No more one-star Google reviews - but how?

 Let's paint the current picture: there are two kinds of business on Google:

1. The one that selectively invites its happiest customers to write a review
2. The business that avoids any proactive involvement with Google reviews

Actually, there is a third category, but we'll come to that later.

Category 1

Looking great, but...

...the pattern of reviews gives the game away: just 13 reviews in the last 12 months is a sure indicator that the business in question is hand-picking happy customers

We hear it all the time: 'We're forced to flout the CMA regulations, because all of our competitors do.' and/or: 'If we obeyed the CMA regulations and asked everyone for a review, our Google score would tumble.'

Category 2

A household name wealth manager with tens of thousands of clients

At the opposite end of the spectrum we hear 'We dare not invite reviews, because we wish to comply with the law, and if we do so, by inviting everyone to post a Google review we will open ourselves up to the kind of reputational harm that factually incorrect, potentially misleading or just plain unfair reviews will do to our business' from similar professional service businesses.

So, businesses are caught between the devil (flouting the CMA regulations) and the deep blue sea (not engaging at all). There are, of course, outliers: businesses that do invite all their customers to write Google reviews, but they are so rare that we have come across just a handful in over a decade.

So, back to the question posed in the title of this article:

How to be sure of not getting one-star Google reviews?

You may wish to read this recent article/case history before reading on: it will give you a massive clue as to the answer.

And that answer: follow our advice to the letter.

That advice: 

1. Adopt an independently moderated review management system. Moderation has proven, time and again, to resolve misunderstandings, errors or fact and just plain unfair reviews, before they are posted live anywhere, and certainly on to Google
2. Follow a disciplined approach to inviting customer reviews. Send an email - not a text (texts invite one-liners) - at an appropriate time. This establishes a valuable secondary communication channel that customers will use in preference to posting a one-star review on Google (or anywhere else)
3. Establish a review-centric culture among all management and staff. They should always be on the lookout for opportunities to prompt a review, and the most successful businesses invariably appoint a key member of staff to oversee the whole process and report results

The business that is the main subject of the article linked to above is an estate agency, an intensely competitive business operating in both the sales and lettings markets in London. The second is a women's healthcare medical practice in Harley Street. All of us know just how problematic the relationship between the various parties in such businesses and in such high-pressure interactions can be, and how often blame can be mistakenly apportioned (estate agency), and how reticent the GP's patients must be when it comes to 'going public' with a Google review. Yet the first business has gathered well over 500 Google reviews, in full compliance with the CMA regulations, without a single one-star Google review being posted in the last three years. The same applies to the Harley Street practice, although volume, as you might expect, is lower.

Our invitation to your business

Whichever category you currently fall under, come and test our guarantee. Your business will be in full compliance with the CMA regulations from day one, and the five-star Google reviews will begin rolling in within days.

Further reading

• One aspect of review management that is not covered in this article is the positive financial impact: a great Google score backed by a significant number of reviews is proven, time and again, to make a positive impact on a business's bottom line. More enquiries and more conversions, it's as simple as that.