Scoring 4.6 on Google is not enough - Part 2

Some people don't have the time to read some of the longer posts on here, and we freely admit that Part 1 is quite extensive. So here's a more concise post.

One Google review can kill - or very seriously maim - your business. 

Correction - will seriously maim. A well-written negative review won't drive calls and clicks so, by definition, it must do the reverse: put people off making that crucial first contact.

Just look at this review of a legal firm (that has a Google score of 4.4 from 44 reviews):

What do you think? Will it be ignored? No? We agree. The point here is not the score - or the number of reviews (they have two other 1* reviews, both pretty innocuous) but the actual content of the review.

• Is it written by a real person?

• Is it well-written?

• Does it ring true?

• Would you want what happened to the reviewer to happen to you?

Quite. Now bear in mind that...

• that review will remain on Google forever

• readers will invariably click on 'Lowest' when reading business's Google reviews

• well over 90% of all consumers - especially consumers of high-value services - consult Google reviews before making first contact

...and we're sure you will understand why we stress to all the businesses we meet the importance of 'taking out insurance' against inaccurate, misleading or just plain unfair reviews by adopting a moderated review management system.

But, we hear you say, the review we have shown above is demonstrably not 'inaccurate, misleading or just plain unfair'. How do you, or we, know that? We don't. But that's the conclusion most fair-minded consumers will come to when they read it. 

If the business had offered their customer the possibility of writing a review - by sending them an email and having a link on their website where they could write their review - maybe they would have taken that route instead? Well, over ten years of experience shows that a large proportion will. 

There's only one legal solution: independent moderation.

To read more here's a link to Part 1.

Further reading

• A Single Review can Strangle a Business

Google scores matter

Here is a very simple example:

GP practice 1:

GP practice 2:

A sign in the window of GP practice 2:

Do we need to say more?


For those of an enquiring mind: we know both these GP practices extremely well - members of staff are registered with both - and there is very little in terms of expertise and service levels to separate them. So why the disparity - and the marked disparity at that - in scores?

The simple answer: surgery 1 has taken reviews seriously, both as a feedback mechanism to help its staff improve the service they provide and they recognise that looking good in reviews and having an impressive Google score ensures new patients have every reason to register with them. Surgery 2 has been entirely passive and has allowed dissatisfied patients' opinions to overwhelm the impression given in search.

A Google score of 4.1 is simply not good enough

It is very easy to fall into the trap of looking at your business on Google and thinking "We score [between 4.0 and 4.5]" and then sitting back and relaxing. Don't!

Here are three reasons why not:

1. A Google score of less than 4.6 invariably contains a significant proportion of negative reviews. just look at this example:

Here negatives show in Google's default ('Most recent'). Consumers invariably click on 'Lowest score' when searching, especially if negatives don't show immediately. And they are influenced by what they see there - a single, well-written, negative review has the power to deflect them away from taking the next step - making contact.


2. A score of less than 4.6 leaves your business a handful of negative reviews away from the Google Filter - especially if you don't have critical mass in Google reviews (a great score and significant numbers of reviews):

The top business - a HelpHound client - passes the Google Filter (top right in this screenshot) with flying colours. The second is vulnerable to a flurry of negative reviews driving its score down towards the filter, purely because it does not have the numbers of reviews to counteract the impact of two or three negatives, the third is filtered.

3. Your business runs the risk that it will fall out of search when Google introduces 'Top Rated':

Google will introduce 'Top Rated' for services - estate agency, medical, financial and so on  - it's only a matter of time - and we will ensure that our clients are ready to top those searches.

Action

Don't:

Adopt a DIY solution. You will inevitably be cherry-picking 'happy customers' - and that will hand your competitors a massive advantage. More importantly: you will miss out on the opportunity to display independently verified reviews on your own website - the next port of call for anyone who has been impressed by your Google reviews.

Do:

Adopt professional review management. It will enable you to address inaccurate or misleading reviews pre-publication and it will enable you to display reviews on your own website with complete credibility. It will also enable you to look like Winkworth Kensal Rise - and our other clients - in Google search.