Dialogue - getting a flying start

Some of you will have read how Foxtons went from zero to hero on Google almost overnight. And you will have read how inviting people who have previously written a review on another platform - e.g. AllAgents - to copy that review to Google, attractive as that strategy may seem, can lead to exposing your business to criticism.

Telling potential customers that '98% of our clients voted our service 5*' will work against you - and be used against you by competitors - unless you are allowing all your customers to write a review

In short:

• Competitors will highlight the fact that you are cherry-picking - "Of course they look great on Google - they only invite their happy clients to write reviews there."
• Leaving your own website without verified reviews breaks a crucial link in your potential customers' journey to your door - read more about that journey here
• Resolution allows you to invite everyone to write a review (without losing sleep over potentially inaccurate and misleading reviews) - something that seriously impresses potential customers

But those of you who know us well will be expecting a solution to this conundrum - and here it is...


Do both!

• Invite those who have written reviews before to copy them to Google - but please resist the temptation to cherry-pick (if this concerns you - and it should - keep within the Dialogue loop)
• Give them the option to write their review to your module - see this article - they will be automatically invited to copy it to Google then anyway

In summary...

• You will get a healthy kick-start on Google
• You will be able to look prospective customers in the eye and say "We invite all our customers to post a review, whenever they want - and we display them all."
• You will have all the bases in your customers online journey covered