How many businesses pitch to you without it? Whether face-to-face, on their website or in an email, you are left saying 'Yes, I get it, but please can you prove it will work for my business?'
The simplest answer we can provide our clients is...
Never - not once - has this guarantee been invoked
- Before we begin working for you, both parties will agree on the following...
- a target Google score (normally 4.9 unless there are special circumstances*)
- a target number of reviews - in absolute terms
- a target number of reviews - monthly
- a point-of-contact within the client business - in each of your business locations if deemed necessary
- the wording of the initiating email inviting the review(s)**
- a method of successfully inviting reviews to both the business's own website - thereby enabling the reviews to be moderated - and then to Google that fits in with the business's daily routine
- whether or not it is recommended to invite reviews to the business's own website and Google at the same time, either from the outset or at some future date (if the latter is the case, a target Google score will be agreed)
*'special circumstances': good businesses can often have unusually low Google scores, sometimes because they haven't engaged or have engaged in the wrong way - using a reviews site, for just one instance, can often result in dissatisfied customers unfairly dominating a business's image on Google. We will have identified if this is the case before we speak for the first time. If so, both parties may well agree on intermediate targets on the way to the final objective.
**review(s)*: depending on the business's precise circumstances, we will advise whether the initial customer review should be invited to the business's website, to Google or both simultaneously. Whatever is decided at the outset will be kept constantly under review.
Besides resting secure in the knowledge that your business has now adopted a legally-compliant*** and safe - safe from factually inaccurate, potentially misleading or just plain unfair reviews on both your own website and on Google - method of inviting and displaying reviews. There will be other valuable benefits...
***So many businesses currently look great only because they are flouting the CMA's core regulations, commonly the one that forbids cherry-picking 'happy' customers and then only inviting those to write a review. There are two reasons to stop doing that: the first is that the business's management and staff will sleep far more easily in their beds at night, and the second is that the business will no longer be handing its competitors an 'Of course they look great, but then they are breaking the law...' stick to beat it with. There is a third reason - the benefits of adopting professional review management are much the same as those for adopting any other kind of professional advice (legal, accountancy etc.): it enables the business to get on with its core service
- an uplift in the rate of enquiries through the business's website...
This feed tells anyone visiting the business's website that it has received over 700 reviews (and allows them to read as many as they want), just about all of them rating the business the maximum 5 stars; that there is nothing preventing anyone from writing a review, reinforcing both transparency and credibility (see the 'write a review' button next to the number of reviews) and enables them to understand our role in the process ('What is HelpHound?')
- an uplift in the rate of enquiries - clicks and calls - through Google and an improvement in the business's overall SEO - measured by an improvement in the business's ranking in Google local search and its appearance in all kinds of map searches
We don't need to tell you that looking great in Google search is crucial these days. Our role is to enable our clients to get as close as they possibly can to the Holy Grail: leading search, both organic and map, with the highest score and the most reviews. That way, they will feature on any potential customer's shortlist. Your business will also have the crucial social proof needed to reinforce all its other marketing efforts, from advertising and public relations to referrals
To Summarise
Don't join HelpHound until we can prove to you - beyond a reasonable doubt, as the saying goes - that we will add value, both in terms of added professionalism but most important of all, to your business's bottom line.
Further reading
Look closely at this client of ours - leading local organic search; and unlike four of its competitors, not needing to spend £thousands a month on Google Ads. What else do you see? A score of 4.9 from 734 reviews? Not Google reviews this time, but the reviews on their own website - can you put a value on those gold stars in search for your business? We hope so
1. Results - estate agency, where enquiries and instructions both rose along with a measurable increase in the quality of business transacted. And the medical profession - and one of the most sensitive specialisations at that. If we can do it for both of these kinds of business we can do it for yours. Without appearing to state the obvious, when you are reading about what we have helped these businesses achieve, please imagine where your business will be with similar assistance.
2. Our guarantee - and our fees, nothing hidden, no surprises plus a reward for success3. There are nearly a thousand articles on here, so feel free to interrogate this blog for just what you need. Alterntively speak to us and we'll share some of our decade plus experience with review management of all and every kind for all and every kind of business. Challenge us: we relish the opportunity to earn our clients' approbation.
