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