ABC of Reviews: Our pitch to you

We are very proud indeed of what we have achieved for our clients, so here's our pitch:

Let us run through it phrase by phrase:

1.  'Quantifiably better off':

You will be able to measure exactly how many more clicks and calls you receive. How? By referring to your monthly Google My Business report in the weeks and months after you join. Here's a screenshot of a typical client's report taken within weeks of joining:

This is great, and I'm sure you would be happy with it; the best GMB report a client has ever shared with us reported uplifts of 169% and 950% respectively!

What value would your business place on an uplift in enquiries such as this? And if your business already looks great on Google? Read points 3, 6 and 7 with special care.

2.   'More enquiries through Google':

See above. A great score + great reviews = more calls and more clicks. 

And see point 6. It is crucial you look good compared with your competitors without flouting the law (see point 7.)

3.  'More enquiries through your own website':

It is now a universally acknowledged truth that hosting independently verified reviews on your own website drives enquiries (and reinforces all your other marketing). If in any doubt we suggest you speak to a HelpHound client - or, better still, try it for your own business. 

Just ask yourself 'How would our potential customers react to seeing independently verified reviews like those above on our website?'

4.  'CRM enhanced':

Hosting a 'Write a review' button on your website - see point 7. below - has multiple CRM benefits: It allows all your stakeholders - customers, existing customers, past customers - to express their satisfaction with your service, publicly. It also gives those with an issue to resolve a non-confrontational way to contact you - in preference to posting a potentially damaging review direct to Google, for instance.

5.  'Staff morale boosted':

This - on Google:

And this - on the business's own website:

Who doesn't like seeing comments such as this? Besides being enormously reassuring for prospective customers (in this case patients of a Harley Street GP client of ours) comments like this tell staff that their services are valued in a way few other mechanisms can. 

Would you rather have this comment in a private email, or on Google and your own website?

6.  'Great in all types of Google search':

Look at this (local search):

Probably the most commercially important search of all: when a potential customer is most likely to be influenced by the business's reviews, review score and 'stars in search'. The score/'rating' (4.8), reviews/'votes' (204) and five gold stars under Winkworth's organic listing are pulled directly from the business's own website and the reviews hosted there, not from their Google reviews and scores. Google rewards businesses that host their own reviews, and it is estimated that up to 15% of a business's SEO score is derived from this alone.

And this (specific search):

Again: the 'Rating' (4.8) and the number of reviews (204) are pulled from the business's own reviews hosted on their own website - shown twice in this search, as distinct from their Google reviews (130) at the top of their Google knowledge panel on the right, most of which have been reposted from the reviews written to their website. 

The 'Reviews from the web' at the bottom right links directly through to the reviews hosted on the business's own website.

7.  'Compliant with the law':

It is illegal to selectively invite customers to write reviews. So businesses either flout the law and only invite customers who they know will post a 5* review or they shy away from inviting reviews altogether.

Those in the first category are inviting action by the CMA (and will lose business to competitors savvy enough to alert potential customers), those in the second are missing out on a fantastic marketing opportunity. HelpHound's independent moderation is the answer to both.

All a business needs to be instantly compliant is the 'Write a review' button you see above.

Further reading:

• Results - expanding on point 1.
• Compliance - all you need to know.
• ABC of Reviews - index to all eleven chapters.
• Moderation - protecting your business from all kinds of inaccurate or misleading reviews.
• Deflection - the unintended pitfalls of using a review site.