"If you are going to ask us to invite all of our customers to write a review, then the answer has to be a definite 'No'. It would be far too high-risk a strategy for a business like ours."
And they would be quite right. Businesses such as those providing professional services such as financial, healthcare, legal and the like, can be extremely complex, and as a result aspects can be easily misconstrued. This can lead to misunderstandings that are bound to be perpetuated in reviews. And such reviews can seriously harm a business. The following is just one example (albeit with an extreme outcome)...
If you have any doubts about this, please read the full story of the firm of solicitors that were being so seriously (and quantifiably) damaged by this single ill-founded negative review that they took the reviewer to court (and won damages - 'won', when you read the full sorry tale, is not really the right word for what happened subsequently).
Fears, well-founded as they are, quite understandably lead businesses in the sensitive and complex sectors mentioned above to either...
- avoid engaging with reviews altogether or...
- flout the law - the CMA regulations - and cherry-pick customers they know for certain will write a 5* review
So what, exactly, is HelpHound's role in this apparently unresolvable conundrum? Between 'going for it' and risking your business's reputation* in the quest for a great Google score and all the business you know such a glowing image in search can drive through your door and 'burying your head' and missing out on that gold rush? Read on.
*'risking your reputation': the CMA has sharp teeth - and is on the case of businesses flouting their regulations - but far more likely is a business noticing that a competitor is cherry-picking and using that fact against it to win business.
Lifting the bonnet
We have a deep understanding the above-mentioned CMA regulations, as you might expect from a business that has been intimately involved with all aspects of online reviews - Google and otherwise - for well over a decade now.
The two golden keys to effective review management, especially for sensitive businesses, are firstly: to understand the fundamental difference between...
- inviting all of your customers to write a review and...
- ...allowing all of your customers to write a review
The former would be fine in an ideal world, where every consumer understood precisely what every business was attempting to achieve for them and exactly how.
Fortunately, the regulators recognise that this ideal world does not exist in reality, which is why the second of the above - enabling all of your customers to write a review - applies, in the UK at least.
...and the second of these golden keys?...
- moderation - the act of employing an independent body to mediate with customers who may write a factually inaccurate or potentially misleading review, pre-publication
Combine this seemingly innocuous button on the business's website...
...with what happens immediately after anyone posts a review...
- The review arrives in HelpHound's internal inbox
- The review is read by a HelpHound moderator
- Basic errors of spelling and grammar are corrected
- If our moderator suspects the review contains any errors of fact or potentially misleading statements, they immediately engage, privately, with the reviewer and, if necessary, the business
- The corrected review* is then published on the business's own website
- The reviewer is then asked to copy their review to Google
There you have it: the most watertight review management service on the planet. Your business can confidently go about asking for reviews from selected customers, safe in the knowledge that it is compliant with the law and safe from misinformed, as well as simply plain unfair reviews.
One final point: we guarantee results - see here. But we obviously cannot guarantee that no negative reviews will ever appear, for one of two reasons:
- Businesses do make mistakes: in that case, it is always our advice to apologise and move on, whilst pointing out that mistakes, as evidenced by the business's overwhelmingly positive reviews, are extremely rare occurrences and confirming what restitution is being made (for the benefit of those reading the review)
When this client joined it had 2 Google reviews and none on its own website. As you can see, it now has over 500 Google reviews (and well over 700 on its own website); during that time it has averaged one 1* review a year. A typical outturn for a well-managed business.
- Occasionally, a customer will bypass whatever systems you put in place, but in these rare instances a HelpHound client will always have the moral high ground; they are able to say, in their written response to the negative review, that the customer always had the opportunity to write a review by visiting the company's website - and, again, they are able to reference the business's positive reviews
Conclusion
The process we describe above has been tested and refined over fourteen years. It works. It has enabled businesses in extremely sensitive areas to thrive, attracting enquiries from the web in volume. Not all of these clients have been able to amass hundreds of reviews, such is their sensitivity. Here is one final example...
No - nil - Google reviews when this business joined
We would encourage you to google the Harper Clinic - a women's health clinic in Harley Street - and read some of their reviews. If they can amass nearly 50 reviews, in compliance with the law, from women seeking such an intensely private service, just imagine what HelpHound can do for your business, however 'sensitive and complex' it may be?
Further reading
We hope this article has covered everything you need to know to take the first step towards putting your business's review management on a secure professional footing. The following articles explain everything in even more detail, but by far the best 'next step' is to speak/meet with us so we can answer all your questions in precise relation to your own business.
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