Google and the UK CMA - one step closer

 

This action, described in full in this important article, takes the CMA one big step closer to sanctioning individual businesses that play fast and loose with Google reviews

Let us be clear (for those who haven't read our many previous articles about complying with the CMA regulations)...

Businesses should be alert to the fact that Google will wish to be seen to take action, both by the CMA and by the consumer press, against businesses flouting the CMA's core regulations (see below)

Tens of thousands of UK businesses are currently laying themselves wide open to prosecution by the CMA for...

• cherry-picking customers to invite to post Google reviews - cherry-picking is simple to do, and equally simple to spot: it involves only asking those customers a business is absolutely sure will write a glowing 5* review to do so

• gating: slightly more complicated - using a questionnaire or email to identify those customers and only then asking them to write a review

That's it, in a nutshell. If a business is doing either one of these it is in its best interest to stop - right now. Because it is so easy for others - be it the CMA, Google, or simply your competitors - to spot. 

• Your business has dozens - hundreds - thousands - of customers every month, yet it attracts only a handful of Google reviews over a similar period

• You have customers who have never been invited to write a Google review, yet you have Google reviews (we hear and see examples of this daily)

• Your score on Google diverges dramatically from that on a review site you employ - 4.8 on Trustpilot v. 3.9 on Google, for instance

And what do the businesses in this category say to us? They say that it is unfair to demand that they ask every customer to write a review; they say that they have some customers - don't we all? - that are never happy, however hard they try.

This article is not a sales pitch for HelpHound, but our answer to those two points is a simple 'Yes - we agree on both counts': we then go on to say 'your business needs to adopt a moderated system that allows ('allows' - is the key word here) all of your customers - and other stakeholders - to write a review. And then you are free to actively invite all those you wish to' (Our serious and candid advice is: once you are confident that the system works: invite all of your customers to write a review on your own website, where it will benefit from moderation and you will be able to answer - it helps massively with customer retention). 

Look at this screengrab...

...there's your business's 'compliance button' where anyone can click and write a review.

Further reading

• Review sites on the rack at the BBC - it's not only the regulators that are concerned that reviews can be trusted by consumers

• Last summer we were privileged to have an in-depth conversation with a senior member of staff at the CMA; every business should read the resulting article

• Why have we not mentioned all the review sites in this article, the Feefos and the Trustpilots and the rest, surely the CMA is just as interested in the trustworthiness of the reviews they host? Read this article. Google now accounts for 4 out of 5 reviews posted, and we estimate for over 95% of all reviews read by consumers. We have advised clients to steer clear of review sites in favour of Google for well over 10 years now. Thankfully for all concerned.