HelpHound - article index

Here is an index, with brief explanations, of some of the key articles we have published in the last five years...

First - 'must reads' for everyone in management... 

• A Guide to review management in 2017 - all the options facing a business today
• The Fear Factor - why so many businesses hesitate before engaging with reviews, and why there's no need to
• Why not just do it yourself? - and what you will be missing out on if you do
• The Future of reviews - see how we think the reviews landscape will change over the next few years
• The Competition & Markets Authority Rules - most businesses and reviews sites are currently breaking them - and why there's no need to
• Resolution™ - protecting business and consumer alike from inaccurate and/or misleading reviews. Fear is the single thing that prevents most businesses engaging with reviews; Resolution™ means that good businesses can relax in the knowledge that inviting reviews will not put their hard earned reputations at risk
• How about the independent reviews sites? These numbers finally lay to rest the Google (and your own website) v. the independent sites argument - there's even more on this subject here
• Already engaging with reviews? - a checklist of 'wrong ways' to avoid and 'giveaways' that enable the regulators spot wrongdoing (and a business's competitors to make hay)
• The 5 questions most asked about HelpHound - starting with 'How can we be sure we won't be risking our business's reputation?' and including 'What will it cost?' and 'Are there any guarantees [of success]?'

 Next - the 'salesy stuff'...

• Calls up 18%, website visits up 27% - The immediate impact of HelpHound membership
• Our latest presentation - exactly what it says on the tin - all the benefits of membership
• The answers to the six questions your competitors will be asking about the reviews solution you choose for your business

 Industry/profession related articles...

• Results for hotels - positive reviews up, negatives down - definitive mathematical  proof that HelpHound ensures your scores and rankings on Google, TripAdvisor and the OTAs will be better for adopting HelpHound
• A simple explanation of the benefits for hotels and the hospitality industry
• Results for estate agents - in their own words
• An estate agent's journey - from nowhere to glowing in search
• Recruitment and reviews - who needs reliable reviews more than someone looking for career progression - and those seeking to help them?
• Reviews and the financial services industry - wealth management, the banks and financial planners were fighting shy of reviews three years ago, has anything changed?
• Reviews for the medical and caring professions - GP or physiotherapist, NHS Trust or private nursing home - your patients don't want to search further than Google

Under the bonnet - for those who like to understand what 'makes the car go'...

• Resolution™ - in case you missed it under 'must reads' - our moderation system, protecting consumers and businesses from inaccurate and misleading reviews
• The perfect 10 (or 5!) - why your business should strive for perfection 
• Google announce the quest for 'best' increases dramatically - pushing Google ever closer to ranking businesses in search
• Google reviews accelerate - your business has a handful now? That's stands to triple in the next 12 months
• Just how many people read a review on Google? - a real-life example of a business with a single review on Google that has been seen over a thousand times in three months
• An explanation of the Google Filter - and how to avoid being filtered out of search results
• Google ramps up visibility of reviews on mobile - how to look great there

In summary...

As you can see, there is more to professional review management than might at first meet the eye. We suggest you speak to us so we can put it into the context of your business and your current experience with reviews.

Please feel free to comment on this article - link below - and subscribe - centre right - so you can be sure to receive every article as it is published. If you would like more information just email fiona.christie@helphound.com.

Rightmove: get reviews to Google and your own site

This today from the Rightmove 'Home Movers' survey:

'Where reviews were read, most (42%) were on Google, followed by agents’ own website (36%), Trustpilot (11%), allAgents (6%) and Feefo (2%).'

And what has HelpHound been saying all along? 

'Concentrate on getting reviews to your own website and to Google'

Thank you for confirming this advice, Rightmove: 78% (42% Google + 36% business's own site) plays 11%, 6% and 2%. 

That is how we generate results like these for our clients:

 This screenshot is taken from the new Google my Business email - sent monthly from this September - to all those businesses that have reviews on Google (and is published here with permission from Curchods). The numbers - plus 18% for calls and plus 27% for visits show the immediate one-off uplift for a single branch resulting from HelpHound implementation

It's common-sense really, but it is surprising just how many businesses have persisted - until now - with ploughing on the stony ground of independent sites.


HelpHound?

Some readers will be off like a shot to Google at this point, but we suggest you pause to consider why well-respected businesses like Curchods use HelpHound.

Without independent review management your business will lack:

• any mechanism to head off inaccurate or misleading reviews
• star ratings, scores or 'Reviews from the web' in Google organic search - see below
• ongoing advice on how to maximise the potential of reviews to drive your business forwards

And all for the price of a smartphone contract? Call us and well tell you everything you need to know to mobilise the power of review management for your business.


Further reading:

Here's the full article on PIE. In it you will note the following:

"A whopping 70% of potential vendors and landlords do not read online reviews."

So you might expect us to react with a justification for reviews. Far from it, because that statistic is simply a reflection of the fact that the overwhelming majority of estate agents are not showing their prospective fee-payers any reviews at all (or are subscribing to one of the 'invisible' reviews sites mentioned in the article, which amounts to the same thing). 

 Consumers are not going to reference reviews as an influencing factor if the businesses in question look like this:

Please feel free to comment on this article - link below - and subscribe - centre right - so you can be sure to receive every article as it is published. If you need more information email fiona.christie@helphound.com.

How HelpHound adds value to 'Do-it-yourself' review management

Any business can invite their customers to post a review to Google, and many do. Here we focus on the value HelpHound adds to that process...


1.  Independently verified reviews on your own site

Just as having reviews on Google increases click-through to your website, reviews on your own website act as a powerful call to action, turning browsers into potential customers. In this example the combination of both increased click-through by 27%.

You don't have to take our word for it; every month Google will send you a report like this, so you will be able to see the direct effect of adopting HelpHound (thank you to Curchods for allowing us to publish this copy of their Google My Business performance statistics).

With independently verified reviews you get the added bonus of stars, score and number of independently verified reviews attached to your organic listing in search and a click-through in the Google knowledge panel (see points 3 and 4 below).


2.  Minimising inaccurate, misleading and fake reviews

At HelpHound, every review goes through Resolution™ - our moderation system - and any that we think may be factually inaccurate or potentially misleading are first served to you so you can engage with the reviewer. This ensures, as far as is possible, that reviews shown are an accurate reflection of your business, benefiting you and your potential customers. 


3.  Showing your own reviews' score in search

The stars and the rating and make you stand out in search and gives consumers an instant impression of your business - proven to increase both calls and click-throughs (website visits increased by 27% for one client - read the story here).  


4.  Showing 'Reviews from the web' in your Google knowledge panel

Consumers have been trained by Google to use the knowledge panel as an instant reference for your business. Reviews are shown there in no less than three separate locations: Google reviews at the top, 'Reviews from the web' - a link to the reviews on your own website - in the middle - and 'rich snippets' - the quotes from your reviews that Google takes to create an impression for its users, at the bottom.


5.  Advice on responding to reviews

Responding to reviews is an important aspect of modern CRM. But so few businesses do so - when asked they often say 'we don't have time' or 'we don't have the confidence' and, more often than you might think, 'we don't know how'. HelpHound supports all our clients with advice, whether that be strategic or specific, right down to the wording of individual responses.


6.  Advice on appealing inaccurate or misleading reviews 

One of the most frequently received calls here at HelpHound is from businesses who have received a review - on Google or any other reviews platform - that they consider to be either:

• fake - written maliciously, perhaps by a competitor or a disgruntled employee, or just someone with an axe to grind
• inaccurate or misleading - it does not accord with their version of events, or makes simple factual errors that might mislead future consumers to the detriment of both those consumers and the business

At HelpHound we reckon we have more experience than any other adviser in this area. We will recommend whatever course of action we believe to be the most effective and prepare a written appeal to the review site in question - including Google.

 
7.  Longevity

Solutions change over time - you only have to look at the profusion of reviews sites that have positioned themselves as the solution for businesses, only to fade away months or years later. Most of your will know of Yelp - the biggest review site on the planet - they invested massively in the UK and signed up thousands of businesses and then abruptly left last year.

Your business needs a solution that your can rely on for the years to come, and that means

• owning your own reviews, not giving them to another business
• adopting a solution that is flexible enough to accommodate changes - changes in the marketplace, changes at Google. Infinitely adaptable to act in your best interests. That's HelpHound.

8. Compliance

The Competitions & Markets Authority (CMA) has yet to fine a business in the UK for contravening its regulations, but mark our words, it is only a matter of time. Anyone who thinks the CMA is reluctant to show its teeth would do well to read this.

And most, if not all, current reviews solutions in the UK contravene one or more of the CMA's core regulations. Read this to see if you recognise any symptoms.

What use is a reviews solution if it results in a headline accusing a business of playing fast-and-loose with government regulations? You need professional advice on reviews and review management almost as much as you need professional legal and financial advice. We are here to provide it.


In summary

There - eight reasons. And we would humbly suggest that any one of them is worth our monthly fee on its own. DIY or HelpHound? Speak to Fiona or Karen and then make an appointment where we will answer any questions about your current strategy - or discuss ways ahead if you have yet to formulate one.



Please feel free to comment on this article - link below - and subscribe - centre right - so you can be sure to receive every article as it is published. If you need more information email fiona.christie@helphound.com.

AllAgents suspend listing of Purplebricks reviews - who next?

This appeared on PurpleBricks' page on allAgents today...

What has happened? Well, first let us say that we know no more than has been published on PIE. But from that, we gather that “allAgents received correspondence from Purplebricks’s legal representatives threatening legal action if we do not remove 71 negative reviews. allAgents has decided to action their request pending further investigation.”

Things have, it appears, quickly moved on to complete suspension. 

We make no comment on the merits or otherwise of either party's case, but we will be following this story with interest, not least because allAgents are by no means the only site that carries reviews - negative of otherwise - of Purplebricks and every other business on the planet. If Purplebricks can get a reviews site to take down its reviews which business and which reviews site is next?

Trustpilot - which is Purplebricks' review site of choice - itself released an 'open letter' that is quoted in full on Estate Agent Today. 

Our take...

Reviews are meant to help consumers make decisions, but there are often marked differences between reviews sites (above), and Google and those reviews sites...

Again, we make no comment as to the accuracy or veracity of the reviews that make up these three distinctly divergent scores, except to say that we don't know quite where they must leave the average consumer.

As regular readers will know, we at HelpHound have always had issues with independent reviews websites - it is very difficult indeed for an independent site to market a service that is seen as actively encouraging dissatisfied customers to post publicly visible reviews - and many have mechanisms that are designed to address this very issue. The trouble is that some of these mechanisms can be seen to give rise to potential differences when checked against the Competition & Markets Authority's regulations.


Our solution...

There is no need for a business to use an independent reviews site. Adopting proper professional review management gives a business a much more flexible solution - and enables the business to get reviews where they will do the most good (and there's no doubting they do good!) and that is currently on the business's own site and on Google.


Update 20 September...

An article in the Times today.

As of today, Trustpilot's entry for Purplebricks US looks like this...

With all but one review looking like this...

And - a simple click through to Nick Smith's Trustpilot profile shows this:

What is anyone to make of a review site where the business has to report the review to the review site it employs? Did anyone at Trustpilot have the slightest inkling that a reviewer with a .co.uk email address may possibly not have sold a property in California. More to the point, did Trustpilot - do Trustpilot - know that Purplebricks only launched in the US last Friday? 

Purplebricks US site looks like this (currently)...

Now, we can only say what HelpHound's policy would be in this case, and that is that we will only allow our clients to show reviews that are directly attributable to the location in question. You open a new office in Cardiff - you better start getting review from clients in Cardiff, because we are not going to allow you to show reviews from your Bristol office! If a consumer sees a HelpHound verified review on a business's website that review will be of that business in that location...

Reviews of Winkworth in Kennington - nowhere else.

In conclusion...

We are sorry if the tone of this article is verging on the intemperate, but here at HelpHound we work very hard to ensure that we, in conjunction our clients, manage their reviews in such a way as consumers are able to rely on them: if a HelpHound client looks good it must be because they are good.

We understand that reviews sites are under considerable pressure - on the one hand from some businesses that think it is 'unfair' that people can 'write what they like' about them and want the review site to bend over backwards (and bend the rules - both the CMA's rules and the rules of natural justice) to help them - and on the other from Google; the canal companies were not thrilled when railways came along, but come they did. 

Google and professional review management are now the solution businesses need - with a sideways glance at Facebook too - and if that means that the independent reviews sites fall by the wayside, then so be it (there was a massive hint that this was happening when Yelp left the UK at the end of last year).



Latest (21 September): 

Property Industry Eye "allAgents mount criticism of 'miffed' Purplebricks"

A new notice on Purplebricks' listing on allAgents



Please feel free to comment on this article - link below - and subscribe - centre right - so you can be sure to receive every article as it is published. If you need more information email fiona.christie@helphound.com.

Winkworth's new website is shortlisted for the Negotiator Awards

Congratulations to our clients at Winkworth for being shortlisted for the Negotiator Awards 2017.

We love the way Winkworth and their web designers at Homeflow have taken our API and incorporated it into their striking new website, and we wish them all the best on 31st October.

Visits up 27% thanks to HelpHound!

Yesterday Google introduced Google My Business performance statistics. Sent to each business in an email they look like this...

Curchods went live with HelpHound this summer - this, for just one of their branches, was sent to us today by their marketing director (and shared with permission). Calls up 18% and website visits up a massive 27% - and the only difference? HelpHound (and for a month - August - where they would normally expect falls)

There is a strong message from Google here - following right on from last week's surge in searches for 'best' - and that is that looking great in reviews is vitally important if you are to maximise returns from search.

Look like this...

 ...with your own reviews, gathered with HelpHound, showing the star rating, score and number (top left) and with a direct link from 'Reviews from the web' to your website in the Google Knowledge Panel; then your Google reviews and rich snippets (bottom right), all working in concert to produce the uplift in calls and visits reported by Google in the top screenshot.

The knowledge panel (above) and organic search (below) are so important for businesses now - the days of embedding relevant key words into your site and hoping for the best are well behind us, and with the day when Google serves the 'best' businesses in search fast approaching, any business that does not take its review management seriously is bound to suffer...

 ...a glimpse into the future...

 ...no photoshop! The 'best' business at the top of the google 3-pack and first in organic search

We think the message is now even clearer - that professional review management pays dividends - we hope, like Curchods, your business will see the benefits too. One thing is for sure: you will know within weeks of joining because Google will tell you!

And please note: While the business in this example is an estate agency  - and just one of twenty branches of that agency - the principle will apply to any business from accountancy to zoos.


Further reading:

•  An index to the most relevant articles on this blog

Please feel free to comment on this article - link below - and subscribe - centre right - so you can be sure to receive every article as it is published. If you need more information email fiona.christie@helphound.com.
 

Examples of businesses misusing reviews

Five years ago reviews in the UK were unregulated; as a result all kinds of questionable practices became commonplace. Now, we are delighted to say, reviews are regulated by the Competition and Markets Authority.

In this article we will highlight some of these practices and we strongly suggest that those yet to join HelpHound use this as a checklist (if you are a HelpHound client you will not need to concern yourself – except, perhaps, to see if a competitor is non-compliant!).


Cherry-picking

Six months ago this business had no reviews on Google, then it had two 1* reviews in succession, now it has thirteen 5* reviews - all written in the last two months. Understandable, but non-compliant with the CMA regulations which state that if you are going to invite customers to write reviews that invitation should be to all your customers

By far-and-away the most common: it’s often because the business has received a negative review and they have suddenly realized they need to engage. So what would any normal business do? It will ask its staff to ask its most reliable customers to post a glowing review. Normal? Yes. Compliant? No.

Giveaways: Few – or no - reviews over a period of years, then a negative, hotly followed by a flurry of positives.

Double-dipping

A ‘clever’ variant of cherry-picking: the business asks all of its customers to write a review to a small independent reviews site – after that they only invite those who have posted a five star review to copy it to Google. Ouch!

Giveaways: an average score on a less well-known site and then a great score on Google, but from fewer reviews.

Mis-describing testimonials as reviews

It is simple: a 'review' must be verified by an external source. If it is not it is a testimonial, and must not be described as a review. We have seen multiple examples of such misleading misdescription - one where the testimonials in question are even being used to hoodwink Google into displaying a star rating in natural search.

Giveaways: If the 'review' is taken from an independent site and displayed on the business's site it will appear twice if pasted into Google search: once on each site; if it does not, it is not a review.
 

Rewarding reviewers

If you do decide to reward customers for posting a review make sure they are rewarded whatever they score or say - good or bad, five star or one star

Rewarding customers for posting a review is frowned on by most review platforms, and against the T&Cs of some. It can also backfire: we recently saw a negative review of a business mentioning the reward that had been offered – not good PR (see below). Rewards can be OK in certain circumstances, but everyone must qualify for the reward, those posting negative reviews included.

Giveaways: reviews mentioning the reward (see screenshot below)

Incentivising reviewers

Besides being against the CMA regulations, incentivising customers to post positive reviews can backfire in other ways

A sub-group of ‘rewarding’ really – how about the business that hosted a party for graduates and then asked their guests to post a review? Unfortunately multiple reviewers used their reviews as an opportunity to thank the business for its hospitality – making clear that they were not bona-fide clients of the business.

Giveaways: mentions in the review – ‘thank you for the Amazon voucher’ or ‘I look forward to receiving my reward’

Using a review site that filters reviews

These are just two of many 'reviews of review sites' on competitor sites, and they both tell the same story: that the reviewer alleges that they could not get their review posted. If this is true, and we have seen more than one example where it would appear to be, using a site like this is a) against the CMA regulations  and b) hands a big win to any business that spots that their competitor is using such a system

It’s very simple – under CMA rules, anyone must be able to post a review at any time – any system - or business using such a system - that prevents that, however well-meaning, is non-compliant. It will also drive unhappy customers to post to a site that does allow them to post as and when they want – and that site? Google, of course.

Giveaways: none – unless you read reviews on competing websites; but reviews-savvy competitors and the CMA will know

Selectively showing external reviews on the business’s own site

More common than you might think – inviting reviews to an external site and then showing only the positive ones on the business’s own site.

Giveaways: a simple cross-check shows this up

Describing testimonials as reviews

Most people will probably recognise these white/green stars by now - but, strangely, the customer comments are not taken from - or verified by - that site. In fact, the business concerned does not describe the comments shown underneath these stars as reviews or testimonials, but what might a visitor to their website reasonably assume?

Again, we see this frequently. A review is, by definition, independently verified by an outside agency, a testimonial is invited and displayed by the business alone and the business has total control over what is displayed.

Giveaways: the ‘reviews’ lack attribution

Conclusion

There are two messages here: the first is that whatever reviews system your business adopts it must be compliant with the CMA regulations (they have the force of law). The second is to use this article as a checklist against which to examine any system you might be tempted to use.

Alternatively you can speak to us. We have no axe to grind other than our clients' best interests - so you can be sure of receiving a reliable answer.

     

Search for 'best' soars on Google

This is straight from the horse's mouth...

  We read 'Think with Google' so our clients don't have to (not about reviews, at least) - here is the full text of this week's article

...and the implications are far-reaching. 

Let's look at this in more detail:

• consumers - self-evidently - want the 'best' in any search - the 'best' restaurant or the 'best' lawyer, in fact 'the 'best' of everything
• Google is actually pretty bad at delivering 'best' - so that uplift in the use of 'best' as a search term is not really delivering. Look at these examples...

 'Best' hotel...

   

Top result? A hotel rated 3.8 - it just so happens to have the word 'best' in its name, but the Seraphine at 3.9?

'Best' estate agent...

  

 Well, you cannot argue that they are not all 'Best', but possibly not in the way searchers want or need

'Best' lawyer...

 One at 2.8?

And our favourite... 'best' financial advisors...

 ...currently serving a 150 year sentence in a Federal jail!

But seriously...

What this illustrates is the conflict of interest that is at the core of Google's business model - and they have the key to solving that conflict, the only question is: when will they decide to use that key.

The key?

Reviews, of course. 

One day soon, hopefully for those using 'best' as a search term, Google will base the answer on review scores. It already has them - and if it does not it is up to the business concerned to remedy that situation - and it is certainly possible to deliver, from a technical point-of-view, by implementing a simple algorithm. After all, Google is already doing something very similar with its filter and 'Top rated' (more on that here).

What does your business need to do?

At the core of Google's research is the - unsurprising - finding that their users want to find great businesses, not just businesses with massive advertising budgets, but businesses who deliver great products and services - so just take some of your PPC budget and apply it to getting great reviews.

  

Businesses like this - this business had two Google reviews when it became a HelpHound client - already look great in search, and they can relax in the knowledge that they will rank at or near the top when Google gets round to delivering the 'best' in search

Strive to 'be the best' reviewed business in your marketplace, so when Google get around to ranking businesses yours appears at - or at least somewhere near - the top of the list.