Reasons for NOT wanting to join HelpHound

Of course, almost any business solution has drawbacks, and review management is no exception. So rather than gloss over them, we wanted to address the reasons a business might not want to join HelpHound head-on. We hope businesses seeking a solution to their review management will appreciate our openness. 

In no particular order (as some will apply more to one business than another)...

Reputational risk

Proactive engagement with reviews, especially for businesses approaching the subject professionally and compliantly* for the first time, can be understandably alarming.

After all, inviting customers to leave reviews means accepting that not every review will be positive. The prospect of a damaging negative review — or, worse still, a succession of them — has historically led some businesses to shy away from engagement altogether.

Others have attempted to reduce the risk by selectively inviting customers they believe are likely to leave positive reviews, or by using some form of 'gating' — filtering customers according to their likely sentiment before deciding whether to invite them to post a public review.

The problem is that avoiding negative reviews doesn't make the underlying reputational risk disappear. And practices designed to influence which customers leave public reviews can create regulatory and credibility problems of their own.

This is precisely where professional review management earns its keep: encouraging genuine reviews while giving businesses the opportunity to identify and manage inaccurate or potentially misleading review content before it develops into lasting reputational damage.

* 'And compliantly': most businesses that we meet for the first time have addressed the subject of reviews in one way or another; they have asked their happiest customers to leave a review on Google or they have joined a review site, somtimes both. But they have almost always commited a breach of the CMA regulations in doing so. One of our first actions is to conduct a full audit of the business's current review exposure and management. For more on this increasingly important subject see 'The risk of getting compliance wrong' below.

 

Extra work/effort involved

If reviews are regarded as 'nice to have' rather than a core part of a business's marketing and customer relations strategy, then almost any work associated with them can understandably be seen as 'extra'.

Inviting customers to leave reviews, following up those invitations, monitoring reviews, responding appropriately and dealing with criticism all take time.

The question, therefore, is whether any return, in terms of new business acquired, customer retention and staff satisfaction justifies the effort.

For businesses where prospective customers routinely consult reviews before making contact (high value service and professional businesses especially), reviews have moved well beyond being a marketing accessory. They influence first impressions, enquiries and, ultimately, new business. They can also play a big part in ongoing customer retention (many clients ask for reviews on a periodic basis, simply because they find the approach works better than other forms of CRM).

An effective review management system should therefore reduce unproductive workloads rather than add to them.

 

The risk of getting compliance wrong

Businesses are becoming increasingly aware that reviews are now subject to consumer protection law and the attendant regulatory scrutiny (by the CMA in the UK) that has teeth*.

That awareness can itself create reluctance: Are we allowed to ask for reviews? Can we choose whom we invite? Can we moderate their reviews? What action can we take if a customer posts something unfair, misleading or inaccurate?

These are legitimate concerns, particularly as regulators have increased their focus on practices that may distort the impressions delivered to consumers.

But doing nothing is not necessarily the safest response. The objective should be to have a review process that is transparent, compliant and demonstrably fair to both the business and its customers. In full compliance with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (which came into force on 6 April 2024) and the CMA's own enhanced regulatory and investigatory powers. 

For many businesses, having an independent review management process in place provides valuable reassurance on precisely these points.

*Teeth: up until the above mentioned Act of Parliament and the advent of AI investigative tools, the CMA had focused its regulatory efforts on the likes of big pharma and the construction industry; the combination of the greater powers in the Act (including the ability to fine businesses up to 10% of their annual global turnover) and the adoption of AI investigative tools working night and day, 24/7, means that all businesses are now in the crosshairs (we are monitoring this current regulatory action, which includes an investigation into a review site and one of its clients, and will report the resuts here, as we have done in the case of the recent EU 4 million fine imposed on Trustpilot for misleading consumers).

 

Conflict with an existing review solution

A significant number of UK businesses already pay for some form of review solution.

Those businesses may understandably be reluctant to question a system into which they have already invested considerable time, effort and money. Nobody particularly enjoys being told that something they have been paying for - perhaps for years - may no longer be the most appropriate solution.

But the relevant question isn't whether the previous investment was wasted. It is whether the solution being used today delivers what the business needs today: genuine reviews, regulatory compliance, effective management of customer dissatisfaction and maximum benefit from the review platforms that prospective customers actually consult.

Changing course doesn't invalidate what went before. Sometimes the market - often prompted by the law - simply moves on.

One important note here: Most review sites and solutions were in place before Google introduced its own reviews. Most would not have been 'invented' had they known that Google would come to domintate the reviews market to the extent it has. One major focus of our advice focuses on review management for the long term, and that often means Google, even if it sits alongside others. Google will almost certainly be here in five or ten years time; who remembers Qype (Europe's largest review site until it was swallowed up by Yelp! in 2012, Yelp! itself then withdrew from the UK and Europe in November 2016)? 

 

Cost

Google reviews themselves are free. Professional review management is not*.

There is a cost attached to independent moderation, customer feedback management, monitoring and the systems required to manage reviews effectively and compliantly.

So the calculation is straightforward: does the value justify the cost?

That value shouldn't be measured simply by the number of reviews generated. Businesses should consider the value of protecting their reputation, identifying dissatisfied customers, resolving complaints, improving their Google presence in search and converting more prospective customers into enquiries.

For some businesses, those benefits won't justify the investment.

For others, the cost of not managing their reviews properly may be considerably greater.

*Here are HelpHound's charges. And, just as importantly, our guarantee of success. 

So why join HelpHound?

We will show you abundant proof of concept before you decide whether or not to join, but just look at the example below and ask yourself, 'What would the impact on our business be of looking as good as this, in full compliance with the law, and without any ongoing costs apart from HelpHound's monthly fee?'

And the AI search for the 'best estate agent'?

The objections above are understandable and reasonable. If a review management company pretends there is no cost, no work involved and no reputational or regulatory risk (indeed, any of these), businesses would be entitled to be sceptical.

The point of HelpHound isn't to pretend those issues don't exist. It is to manage them.

Last, but definitely not least: in order to manage your reviews (through our moderation process), they will be posted to and hosted on your own website. And another significant bonus? Unlike Google or sites such as Trustpilot, you will retain ownership of your reviews.  

To help businesses safely invite genuine reviews without the need for cherry-picking (or gating); to prevent, as far as is possible within the rules, inaccurate, misleading, malicious or just plain unfair comments from seeing the light of day; to identify and resolve customer dissatisfaction; to reduce the administrative burden; to help businesses operate within the rules; and, ultimately, to turn reviews from something businesses worry about into something that actively supports their reputation and marketing. Something that makes all the stakeholders, from staff and management to customers, both existing and future, proud of their choice of business.

And that, we suggest, is the strongest reason to join.