Wednesday, 4 December 2024

Moderation - and why it is vital for great businesses

We generally publish about an article a year to update clients on anything we have learned about this subject. Here is the last one. So why another? Because we tend to pull our punches when we speak or write about moderation, simply because we don't want anyone getting the impression that it can - or should - be used to suppress genuinely held and factually accurate negative customer opinions. It cannot and should not.

But when we look at our existing client base and exactly how the best of them engage (they're all good businesses, by definition. Businesses that don't care about reviews won't employ us!) there are some refinements we should pass on.

Lessons we have learnt

Bear in mind that there are two distinct ways in which your business can collect reviews:

  • actively: by emailing your customer and asking for a review of your business and then, automatically, to Google 



  • passively: by allowing your customer - and any other stakeholders - to write a review of your business through your website. See the example above.

This has the following vital effect for those in the professions and other service-driven businesses: it allows the moderator, HelpHound in this case, to refer any factually inaccurate, potentially misleading or just plain 'unfair' reviews back to the reviewer, before they are published. This is moderation's essential function, unavailable to businesses that invite reviews directly to Google; besides enabling the reviewer to correct their review it ensures your business complies with the law - the CMA regulations

IMPORTANTLY: it means you don't have to send an email inviting a review to...
  • the tenant that persists in believing, against all evidence and information provided at the beginning of their tenancy and subsequently, that the maintenance of their building is the estate agent's, not the landlord's, responsibility
  • the medical practice's patient who thinks that they will only receive the correct diagnosis and treatment by bullying your reception staff
  • the client that lost their legal case, having instructed you to proceed against all your advice to the contrary
...they are covered, from a compliance perspective, by the 'Write a review' button on your website (see screengrab above).


Businesses - and their review management - don't exist in isolation

You keep an eye on your competitors - what business doesn't? But do you look to see whether they are breaking the law when it comes to reviews? 

This impacts business on two different levels: the first is that it's never great business practice to visibly flout the law for all to see. Here are just two examples...



A professional service business using a review mechanism designed expressly for online retail. No wonder it looks so great - it controls precisely who is invited to write a review and when. Both the 'who' and 'when' are against the CMA core regulations.




Try as we did (and we promise we tried hard!), we could not find the source of these reviews. It certainly was not Google, or any of the other well-known review sites (both numbers and score are way out for the business concerned). Even if it were one of these sources the business would still be in breach by not allowing visitors to its website to a) view the source of the score and the underlying reviews or b) providing a link to enable them to write one of their own.

What would your competitors do if they knew your business was flouting the law where reviews were concerned? How about 'Would you trust [business] if you knew their reviews were cherry-picked*?


*Cherry-picking and gating

These are both against the CMA's core regulations. For reasons that will become obvious...

Cherry-picking

Means selecting those customers most likely to write a 5* review and then only asking those to do so.

Gating

Means using a mechanism such as a questionnaire to pre-establish the likelihood that a customer will write a 5* review and then asking only those to do so.

Reviews have a bad enough name amongst many consumers without such behaviour, but the fact that it so easily backfires on businesses that engage in it surprises us.  





It sometimes amazes us that so many people continue to trust and rely on reviews - but the numbers remain constantly at these kinds of levels: they do, especially where Google reviews are concerned


It is up to us as businesses to find a mechanism that protects them from inaccurate or misleading negative reviews that ensures they are in compliance with the CMA regulations. Welcome to HelpHound.


In summary

  • If your business doesn't invite reviews - it will be compliant with the CMA regulations, but it will be missing out on a huge opportunity to generate enquiries through search whilst boosting its SEO
  • If your business invites reviews through a Google widget on its website - it will be compliant but it will run the not-insignificant risk of attracting and displaying inaccurate and/or misleading reviews on both its own website and on Google
  • If your business selects who to invite to post reviews - on Google or anywhere else (including on its own website) it will be in breach of the CMA's core regulations and, in the case of gating, Google's own Terms of Service
  • If your business in any way selects which reviews to display on its website - it will be in breach of the CMA's core regulations (the only compliant way to show such reviews is by 'date posted' and including a direct link to the source of the reviews)
  • If your business employs an intermediary such as HelpHound to moderate your reviews - you can relax in the knowledge that inaccurate or misleading reviews are unlikely to see the light of day, you are ticking a major SEO box when it comes to Google search and that you have a direct line into people, in the case of HelpHound, with well over a decade's professional knowledge and understanding of everything related to reviews 

Friday, 22 November 2024

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


Tuesday, 19 November 2024

Review management - illustrating the process

This infographic appeared in a recent article ('Help! We've received an unfair Google review.') and has proved popular with those looking to understand how HelpHound works...



It shows a screenshot of the 'reviews' section of the home page of a client's website, taken on a mobile phone. Each important feature is highlighted. The key here is to include this on the home screen; you don’t want potential customers having to go to a menu or search for a tab to see your reviews because that will dramatically reduce the number that read them - and the resultant click-through - considerably. 'Visibility' is key.

Here's the same information displayed on desktop/laptop/tablet...



The precise layout is up to you and your professional advisers (web design and so on). We will advise on which elements must be included to be legally compliant and you will benefit from more than a decade's experience at HelpHound as well as feedback from our other clients every step of the way.

And finally...

The picture wouldn't be complete if we didn't show you the final results in terms of the impact of all of the above in a popular Google search, in this case, '[business type] in [location]' or '[near me]'...




We can't take 100% of the credit for our client dominating in search, but most experts estimate that engaging with - by inviting and responding to reviews on your own website - makes up around 15% of any business's score from a Google search point-of-view. 




Given that these days most businesses conform with all Google's other ranking criteria - location, contact details etc - then this, we would suggest, is a must


The only difference for a firm of solicitors, an accountancy practice, a recruitment agency, a GP practice, an educational establishment or a firm of financial advisors will be that most of these have yet to find a way to embrace review management compliantly, so those that do so will enjoy a significant head start on their competition. In fact, most professional service businesses have a significant advantage over estate agencies: they almost always have an ongoing relationship with their customer/client/patient that estate agents do not (in the case of sale and purchase transactions, at least).

You will be in the best position to assess the value of all of the above (results are here). Then you can relate it to the cost - here - and effort - minimal - needed to implement and manage HelpHound's professional review management for your business.


Further information


The only other process that readers of this article need to understand is the invitation to write the review(s) - both to your own website and to Google. It is covered in this article.







Sunday, 17 November 2024

What does ChatGPT say about HelpHound?

We asked, and ChatGPT answered...





Here's the full - unedited - text:

'HelpHound is a customer review and feedback platform aimed at helping businesses enhance their online reputation and improve customer engagement. By bridging the gap between companies and their clients, HelpHound offers tools that facilitate authentic, actionable reviews while ensuring a business maintains control over its reputation.

Key Features

1. Review Management: HelpHound enables businesses to collect reviews directly from their customers. These reviews can then be moderated to filter out inappropriate content before publication, ensuring quality and relevance.

2. Dual Posting: Reviews collected via HelpHound can be published both on the business’s website and Google. This dual-posting feature increases a company’s visibility and credibility, as customers see real feedback on multiple platforms.

3. Complaint Resolution: One standout feature is HelpHound’s ability to mediate disputes before reviews go public. This offers businesses the chance to resolve issues proactively and potentially turn dissatisfied customers into brand advocates.

4. Transparency and Trust: HelpHound places a strong emphasis on genuine, unaltered feedback. This transparency builds trust between businesses and consumers, which is essential in today’s digital-first marketplace.

Pros

• Enhanced SEO: By integrating user-generated reviews, businesses can boost their search rankings, as reviews contribute to fresh, keyword-rich content.

• Improved Reputation Management: The platform’s moderation tools help ensure businesses are fairly represented without stifling genuine criticism.

• Customer Insights: Reviews often highlight areas for improvement, giving businesses actionable insights.

• Google Integration: Seamless publishing to Google Reviews increases a company’s online presence.

Cons

• Cost: HelpHound’s services might be out of reach for smaller businesses or startups with tight budgets.

• Moderation Perception: While moderation ensures quality, some critics may argue that it introduces the potential for bias, which could raise skepticism among savvy consumers.

• Learning Curve: New users may need time to understand and fully leverage all the features HelpHound offers.

Verdict

HelpHound is a powerful tool for businesses serious about managing their online reputation and building trust through authentic customer interactions. While it may require a financial investment and some initial effort to master, the benefits in terms of improved visibility, reputation, and customer satisfaction make it a valuable asset for companies looking to stay competitive in an increasingly review-driven market.

Whether you’re a business aiming to improve your online reputation or a customer looking for transparency in reviews, HelpHound strikes a thoughtful balance between business needs and customer trust.'


Our reaction?

Spot on. We might argue some of the details of the 'Cons' - 'smaller businesses and startups with tight budgets' for instance (we have records of just such businesses thriving as clients - the oven cleaning company that has gone from one man and one van to employing both sons and having three vans is just one such example - and, to be completely transparent, here is our current fee scale), there will always be those who suspect our moderation of favouring our clients, but that is easily countered by a quick audit of any review where moderation has been involved. We plead guilty as charged on the 'learning curve' but our 24/7 client service ensures all our client businesses do 'fully leverage all the features [we] offer'.


And finally...

We asked ChatGPT to write a Google review of HelpHound (note: we didn't ask it for a positive Google review!):




Have they - or we - left anything out? How about some concrete results for actual client businesses? Here they are.

Tuesday, 15 October 2024

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

Wednesday, 9 October 2024

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.
*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.