What do the review sites and global coffee chains have in common?

Last week, Which? published a survey of the major coffee chains. What it discovered may surprise some: the discrepancy in caffeine - the active ingredient most people are paying for - is not just of the order of double-digit percentages, say ten or even twenty, but multiples:

You don't need a maths degree to work out that Starbucks customers are being short-changed. Why would this be? Is there no limit to the lengths to which some of these massive, usually US-owned, chains will go to increase turnover and profits at the expense of the product they deliver to their customers? Do they not realise that people will, eventually, work out that 'there is a better way'? That better way? The independent cafes and coffee shops listed on Google.

It's the same in the world of reviews: why would a - any - business employ a review platform as opposed to Google? Google provides:

• Unrivalled reach: to well over 95% of consumers in the Western world

• Unrivalled credibility: consumers, as evidenced by survey after survey, trust Google reviews over and above those hosted anywhere else

• Unrivalled access - for both businesses and their customers; every business has a Google account and so does every potential customer (OK, some people don't own a computer or a smartphone, but they are an increasingly insignificant minority)

And it's free!

Yes, we understand; Google is far from perfect, but it is so much more influential than its nearest rivals. A question we often pose to CMOs goes as follows...

'All other factors being equal (financial, mostly), where would you rather have a significant review score and presence? Google or [insert name of any other review site]?'

Yet over 30,000 businesses still opt to pay for one review site or another. Even when two of the most prominent, at least in the UK, have either been sanctioned by regulators (Trustpilot) or are currently under investigation by them (Feefo). 

The honest truth - and we have been all over this sector for nearly twenty years now - is that if Google reviews had existed twenty years ago, there would be no other review solutions. There would be services like HelpHound that helped businesses make the very best of their Google reviews, but there would be no need for any other review sites, be that Yelp, Trustpilot,  Trustatrader, Feefo, Reviews.io or any of the others that grew like mushrooms in the pre-Google-review darkness.

Action for businesses currently paying review sites

Be honest, you were expecting us to say 'Stop,' weren't you? We respect the fact that it is never quite as simple as that. Management needs to be absolutely sure that any change of direction is going to be in the best interests of the long-term health and wealth of the business. The first thing to do is speak to us, and before that, it would be helpful if you made a list of your objectives in relation to the review management solution of your dreams.

HelpHound: as far from Starbucks in relation to review management as it is possible to be.

One final point

By now, most readers will be asking themselves 'Where does HelpHound feature in all of this?' I The answer is quite simple and splits the business world neatly in two...

1. If you are a 'product-based' business (online or physical retail, for instance), you will need to ensure your score on Google is somewhere in excess of 4.0 out of 5. That may or may not require the input of a review manager such as HelpHound. If individual negative reviews are hurting business, then it is almost certainly time to consult us
2. If, on the other hand, you are a 'service-based'/professional business - 'professional' in the sense of being one of the acknowledged professions: legal, medical, accountancy, wealth management and so on - then you will know that your reviews are actively sought out and read before potential fee-earners make first contact, and that even a tiny proportion of inaccurate or unfair reviews will be unhelpful in the extreme, then you should be speaking to us as a matter of urgency*

*urgency? Yes. The review landscape has undergone a fundamental shift in the past year. First, and most important of all, the UK regulator, the CMA, has been given new powers and tools to sanction businesses that are in breach (usually for cherry-picking and/or gating), and we estimate that well over half of all UK businesses that actively engage with reviews are currently in breach. 

Secondly, AI search has meant that scoring 4.8 or 4.9 is vital if a business is going to be consistently returned in any given search, whether that be Google Gemini or any other, and the only way to be sure of attaining and sustaining such a score going forward (cherry-picking has been used to achieve it historically) will be by adopting moderated review management.

The next step? Have your business audited today.