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

Google reviews - which category does your business fall under?

This is a 'polished' copy of an internal HelpHound guide. 

Why publish it? Categorising helps us ensure that businesses are given the most appropriate information and advice right at the outset of our relationship. Mainly because there remain so many misconceptions surrounding reviews and review management, even now, fifteen years after the first Google review was written. It similarly helps businesses understand the starting point for our relationship.

Your business will fall under one of the following seven headings - every professional service business does - there is a brief description of the relevant issues for that category and a link to a relevant article for those who wish to mine deeper.

We begin with the simplest category of them all...

1.  No engagement and no reviews

 

'5+ years in business' and not a single review. A rarer beast these days, but by no means exitict

We are the first to acknowledge that this is a completely understandable strategy; we hear so many CEOs and marketing directors say 'We'd prefer to fly under the radar.' And the reason for this is simple: they realise that engaging with reviews, especially Google reviews, involves considerable reputational risk for their business, akin to driving uninsured. To pursue that analogy: you might be the best driver in the world, but the other road users still present a huge risk, so you insure your car. It's exactly the same with reviews: your business and all your staff may be as perfect as makes no difference, but customers will - and do - grab the wrong end of the stick (and will write misinformed reviews as a result).  

Solution: the business will know it is missing a wonderful opportunity to engage with Google reviews as well as exposing itself to unfair damage should one or more unhappy customers find their way to writing a Google review (from no Google score to scoring 1.0 overnight). It needs 'insurance' against factually inaccurate and potentially damaging reviews, and that means adopting a fully moderated system. A moderated system will ensure that most factually inaccurate or potentially misleading reviews are addressed before they are published anywhere online. 

 

2.  No engagement and few reviews

 

 

As above, but customers - hopefully happy ones - have found the business's Google listing (after all, it comes up whenever they search for your business, even if they're just looking for contact details).  

Solution: they may have had near misses (in this case a heart-stopping 'You have recieved a review' email from Google every time one of those reviews is written). The business needs to engage before it loses its hugely valuable Google score of 4.8 - 5.0. And that means adopting a moderated system to provide the reputational insurance referred to under 1. above.

 

3. No engagement and many reviews

 

Imagine being in a business that can afford to ignore reviews altogether? Few of us are so lucky - or should that read 'Few of us wish to work in/for a business that simply doesn't care enough to even respond to reviews posted by the customers that are its lifeblood'?

There are businesses, though, that find themselves in this situation and remain vulnerable (by 'vulnerable' we mean that Google review scores work in both directions: a Google score of 4.8 or more will attract between 15 and 25 per cent more enquiries through Google - sometimes far more; a score of less than 4.0 will deflect that amount of enquiries, at the very least (and can result in a choking off off inbounds althogether - read this horror story).

As for 1. and 2. above, if the business's current Google score is 4.8 or over, all fine, but action should be taken ASAP. If that score is 4.7 or less there will need to be remedial work undertaken to bring the score back up. 

Solution: We will agree a plan of action with the business to ensure a steady flow of moderated reviews and, in the case of a business scoring less than 4.8, initiate a tried and tested plan of action to remedy that situation and bring the score back up. Reassurance will be swift: as soon as a business's score improives the upsurge in the flow of inbounds will follow.

 

4. Engaged: hand-picking customers to invite to write a review

 

You will understand why we have anonymised this screenshot. How can we be sure that this business is hand-picking clients to write Google reviews? Well, it's a simple case of 'If it walks like a..., if it squawks like a...'. Businesses that don't comply with the law surrounding reviews are remarkably easy to spot, whether that be by looking at the pattern of reviews (a flurry of 5* reviews following a 1* is common) or, in the case of the regulators, examining the mechansism the business uses to invite reviews (text or email - and they both leave a cast-iron paper trail)

 

Here we run into our first legal issue. It is illegal under UK law to hand-pick 'happy' customers and then invite those, and only those, to write a review. The regulators (the CMA) call it 'cherry-picking' and they have an ongoing investigation into it. 

We occasionally meet businesses that say 'our [positive] reviews are so important, and so integral to our marketing, that we are prepared to take a risk'. We liken them to the 18th century traders who saved on the insurance offfered by the men at Mr Lloyd's coffee house: they are taking an unnecessary gamble, but instead of risking the value a shipment of spices from the Orient, they are exposing their business's reputation to a wholly unnecessary risk, especialy given that the cost of compliance is bundled into the cost of the 'insurance' (Here it is - for most businesses less then a BUPA subscription for a single person!)

Solution:  Adopting moderated review management provides the solution to both issues: 'insurance' against inaccurate or misleading reviews and complete compliance with UK law. From day one*. 

*We can provide no cast-iron guarantees, but it is our considered opinion that the UK CMA is highly unlikely to focus regulatory action on cases where the business in question is currently compliant, so the sooner the business becomes compliant, the less likely it is to be caught in the CMA's net.

 

5. Engaged: using email or a questionnaire to establish which customers should be invited to write a review.

 

There is nothing in the CMA regulations (or Google ToS) against sending a questionnaire such as this to customers. Businesses cross the line into illegality when they only invite those who have rated the business 5* to subsequently post a review.

 

 Google's relevant anti-gating rule. More here

 

This is a similar case to 4. above. The regulators - and Google - have a term for it: 'gating'. And it is illegal in the UK - and against Google's Terms of Service worldwide (a full explanation can be found here).

Solution: Stop! Adopt a compliant moderated system immediately. We cannot be absolutely sure, but again we feel it will be highly unlikely that the CMA will take legal action and sanction a business that was once non-compliant but has since taken steps to ensure future compliance. To date, businesses sanctioned by the CMA, for whatever reason, have almost always been currently non-compliant. As for Google: they have been known to delete all of a business's reviews when they find proof of gating. And who supplies that proof? A competitor or a disgruntled ex-employee usually.

 

6. Engaged: using a review site

On the left: the business on its chosen review site, all but invisible in search (actually, it does appear - but on page 3, so way less than 1% of searchers will ever find their way there). On the right: its Google score and reviews are shown in every search of its name.

Feefo? Yelp? Trustpilot? Reviews.io? All these solutions pre-date Google reviews. In the case of product businesses - online retail and similar - the stars they 'sell' the business are probably pretty effective. After all, we buy shirts because we like the look of them. As long as they score 4.0 out of 5 on, say, Feefo, we won't be put off making a purchase. But professional and service businesses must focus on Google reviews, simply because it is Google reviews that all your potential customers/clients/patients are seeing in every single search they perform.

Solution: If businesses such as this had known just how dominant Google reviews would be - no one comes close in seach, and Google are way ahead in terms of credibility and longevity - they would have gone down that route in the first place. It's never too late to change. The business doesn’t have to immediately lose its chosen review site, it just needs run a moderated Google-focussed solution alongside and compare the results. 

 

7. Engaged: Inviting all customers to post a review to Google

Now we're getting there. Google reviews are where it's at for all service and professional businesses. Because they show in every single search, from the initial 'How can I find a reliable doctor/lawyer/school/investment adviser?' to 'How do I contact the one I've been recommended by a friend/colleague?' The issue that has led to businesses adopting solutions 1 - 6 is simple: fear of the harm that can be done by just one factually incorrect Google review.  

Solution: Now all a business needs is the 'insurance' cover that will enable it to be compliant and at the same time collect genuine Google reviews from its customers. It's called moderation. Read about that here. It may well be the most rewarding ten minutes you spend on behalf of your business this year.

Conclusion

There is only one solution that works perfectly - or indeed at all, when compliance is taken into account - for all professional and service businesses, whether they be in the medical, legal, educational or financial spheres (or those directly associated, such as estate agency) and whatever category from 1 - 6 they fall into above, and that is independently moderated review management.

It only remains for your business to choose an entity to provide that independent moderation. We humbly submit that, with over fifteen years of experience dealing directly with reviews and review sites, including - in fact, especially - Google, of all kinds and being the first to alert businesses to the primacy of Google reviews, HelpHound would be a good place to embark on your business's journey.

And finally

This article focuses on the legally compliant solutions to reviews and review management. And without a compliant solution all the other good things that flow from positive engagement with Google reviews are as nothing. To be candid: what is the point of amassing hundreds of reviews by cherry-picking or gating if your competitors know that's what you are doing (and will be alerting any prospective customers they come across)?  

There is, of course, much more on the upside. Here are just a few of the hundreds of articles covering the positive aspects of adopting professional review management.

• Results. We are often asked for proof that inbound enquiries will accelerate once HelpHound is adopted and up and running. Our first objective is to have our clients score 4.8+. once that is achieved on the business's own website and on Google there should be a noticeable and measurable increase in inbound enquiries - calls and clicks - and this article shows real-life examples and case histories. It also shows how the quality of those enquiries rises - markedly, both in terms of conversion and value. 

• If you would like to read what we have to say that is relevant to your own business sector please interrogate the blog - just go to 'Search this Blog' on the right and enter 'medical' or 'education' and so on and you will be shown whatever we have written that is directly relevant. If you still cannot find what you are looking for just email - info@helphound.com - or call us - 0207 100-2233 and we'll give you the answer straight away (HelpHound provides specific tailored advice for each of our clients, we are as far from a 'one size fits all solution' as can be).

• Fees. Here they are. We aim to be a profit centre, not a drain on our clients' resources - see 'Results' above - we have had our fees compared to many things over the years, from 'coffee for the whole office once a week' to 'the same as I pay BUPA every month'. What is certain is that your business will fare far better with HelpHound.

• Compliance. We hear the groan! But, to be serious for a minute, we keep close tabs on what the Competition and Markets Authority is up to, and only two months ago we had confirmation that their investigation into businesses flouting its regulations with regard to reviews remains very much live and ongoing. Given that there are so many advantages in being compliant - and not being seen to be non-compliant - and that compliance comes as standard the day a business joins HelpHound, we would suggest that this aspect of our service is a no-brainer for all businesses.*

*Many businesses we meet labour under the - understandable - misunderstanding that compliance with the CMA regulations means having to proactively invite every single customer/patient/client to write a review. This is categorically not the case; what the regulators do insist on is every single stakeholder having an equal opportunity to post a review. All HelpHound clients' modules [what we call the visible side of our software on your website] contain a button - see red arrow below - that allows exactly that. 

The 'Write a review' button leads directly to a form where your customer writes a review which is then sent directly for moderation pre-publication. The 'What is HelpHound?' link goes straight to a page explaining HelpHound's role 

The advantage of this mechanism is that the client can write a review whenever they wish (it is this function that ensures the business is compliant with the CMA regulations); that review will then be subject to HelpHound's moderation before it is published on the business's website. If the review contains errors of fact or potentially misleading content our moderator will contact the reviewer (and the business if needs be) to resolve the issue. Over 97 per cent of reviewers welcome this engagement and correct their reviews, or they decide not to post a review at all. Only after this are all reviewers asked to copy their reviews to Google. Just to round out the example above, here they are on Google...

This screenshot tells the current position of a business with its Google score (4.9), number of Google reviews (497), score from its own reviews (4.9 again) and number of reviews hosted on its own website (693). The key statistic to be drawn from these numbers - aside from the excellent scores - is the success that the business has had in converting reviews to its own website into Google reviews: over two-thirds have been copied over to Google - 71 per cent to be precise. 

Two more things you may be interested to know about the business above:

• When they joined HelpHound they only had 6 Google reviews
• They recently opened another office

So: decide which category your business falls under (it may have covered more than one in the past!) and then arrange to speak and/or meet one of us. We will answer all your questions and give you a very accurate idea of where your business will be - and what the results for your business will be - going forwards.

Help! We've received an unfair Google review

The first thing we have to say is, 'Are you a HelpHound client?' If the answer is 'Yes,' then by far your best course of action is to call your HelpHound adviser. They'll discuss all of your options and advise on the best course of action (there will be one, we assure you).

For everyone else: please read on.

Google reviews

The first action a business should take, if and when it receives a negative Google review - accurate or not - is to respond. There is an article covering responses here. Google mods will look to see a) if the business has responded and we reckon they look positively upon businesses that have taken the trouble. Aside from this, it's just plain good business practice, readers are definitely impressed by businesses that take reviews - positive and negative - seriously enough to respond.

All it takes: a tap to choose a star rating and then write away

Anyone can write a Google review - absolutely anyone. The days of 'having to sign up/in' are in the past; Google loves the content reviews give its platform and is fully aware of just how often reviews are read by its users (great for businesses when the review is positive and accurate, not so great when it is not).

That said, there are two advantages to Google reviews*:

• Google has an appeals procedure
• Google know a lot about the person who posted the review 

*in this context. Of course, there are many more from a marketing perspective, and these are covered elsewhere on this blog in minute detail.

Appealing against a Google review

Here is the relevant page to begin the process. But this is not going to be as easy as Google's headline above might imply. Just because you are 100% sure that the reviewer has never been a customer of your business or that they are completely wrong in whatever assertions they are making, does not mean that the staffer at Google who reviews your appeal will allow it. We are dealing with a California-based business with deeply held US levels of attachment to personal freedom of speech (a.k.a. 1st  Amendment rights). 

Above is one of the 21 categories of 'Prohibited and restricted content', and it is the one that we most often find ourselves basing our clients' appeals on. Many of the others - violent, dangerous, illegal, child-safety, terrorist, adult-themed - rarely, if ever, apply to reviews of our kind of client (service and professional businesses, in the main). We should also say, right now, that in our well over ten years of experience in wording and conducting appeals on behalf of client businesses, Google mods' definition of 'Offensive' and ours - and yours - may differ quite considerably. Free speech, again.

All that said, it is always worth appealing against a factually incorrect, potentially misleading and commercially injurious** review. Always*. We have seen reviews succeed where our experienced staffers gave them seriously bad odds. 

*Why 'always'? Unfairly critical reviews can do untold harm in the long term. Consumers know to select 'Lowest' when they are reading Google reviews

**For anyone wondering about the kind of harm a single wrong-headed negative review can do, we strongly suggest reading these two articles:

• Case History 1: The firm of solicitors materially injured by a negative review (when we say 'materially injured' you will see that a judge agreed, and awarded the firm substantial damages)

• Case History 2: the hotel where bookings plummeted after a malicious negative Google review (which was successfully appealed following advice from HelpHound - see above)

Apply a simple test: if you didn't enjoy reading the review, it is bound to be unhelpful, in the sense, at the very least, of 'not encouraging anyone to use the business', and it will impact the business's overall score. 

It is rare for Google to include an outside video creator on its own website, here is a useful 4-step 'How to...' for those more visually inclined.

How to head off such reviews in the first place

We never advise businesses to be passive and wait until a damaging Google review comes their way. There are actions a business can take to ensure that the absolute minimum of factually inaccurate reviews are posted. Here they are...

This response tells the reader so much that is positive about the business: that they take every complaint seriously and that they understand the complainant's frustration; and it leaves the door open for a continued dialogue. Importantly it also warns others tempted to post a Google review as a first reaction to a perceived lack of service or some other grievance that they will receive a reasoned and reasonable response (and might reasonably expect a positive response should they email or phone the business in the first instance).

1.  Respond - to every review it receives: besides addressing the points made in the review, this sends a message, loud and clear, to anyone tempted to over-egg any issue they may have: they will receive a response

A great deal of hugely helpful information for the potential customer 

 

2.   Employ a moderated review management system: this ensures that your business complies with the CMA regulations (the law) and, importantly, allows you to address factually inaccurate, potentially misleading and, yes, plain unfair review before they are posted anywhere. We estimate that the - great - business in the example above would now be scoring between 4.6 and 4.7 on Google had it not adopted HelpHound (it had 6 Google reviews when it joined, it now has fast approaching 500, with a Google score of 4.9). 

In Summary

We'd rather you become a client before you receive an unfair or inaccurate Google review, but this article is intended to reassure you that there are mechanisms in place, both at Google and in the marketplace, to ensure the likelihood of a recurrence is minimised going forward.

Please don't hesitate to speak to us, we will happily ask all your questions (and give you specific advice on any review that may be causing you concern currently.

Further reading

• Results - the good news

• Compliance - a guide

10 things HelpHound membership will do for your business - a one-minute read

 Here we go...

1.   It will ensure you get more leads through all kinds of web searches (commonly between 15-25% more) - guaranteed

2.   It will ensure that more visitors to your own website make that crucial first contact - guaranteed

3.   It will ensure you get more calls through Google searches of all kinds - guaranteed

4.   It will reduce - dramatically - reviews that are factually incorrect

5.   It will reduce - dramatically - reviews that are potentially misleading

6.   It will reduce - dramatically - reviews that are plain unfair (or contain spelling errors and/or bad grammar)

7.   It will eliminate fake reviews - to all intents and purposes

8.   It will provide your business with great marketing and closing material

9.   It will ensure your business's compliance with the CMA regulations - from day one

10. It will ensure that you and all your management and staff can rest assured that your business is doing all it possibly can to maximise the benefits of professional review management while minimising all the possible negative effects of online reviews

Here's a checklist...

We have made it as low-tech as we possibly can - just click on the image and print it out, and you're ready to go. Attribute a value to each of these ten points (from £ 0 if you think your business won't benefit at all to a realistic monthly figure), then total them. Then call us and put that number to the test.

Click. Print. Add the relevant numbers - even if that may be £0 (many people will put a big fat 0 next to 'Compliance with the law' until they realise that non-compliance will not only leave them liable to a fine by the CMA, but expose them to unhelpful criticism when competitors realise what they are doing). 

Then? Call us. Test us (there's no lock-in and our fees are as transparent as can be as well as being backed by a guarantee). Results are also as close as can be to instantaneous. 

Further reading

• The extended version is contained in this recent article: Reviews - the Future

• We all like to see concrete results

Investment managers - 5 years on

Nearly 5 years ago now we published this article, so what's happened since?

The article highlighted the almost complete lack of engagement with Google reviews by wealth managers. And, it must be said, that such businesses are still struggling to find their way with Google reviews.

First, let's answer the obvious question: why should wealth managers - and independent financial advisers and those involved with any kind of financial management - engage with Google reviews in the first place?

Let us look at it from the potential client's point of view. Do you think reading a review such as this...

We normally use screenshots like this with the company name redacted, but we don't suppose Fishers will mind in this instance; the review is in the public domain after all

...would encourage or discourage first contact? In a way, Google and its users have answered that question for us, just look at the 9 thumbs up (we estimate a single thumbs up for every 100 readers - when did you last vote for a review?).

So, do we need to go any further? Reviews like this will encourage potential clients to make first contact. So, again, why don't the businesses engage? After all, businesses that are equally vulnerable to negative reviews, such as lawyers and doctors, do so, most of them anyway. Let's look at an example of each of those...

Regular readers know that we seldom pose a question without coming up with an answer - or answers. So here they are...

1. Fear. Pure and simple. And absolutely logical and understandable. Managing an individual's - or a family's or a corporation's - financial affairs is a complex business. Of course it is, that's why such professionals exist. But those same professionals know that some, at least, of their clients don't completely understand the whys and wherefores of financial markets and might, if asked, write a factually inaccurate or potentially misleading review. Harmful to the relationship with the client concerned and harmful to the business when read by a prospective client
2. Confidentiality. We don't discuss our financial affairs with close friends or even relations. Why would a client be happy to write a publicly visible review?

Our answers to these...

1. Fear: we would never advise any professional business to engage with Google reviews - without employing a professional moderator. Such a moderator will read every single review before publication and engage with the reviewer - your client - and the business to ensure that, as far as is legally possible, the review that has been written contains no errors of fact or statements with the potential to mislead anyone reading the review. This is the key to engaging with clients of complex services - read more here.
2. Confidentiality: the professions were the very last adopters of Google reviews for this reason. But just look at this review (of a Harley Street women's health clinic)...

...how much more 'confidential' could a service get? The key here is how the invitation to write the review is phrased. We ensure, in conjunction with the business, that the wording is sensitive and makes it abundantly clear to the - in the above case: patient - that there is no pressure to write any review at all. The invariable result is that the percentage of reviews for such sensitive services is lower than for less sensitive ones in percentage terms (estate agents, for instance frequently achieve 50% conversion rates), but the quality of the individual reviews is often far higher.

Conclusion

Adopt a moderated system and test it. HelpHound will guide you every step of the way and the results will be next to instantaneous - and there's no minimum period or contract.

No more '2 steps forward, one back'

How often do we see this? A business that has fully engaged with reviews only to see its score constantly eroded by factually inaccurate, misleading or just plain unfair reviews?

And, before we look at the solution, let us address two questions head-on...

1. Why does this matter?
2. How do we know the reviews are 'either factually inaccurate, misleading or unfair'?

Do reviews and scores matter?

They most certainly do. Whenever a business is searched online its headline review score is shown. If this score is worse than its competitors it will lose inbounds. 

The higher the score and the better the reviews underlying it, the more inbounds the business will receive through search. Proven (and provable by and for any individual business). a business scoring 4.9 will receive more inbounds than a similar business scoring 4.6. fact.

And - to make a critical point here: we are talking Google reviews. Not Yelp, not Feefo, not Reviews.io, not Trustpilot. None of those review sites' scores or reviews show consistently in search, Google's always do.

How do we - and you - know the (invariably negative (1*)) reviews are either factually inaccurate, misleading or unfair'?

Because we read the responses from the businesses. And those invariably begin along the lines of 'Thank you for taking the time to review us, but...

The review that prompted this response helped no one, not the reviewer, not the prospective clients of the business and certainly not the business itself, with the one-star rating negatively impacting the business's overall score

Now, there would be no issue, aside from both sides airing unresolved opinions, if it weren't for a) the unsettling comments made in the review, even though they may be inaccurate and b) the score attached to such reviews. They are invariably 1*. And Google's algorithm sees that and alters the business's overall score downwards as a result.

The impact

Over time, this results in a great business looking not so great*. With consumers now commonly using businesses' Google scores as a guide and a comparator this puts businesses such as the one in the screenshot above, scoring 4.4, at a distinct disadvantage when compared with a similar business scoring higher.

*There is also the impact of the individual incorrect review: there is a syndrome we in the business call 'the killer review' and every business owes it to itself, its staff and its customers, to do everything it can to avoid them. For an illustration of the impact such a review can have read this article.

Strategies that businesses are currently adopting 

1.  Not inviting reviews at all: a surprising number of businesses, especially those that take compliance with the law seriously (and we recommend all businesses do), have simply adopted a passive stance when it comes to reviews. They don't ask anyone to write a review - anywhere - and they simply respond as and when they recieve a review. 

2.  Asking happy customers to write a review: The business simply asks for a review when they know the customer is likely to rate them 5*.  

3.  Asking all their customers to fill in an e-questionnaire and then only asking those that respond positively to post a review.

4.  Using a moderated system to allow the business and its customers to resolve misunderstandings and errors of fact before the review is published.

Taking route 1 is simply handing a big win to the business's competitors, as well as allowing the business's reviews to paint an inaccurate picture of the business. Too many consumers these days consult reviews - almost always Google reviews - before making first contact, especially where high-value services and professions are concerned, for businesses to carry on down this road.

Routes 2 and 3, although still frequently - and mostly innocently - adopted by businesses, are illegal. The regulators have terms for these two practices: 'cherry-picking' for route 2 and 'gating' for route 3 (for more on this - including the draconian powers of the CMA to land on infringing businesses like the proverbial ton of bricks, please read this article).

And that leaves route 4. Moderation.

This is, currently, and for the foreseeable future, the only safe and compliant way for a business to have its reputation accurately reflected in its reviews (and, yes, we have met perfect businesses, and will undoubtedly continue to do so in future, but unfortunately those perfect businesses don't have 100% perfect customers/clients/patients).

HelpHound clients and regular readers need read no further. For those of you who are first-timers here is a short explanation of moderation. 

Moderation 

There is only one legal and legitimate way, in the UK at least, to ensure that the overwhelming majority of a business's reviews are genuine and factually correct, and it's called moderation. This is how moderation works...

1. The reviewer posts their review
2. The moderator, an entity independent of the business (and a 'real' human being, not AI or other software), reads the review to check that it is - as far as possible - genuine and factually correct
3. If there are doubts: the moderator refers to both the reviewer and/or the business for clarification
4. If needs be: the reviewer is offered the opportunity to edit their review (to correct errors of fact or potentially misleading wording)
5. At any time in this process, the reviewer has the right to publish their review, edited or not

For a full explanation read this article.

Adopt moderation and any well-run CRM-focussed business can expect their Google score to rise, and continue rising until it reaches a point where it begins attracting inbound enquiries in serious volumes. Simply because moderation will result in factually incorrect or potentially misleading 1* reviews being addressed and corrected pre-publication. For concrete results please read this article.