HelpHound - index of essential reading

This index is primarily intended for those new to the world of reviews and review management, but it is just as useful for our clients to act as a resource for refreshing knowledge. It will be updated as and when we publish a fresh article that meets our criteria for inclusion...

1. Essential reading - legal and compliance, for instance 
2. Case histories - we all learn from each other's experiences
3. Success stories - like case histories, but all about how to maximise financial returns

Note for those thinking they have reviews and review management 'under control': please read the first article under each heading; we have yet to meet a business where we could not add value to their existing review management processes.

Legal and compliance

Nearly every business we meet - certainly those that are already proactively inviting reviews - is in breach of one or more of the UK government relating to reviews. It doesn't matter how great you look, if you got there by breaching CMA regulations you will need to take action.

• The CMA regulations analysed and explained. Spend ten minutes reading this article and you will be better informed about the law governing reviews than the top one percent of UK businesses. 

• The CMA regulations say that everyone should be able to write a review at a time of their own choosing; this rules out cherry-picking (selecting customers to write reviews) and gating (pre-qualifying customers to ensure positive reviews. What is allowed? Moderation - the crucial function that prevents most inaccurate and misleading reviews from seeing the light of day. 

Case histories

There is something for everyone to learn from each of these experiences.

• Deflection explained: since Google entered - and began to dominate - the reviews sphere there has been an unintended side-effect for businesses committing to sites such as Trustpilot or Feefo: looking demonstrably worse on Google, something we christened 'deflection' because negative reviews are being 'deflected' to Google.

• More on this in: 'Deflection, it's becoming an epidemic?' with more case histories.

• What have reviews - your own reviews - got to do with SEO? See the impact great review management has made on this business's ranking and visibility in search.

• We published 'No better proof' quoting five clients over two years ago now; all five are still clients and all five look even better in competitive searches now than they did back in March 2017.

• Did you know that Google filters businesses out of search altogether - if you score less than 4.5? See just how this happens in 'Google: the reviews filter raises the bar.'

Success stories 

By far and away the best way to learn: from the hard-won experience of others. If, once you have read one or more of these, you feel you would benefit from speaking to the client concerned, just speak to us and we will arrange it.

• Top secret: an amazing case history: How one client saw their market share double and ten thousand more potential customers visit their website.

• Not long to wait: nearly twenty percent more calls and nearly thirty percent more visits to this clients website the month after full implementation.

• The old ones are often the best ones: see the journey a longstanding client has made.