understand the source of their Google reviews.

All in compliance with the CMA regulations - maybe contact us?

Stop! Before you buy Google advertising...

We are sometimes surprised that a service business - and here we are mainly talking about the professions: law, finance, medical and education - will spend valuable resources on a Google Ads campaign whilst ignoring the customer journey. Let's take just one example...

We had to use a 'real' business to illustrate this article. We didn't select this one - it was simply returned in a Google local search. It should also be noted that the business in question is representative of its sector: independent schools have increased spend on Google Ads considerably since the recent government action

The customer journey goes - in over 70 per cent of cases - as follows...

• research potential businesses - in this case independent schools - in person and online (even 'in person' research - personal recommendation - almost always results in a web search, even if only to find contact details or precise location)

• See Google score - and react (one of two ways: be impressed and continue that specific search or be dismayed and search elsewhere)

• Read Google reviews - why would they not? 

Let us be quite clear: the business above is paying Google to display it, plus a scrape of the information held on its Google Knowledge Panel ('Sponsored' above a Google listing means 'this business is paying to appear in this search')...

Now, we know, for certain, the following...

• Any Google score under 4.8 deflects enquiries, calls and click-throughs

• Negative reviews, such as this...

...especially if not responded to by the business (as is the case here) will deflect considerable numbers of enquiries

• For each 'thumbs up' (18 here) the review will have been read by +-100 people, maybe far more

What should this, and any other business in this position, do?

Put its review management on a professional footing. Take professional advice* and develop a simple strategy to...

1. Invite stakeholders to write reviews - to its own website and then to Google
2. Have those reviews moderated by an independent entity - HelpHound is one such - to ensure they are fair, factually correct and unlikely to mislead the reader (the potential customer/client/patient/parent)
3. Aim for a Google score of 4.8+
4. Aim, initially, for 100+ Google reviews, and then a thousand
5. Respond to its reviews

And finally: set as short as possible a time frame for achieving all of the above (months, not years).

Results

Reviews on a business's website enable a) potential customers to see moderated reviews written by genuine customers of the business and b) the business to comply with the CMA regulations (a.k.a the law)

This business began its relationship with HelpHound with two reviews on Google and none on its own website...

And it now leads in all relevant Google searches. Imagine the impact this has had on their business (for a start, it has helped them to expand and take over another agency)? No potential customer is going to be put off contacting a business, of whatever kind, that looks like this. Many will be positively encouraged to do just that, even if it was not originally on their short-list.

Further reading

• Moderation: the key safety mechanism that protects both businesses and their potential customers from inaccurate, misleading or plain unfair reviews

• *Taking professional advice: here are our fees - we hope you will be pleasantly surprised to see that they fall when your objectives have been achieved

Moderation - and why it is vital for great businesses

We generally publish about an article a year to update clients on anything we have learned about this subject. Here is the last one. So why another? Because we tend to pull our punches when we speak or write about moderation, simply because we don't want anyone getting the impression that it can - or should - be used to suppress genuinely held and factually accurate negative customer opinions. It cannot and should not.

But when we look at our existing client base and exactly how the best of them engage (they're all good businesses, by definition. Businesses that don't care about reviews won't employ us!) there are some refinements we should pass on.

Lessons we have learnt

Bear in mind that there are two distinct ways in which your business can collect reviews:

• actively: by emailing your customer and asking for a review of your business and then, automatically, to Google 

• passively: by allowing your customer - and any other stakeholders - to write a review of your business through your website. See the example above.

This has the following vital effect for those in the professions and other service-driven businesses: it allows the moderator, HelpHound in this case, to refer any factually inaccurate, potentially misleading or just plain 'unfair' reviews back to the reviewer, before they are published. This is moderation's essential function, unavailable to businesses that invite reviews directly to Google; besides enabling the reviewer to correct their review it ensures your business complies with the law - the CMA regulations. 

IMPORTANTLY: it means you don't have to send an email inviting a review to...

• the tenant that persists in believing, against all evidence and information provided at the beginning of their tenancy and subsequently, that the maintenance of their building is the estate agent's, not the landlord's, responsibility

• the medical practice's patient who thinks that they will only receive the correct diagnosis and treatment by bullying your reception staff

• the client that lost their legal case, having instructed you to proceed against all your advice to the contrary

...they are covered, from a compliance perspective, by the 'Write a review' button on your website (see screengrab above).

Businesses - and their review management - don't exist in isolation

You keep an eye on your competitors - what business doesn't? But do you look to see whether they are breaking the law when it comes to reviews? 

This impacts business on two different levels: the first is that it's never great business practice to visibly flout the law for all to see. Here are just two examples...

A professional service business using a review mechanism designed expressly for online retail. No wonder it looks so great - it controls precisely who is invited to write a review and when. Both the 'who' and 'when' are against the CMA core regulations.

Try as we did (and we promise we tried hard!), we could not find the source of these reviews. It certainly was not Google, or any of the other well-known review sites (both numbers and score are way out for the business concerned). Even if it were one of these sources the business would still be in breach by not allowing visitors to its website to a) view the source of the score and the underlying reviews or b) providing a link to enable them to write one of their own.

What would your competitors do if they knew your business was flouting the law where reviews were concerned? How about 'Would you trust [business] if you knew their reviews were cherry-picked*?

*Cherry-picking and gating

These are both against the CMA's core regulations. For reasons that will become obvious...

Cherry-picking

Means selecting those customers most likely to write a 5* review and then only asking those to do so.

Gating

Means using a mechanism such as a questionnaire to pre-establish the likelihood that a customer will write a 5* review and then asking only those to do so.

Reviews have a bad enough name amongst many consumers without such behaviour, but the fact that it so easily backfires on businesses that engage in it surprises us.  

It sometimes amazes us that so many people continue to trust and rely on reviews - but the numbers remain constantly at these kinds of levels: they do, especially where Google reviews are concerned

It is up to us as businesses to find a mechanism that protects them from inaccurate or misleading negative reviews that ensures they are in compliance with the CMA regulations. Welcome to HelpHound.

In summary

• If your business doesn't invite reviews - it will be compliant with the CMA regulations, but it will be missing out on a huge opportunity to generate enquiries through search whilst boosting its SEO

• If your business invites reviews through a Google widget on its website - it will be compliant but it will run the not-insignificant risk of attracting and displaying inaccurate and/or misleading reviews on both its own website and on Google

• If your business selects who to invite to post reviews - on Google or anywhere else (including on its own website) it will be in breach of the CMA's core regulations and, in the case of gating, Google's own Terms of Service

• If your business in any way selects which reviews to display on its website - it will be in breach of the CMA's core regulations (the only compliant way to show such reviews is by 'date posted' and including a direct link to the source of the reviews)

• If your business employs an intermediary such as HelpHound to moderate your reviews - you can relax in the knowledge that inaccurate or misleading reviews are unlikely to see the light of day, you are ticking a major SEO box when it comes to Google search and that you have a direct line into people, in the case of HelpHound, with well over a decade's professional knowledge and understanding of everything related to reviews 

Online reviews for independent schools - the definitive guide

Independent schools, taken as a group, currently face one of the toughest periods in their history. We know you don't need us to tell you that, but just to show you that we are on the same page we are going to list the issues you face, so you can then judge how HelpHound can help you address them. In no particular order (schools will see these differently, depending on their precise circumstances)...

• the imposition of VAT on school fees
• the withdrawal of business rates relief
• the increase in Employers' National Insurance contributions

Combined with...

• the fall in the number of school-age children in the population (reversing the gradual increase since 2010 - overall numbers are predicted to fall by 205,000 between 2024-2028 - meaning c.15,000 fewer independent school pupils)
• already feeding through to markedly lower enrolments at year 7 and a fall-off in attendance for school open days

We now know that some schools are already planning redundancies and cancelling capital projects - this article in the Independent is just one of many referencing this.

But enough of this negativity. How should a well-managed school react? Most of you are doing very well, using every marketing tool in the box, from excellent websites to engagement with the local community. But what are other professions doing that schools are not? In a word: reviews.

If a local estate agent can muster 500 Google reviews then surely a school can too, over time and given the right tools? We will come to the details of the answer to this question below. To see HelpHound's review management 'in action' conduct a local search for this business on Google and then visit their website to see the origin (and quality) of their reviews

The broad view

While no one can possibly claim that any of the above is good news—for independent schools, their pupils, or parents—it is an undoubted fact that some schools will fare better than others in the coming months and years. Let us examine some broad categories before we offer our solutions.

'Top schools' such as these will mostly continue as before, with pupil/teacher ratios maintained and planned capital expenditure going ahead. To take Eton College as an example (as it publishes detailed accounts): the school has an investment portfolio (shares and property in the main) valued at £553 million; it also receives 'donations' averaging c.£10 million a year. 

1. Schools at the top of the academic table with significant capital resources will weather the storm better than most. It goes without saying that the Etons and St Paul's Girls' of this world will not see demand for places fall. That is not to say that they should do nothing - and we are sure they won't rest on their laurels - but the urgency with which smaller and less-well-resourced schools will need to bolster their school rolls will be mainly absent for this lucky few.
2. Schools in catchment areas where demand is expected to continue to be high: London and the home counties, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol and so on.
3. Schools that can demonstrate exceptional added value in their specialist fields: music and the applied arts, SEND, sport, boarding and the like
4. This leaves the majority: great all-round independent schools that provide excellent educational and pastoral care for many tens of thousands of pupils and their parents. The numbers are important: there are currently 2,608 independent schools in the UK, if we assume even 1,000 of them fall into categories 1-3 that leaves over 1,500 schools competing for the remaining quarter of a million plus pupils (out of a total of just over 593,000 - source: DFE)

Independent schools in the UK: their current strengths

We are going to take 'quality of education' for granted for the sake of this article. What we are going to define as 'current strengths' are all the efforts made by the school to convince prospective parents that it is the right choice amongst the plethora of options for their child/children. Again: for the sake of this article we are going to ignore whatever happens when the prospective parents enter the school gates - for an open day or a one-to-one meeting with the head or admissions personnel (at that point the personality of the people involved and the physical attributes of the school take over).

Independent schools, by and large, have/do all of the following (we asked Google AI to create this list)...

You will notice, right bang in the middle: 'Use word of mouth'. Now, you almost certainly don't need us to tell you that 'word of mouth' for almost everyone under the age of forty - and a sizeable chunk of those above that age - today means the internet and social media. In the current context, it specifically means reviews - online reviews that show up every single time a prospective parent picks up their phone or iPad and searches for your school (specifically) or schools in their or any other area (physical area or area of expertise).

Why have schools, uniquely amongst all the professions, not engaged with Google reviews - yet? 

• because they haven't found a 'safe' way to do so 
• because they value their integrity
• because the reviews they already have are of such poor quality (see screenshot above, which is typical of most independent schools)

So let's address these...

No safe way to engage

Absolutely correct. Simply inviting reviews, especially to Google, with no safety mechanism whatsoever is far too high risk a strategy. Besides putting the school's reputation at risk - Google rarely remove a review unless the business can prove beyond any reasonable doubt that it infringes their very tightly written content policy. No amount of complaining that 'We know who wrote that review and they are seven years old' will dent Google's Californian dedication to freedom of the individual to express whatever they are feeling through the medium of a Google review.

The solution is to have a safety mechanism in place that checks every single review before it arrives on Google. It's called moderation and it involves reviews being read by a trained independent moderator who will refer back to the reviewer if they suspect the review contains any factual inaccuracies or statements likely to mislead a future reader. 

Integrity

This is probably surprising for some, but it never ceases to amaze us that otherwise law-abiding businesses are willing to flout that same law when it comes to reviews. The law states - categorically - that any entity that invites reviews from a single consumer must allow all of its stakeholders to write a review. But businesses continue to cherry-pick known happy customers an invite them, and only them, to write reviews. 

Yet again: moderation to the rescue. Now your school can invite reviews in the knowledge that those that contain factual inaccuracies or misleading statements will be checked and corrected. All in compliance with the law - the CMA regulations.

Poor quality reviews

Here are some more...

There are two possible reactions to seeing reviews of your school such as those above: first, to say 'They don't help anyone, the school, the parents or the pupils, so let's avoid the whole concept of reviews as far as we can.' The second? To say 'We owe it to ourselves and all our stakeholders to find an effective way to engage with Google reviews so they become a pathway to our admissions office in the same way as all the other marketing the school currently engages in. So they not only support that marketing but become and integral part of it.'

You will also notice that the list above does not contain:

•  'because they [Google reviews] don't/won't drive traffic to the school's website and calls to our admissions office'.

Google reviews have existed for well over a decade now, and the reason that Google gives them such prominence in search is precisely because they are so highly valued by businesses and the professions and their potential customers and clients, in this case, the parents of your future pupils. For anyone doubting the positive impact of professionally managed engagement with online reviews, we suggest reading this article. The businesses in question may differ, but their customers will also be yours.

This is the kind of review generated by professional review management (more detail/higher quality). It is worth paying attention to the 'thumbs up' at the bottom left: we estimate that only one in a hundred readers click on it. That means hundreds of readers - and who bothers to read reviews of independent schools? Prospective parents! It also lays to rest the other misconception about reviews: that people won't write them; This parent had written thirteen Google reviews before writing this one for her daughter's school. Providing the email inviting the review makes it quite clear that doing so is entirely optional, schools will receive no negative reaction at all.

The practicalities

At HelpHound we treat you as you would expect any professional business: we are on hand to offer advice and training from day one and then every day of the week; we may use software to simplify the process of review gathering but we are emphatically not 'selling software'.

From the day you say 'Go' we liaise with your web designers to implement the mechanism that enables you to:

• send emails to invite your parents (and later on, alumni) to post a review on your website
• display those reviews wherever on your website you feel to be most appropriate (and in tandem with the style of your website)
• ask - automatically - your reviewers to copy the review they have written on your website - after it has been moderated - to Google

That's it. We have nearly fifteen years of experience in making sure that our clients get off on the right foot the first time - the wording of the email inviting the review is crucial and needs to be subtly different for each and every client. We will also let you know each time our moderator intervenes (sometimes we will need to refer to you for answers to the reviewer's questions) and inform you the very same minute a review is posted to your website.

Welcome to the world of professional, moderated, review management. Welcome to HelpHound.

Further reading

• The process - in graphic form, using a real client case history

• Moderation - a full guide to HelpHound's reputation-protection mechanism

• Fee scales - the good news is that they they reduce along with success

• How education can close the gap with other professions when it comes to reviews - this article was written when the Chancellor's VAT raid was but a twinkle in her eye, but the advice contained in it remains current

Review management - illustrating the process

This infographic appeared in a recent article ('Help! We've received an unfair Google review.') and has proved popular with those looking to understand how HelpHound works...

It shows a screenshot of the 'reviews' section of the home page of a client's website, taken on a mobile phone. Each important feature is highlighted. The key here is to include this on the home screen; you don’t want potential customers having to go to a menu or search for a tab to see your reviews because that will dramatically reduce the number that read them - and the resultant click-through - considerably. 'Visibility' is key.

Here's the same information displayed on desktop/laptop/tablet...

The precise layout is up to you and your professional advisers (web design and so on). We will advise on which elements must be included to be legally compliant and you will benefit from more than a decade's experience at HelpHound as well as feedback from our other clients every step of the way.

And finally...

The picture wouldn't be complete if we didn't show you the final results in terms of the impact of all of the above in a popular Google search, in this case, '[business type] in [location]' or '[near me]'...

We can't take 100% of the credit for our client dominating in search, but most experts estimate that engaging with - by inviting and responding to reviews on your own website - makes up around 15% of any business's score from a Google search point-of-view. 

Given that these days most businesses conform with all Google's other ranking criteria - location, contact details etc - then this, we would suggest, is a must

The only difference for a firm of solicitors, an accountancy practice, a recruitment agency, a GP practice, an educational establishment or a firm of financial advisors will be that most of these have yet to find a way to embrace review management compliantly, so those that do so will enjoy a significant head start on their competition. In fact, most professional service businesses have a significant advantage over estate agencies: they almost always have an ongoing relationship with their customer/client/patient that estate agents do not (in the case of sale and purchase transactions, at least).

You will be in the best position to assess the value of all of the above (results are here). Then you can relate it to the cost - here - and effort - minimal - needed to implement and manage HelpHound's professional review management for your business.

Further information

The only other process that readers of this article need to understand is the invitation to write the review(s) - both to your own website and to Google. It is covered in this article.

What does ChatGPT say about HelpHound?

We asked, and ChatGPT answered...

Here's the full - unedited - text:

'HelpHound is a customer review and feedback platform aimed at helping businesses enhance their online reputation and improve customer engagement. By bridging the gap between companies and their clients, HelpHound offers tools that facilitate authentic, actionable reviews while ensuring a business maintains control over its reputation.

Key Features

1. Review Management: HelpHound enables businesses to collect reviews directly from their customers. These reviews can then be moderated to filter out inappropriate content before publication, ensuring quality and relevance.

2. Dual Posting: Reviews collected via HelpHound can be published both on the business’s website and Google. This dual-posting feature increases a company’s visibility and credibility, as customers see real feedback on multiple platforms.

3. Complaint Resolution: One standout feature is HelpHound’s ability to mediate disputes before reviews go public. This offers businesses the chance to resolve issues proactively and potentially turn dissatisfied customers into brand advocates.

4. Transparency and Trust: HelpHound places a strong emphasis on genuine, unaltered feedback. This transparency builds trust between businesses and consumers, which is essential in today’s digital-first marketplace.

Pros

• Enhanced SEO: By integrating user-generated reviews, businesses can boost their search rankings, as reviews contribute to fresh, keyword-rich content.

• Improved Reputation Management: The platform’s moderation tools help ensure businesses are fairly represented without stifling genuine criticism.

• Customer Insights: Reviews often highlight areas for improvement, giving businesses actionable insights.

• Google Integration: Seamless publishing to Google Reviews increases a company’s online presence.

Cons

• Cost: HelpHound’s services might be out of reach for smaller businesses or startups with tight budgets.

• Moderation Perception: While moderation ensures quality, some critics may argue that it introduces the potential for bias, which could raise skepticism among savvy consumers.

• Learning Curve: New users may need time to understand and fully leverage all the features HelpHound offers.

Verdict

HelpHound is a powerful tool for businesses serious about managing their online reputation and building trust through authentic customer interactions. While it may require a financial investment and some initial effort to master, the benefits in terms of improved visibility, reputation, and customer satisfaction make it a valuable asset for companies looking to stay competitive in an increasingly review-driven market.

Whether you’re a business aiming to improve your online reputation or a customer looking for transparency in reviews, HelpHound strikes a thoughtful balance between business needs and customer trust.'

Our reaction?

Spot on. We might argue some of the details of the 'Cons' - 'smaller businesses and startups with tight budgets' for instance (we have records of just such businesses thriving as clients - the oven cleaning company that has gone from one man and one van to employing both sons and having three vans is just one such example - and, to be completely transparent, here is our current fee scale), there will always be those who suspect our moderation of favouring our clients, but that is easily countered by a quick audit of any review where moderation has been involved. We plead guilty as charged on the 'learning curve' but our 24/7 client service ensures all our client businesses do 'fully leverage all the features [we] offer'.

And finally...

We asked ChatGPT to write a Google review of HelpHound (note: we didn't ask it for a positive Google review!):

Have they - or we - left anything out? How about some concrete results for actual client businesses? Here they are.

Two outstanding examples - but with very different stories (and experiences)

First let's look at a business that every single adult in the UK has used at one time or another: estate agency. 

This client had no reviews on it's own website when it joined, and this is what it looked like on Google...

Now? On its own website...

Nearly 700 reviews

And on Google...

One short of 500!

Now a very different kind of business: medical (women's health).

On joining HelpHound:

No Google reviews.

Today...

Both of these businesses, in their own ways, demonstrate success with reviews. 

Estate agency

Property transactions can often be fraught with so many complications. We all know the saying 'Next to death and divorce, moving house...'. And guess who, sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly, gets the blame? That's right. In the heat of the moment, it's 'I don't care who caused the [insert problem causing blood pressure to rise] I'm blaming the agent'. 

This means that sensible estate agents need an independent agency such as HelpHound to moderate their reviews, otherwise, to be absolutely candid, they are not going to invite reviews at all, or they are going to flout the law and only ask 'dead cert' happy clients to post a review.

With HelpHound in place (intervening - moderating - pre-publication if someone posts a factually inaccurate or potentially misleading review), Winkworth Kingsbury has had the confidence to invite all its clients to post a review. And the results are there for all to see.

They have proven - in spades - that professional service businesses can compliantly engage with reviews, especially Google reviews, and their example should be followed by any service or professional business.

Medical

If you think there are confidentiality issues surrounding property transactions, you would be right. But how about women's health? When this clinic approached us their first question was 'How do you suppose our patients will react to being asked for a review?' Our answer was slightly more nuanced than our usual 'Most [customers/clients] welcome the opportunity, as long as the invitation email is carefully worded'. 

We stressed that the key was going to be to make sure...

• that patients understood from the outset that the request to write a review of the clinic was entirely optional

• having reassured them as to that 'optionality', to remind them just how helpful they had found the clinic's reviews when they were seeking medical advice about their own condition

We recommend you read this recent review, because it sends out such a strong message: the key points, as far as we are concerned, are...

• the reviewer has used their 'real' name. This gives reviews so much more credibility in the eyes of the reader
• interestingly the reviewer is a 'Google review novice', the only previous review (their first) was for an osteopath
• how reassuring would you find such a review if you were searching for this kind of service? 
• it is precisely the kind of thing that people rely very heavily on Google reviews for: intensely personal and private services
• it contains much useful detail - it's not the less helpful 'Great business' kind of review one gets when inviting reviewers by text rather than email

We reassured the practice that they did not need to ask every patient for a review, and that it would comply with the CMA regulations as long as their website allowed any patient to write a review.

Similarities - and the key difference

Let us first examine the similarities between these two businesses:

1. They are both professional service businesses
2. They both offer potentially life-changing services
3. They are both high value - in terms of both fees and potential impact - services

Now the key difference:

• While many - most - people are happy to discuss their property transactions with friends and colleagues, few are as willing to discuss or expose their most intimate medical experiences

This last point explains the difference in absolute number of reviews for the two services. The estate agency has proved year after year that our 50%/50% rule is achievable - that is: at least half of most professional and service business clients will write a review to that business's website and at least half of those will be willing to copy that review across to Google. 

In the case of the womens' health clinic those numbers are far lower, and understandably so. Still, the fact that they have accumulated over 40 reviews similar in tone and content to the one shown above proves the concept: a steady flow of great reviews, no matter how few, is achievable with sensitive professional review management and a partner such as HelpHound.

Conclusion

You will have come to your own, but if we may be so bold (and add our decade-plus of experience into the mix) we would suggest that these two examples show just how that experience adds value for each individual client.

The solution to reviews and review management can appear, to the outsider, to be one-size-fits-all, but it is far from it if it is to succeed over the long term.

Every business needs professional guidance to...

• decide the ideal time to approach customers for a review
• help draft the crucial email(s) inviting the review - not always as straightforward as may first appear
• ensure the correct links are used (and maintained) that enable the reviewer to go directly to write a review
• set achievable targets for its management and staff
• post the most effective responses to reviews (again, not always straightforward)
• enable HelpHound to mediate between the business and its customers in moderation
• sustain momentum in review gathering
• advise on the correct procedure should the business have occasion to appeal against a Google review

It is the Google schema that results in the business's score (and the 5 gold stars) being pulled directly from the business's own website into the business's search result in Google local search. Here it is working for a client - we know just how valuable this is in prompting clicks and calls because the link very occasionally fails for one or more clients and, believe us, they don't wait until 10 a.m. to call us!

• advise on the correct implementation and maintenance of the Google schema (see above)
• provide ongoing advice and training to our clients as and when required, including...
• staying abreast of UK legislation (the CMA's regulations and action against wrongdoers)
• staying abreast of Google's terms of service and its action against contravening businesses regarding reviews
• ensuring that clients' websites are optimised so Google 'sees' the reviews they host on their own websites