Unfair and damaging reviews? Appeal them!

Unfair, inaccurate or misleading reviews harm your business - any business that has been subject to one knows that. They also harm your potential customers, who, but for reading one of these reviews ('killer' reviews, we call them) might have been far better off doing business with you.

What to do?

In a word: Appeal. 

How? By following - and following, precisely - the appeals mechanism laid down by the site that you are appealing to. The most common mistake made by businesses that come to us with failed appeals is that they ignored the relevant terms and conditions and appealed the review on the basis that it was factually incorrect. Few reviews sites will allow an appeal on the basis of the business's word against the reviewers, partly because most sites are US-based and have an inbuilt bias in favour of 'freedom of speech' and partly because, understandably (if frustratingly for the business) they don't want to become embroiled in a trade dispute.

One thing we have learned from hard experience is to relate every aspect of the appeal to those terms and conditions and to eliminate any trace of emotion (often difficult for the person under review).

HelpHound and appeals

We routinely conduct appeals on behalf of our clients, with a success rate of roughly 50% (it would be higher, but experience has taught us that some of the appeals where we would rate our clients' chances of success at virtually nil can succeed, and - given how damaging such reviews can be, sometimes literally causing a business's telephone to stop ringing (there's an example of that here that made the national press) we continue to advise that certain appeals with an outside chance of success are pursued.

What sites?

Google is, by far and away, number one. A harmful Google review has more power than any other, no matter what business it relates to, and should be treated as such. But most responsible reviews sites have appeal procedures (TripAdvisor's is a model others could do well to emulate). Here is the text of two reviews that we have recently appealed - successfully:

 We're sure you can imagine the harm this review was doing, being served when anyone googled the business in question

And another...

  

If this was your business, how would you, and your management and staff, feel waking up to this every day? Unfair negative reviews sap morale - and they are read - and believed - by consumers.

Indicators of potential for a successful appeal

The following should not be taken as a definitive list, we have seen appeals that we would assume have a ninety per cent chance of success (no appeal has 100%) fail, and those with a twenty per cent chance succeed...

• marked factual inaccuracy - "there was no sea view" - there was, "the property was on the third floor" (it was on the ground floor)
• accusations of financial impropriety - "they stole..."
• accusations of illegal activity - "they [did something which broke the law]" 
• no record - written or otherwise - of the reviewer having contact with the business
• any proof that the business (or indeed HelpHound) has found to indicate that the review (or the reviewer) is somehow questionable

Google's attitude

Google needs to be trusted by its users - and delivering them reviews that they can trust is key to this, so a successful appeal is a win/win - for the business and for Google.

Cost

Simple: HelpHound members £150, non-members £250. 


In summary

Speak to us, it won't cost you a penny - and it is most certainly not in our interest to encourage you to pursue appeals with little prospect of success. We will advise you if that is the case straight away, but if we consider the review(s) appealable we will tell you exactly how the procedure works, and we will write the appeal for you - the decision is then yours.

Google reviews - are they credible?

Our simple answer is 'Yes' - but no review system is 100% watertight, so here we mine down into the Google system.

 We understand that the marketplace is crowded with competing independent review sites - in a way we are lucky that helpHound, as review managers, can sit above the fray - but we're concerned that the independents shouldn't call Google reviews' credibility into question without backing that up with hard evidence. As review management professionals we're often the first to spot anomalies in Google reviews - we alerted Google to a nasty US-based bot posting negative reviews earlier this year - if you have any examples of competitors successfully posting damaging reviews, do post a comment here, because we very rarely come across such behaviour on Google (unlike TripAdvisor and Yelp and some of the other independent sites).

You can post a review to Google if:

• You have a G+ account
• You have a Youtube account
• You have a Gmail or Googlemail account

Here is what a Google staffer had to say on this subject in 2013:

For some people there is an inherent negative in this policy (they may be reluctant to post reviews under their real names, or they may be reluctant to attach their name to a sensitive business - medical being an obvious example).

We strongly feel that the positives - reviews having to be attached to an identifiable entity - outweigh any negatives. From a business's point-of-view it is preferable to accept that some people will not post to Google as a trade-off for the credibility Google reviews have built-in. 

But what about Google reviews like this?

And Names like this?

They are - almost - a thing of the past. There continues to be the occasional suspect username...

But if it is one amidst a sea of obviously genuine names...

...and 282 other reviews, is it that big an issue?

Think a review contravenes Google's Comment posting policy?

Then you can always flag the review: 

 Mouse over the area immediately to the right of the review date and this flag will appear

And, for our clients, if you feel a review contravenes Google's posting policy, consider using our review appeals advice. it certainly worked wonders for this client whose business was being severely damaged by a fraudulent review by a genuine G+ member. Our extensive experience and expertise in wording appeals has generated many success stories like this one.

In Summary

The overwhelming majority of Google reviews are the genuinely held opinions of real customers. Over and above that, they are the guide of choice for billions of consumers worldwide. So if someone is trying to put you or your customers off Google reviews by undermining their credibility we would respectfully suggest they think again.

Google is the gatekeeper. ALL your customers see your Google reviews - even if they never visit your website. You have to look great there and you have to look great on your own website (not on what we call 'hostage' sites: sites which invite reviews from your customers and then effectively sell them back to you!). 

And: if and when one of the independent review sites becomes more important than these two, we will be the first to let you know.

HelpHound: review management, not a review website (we should know, we were once upon a time!).


 

Unfair negative reviews hurt! The Nearwater story

Some of you may recall the B&B at St Mawes that featured in the national press. Here it is in the Times...

  "In our seven years of operation this has been the worst start to the season we've had. It is terribly damaging to us."

And the Telegraph...

Here's the review on Google....

Google's T&Cs expressly prohibit writing a review of a business where the reviewer has no first-hand knowledge of the business under review. So we drafted an appeal for Nearwater.

Here's their Google listing today (sorted by 'lowest score')...

  The review has gone, and once Google's algorithm catches up, their score will be back up to their previous unblemished 4.9 (or perhaps even 5.0)

The harmful rich snippet - by 'S' - will also disappear when Google's algorithm refreshes

Lessons for everyone:

1. Negative reviews hurt businesses; just read Tim Whitaker's comments to the papers
2. Google would never - corporately - suggest a business 'get friends and family to write reviews' and we have never - and would never - advise a client to do so
3. Google reviews are appealable, but you must go through the correct procedure - ask us and we will advise - and, if needs be, draft your appeal
4. You won't be able to appeal a review if it could reasonably be described as 'fair comment' (however unpalatable)
5. Consult HelpHound immediately. We will use our experience and expertise to advise you on the likelihood of success of any appeal

Update 9 June 2016

This today from the owners: 

And their Google score back where it should be: