Google adds 'view' numbers to reviews

Is this the end of denial as we know it (for those new to this blog 'review denial' is when a business receives a negative review but says 'No-one will see it/read it/believe it')? 

We will let you decide. This week an estate agent in Exeter called in the receivers - now there are bound to be a myriad complex reasons leading up to this sad event, but the one thing we now know for sure (because Google has just introduced the number of views next to every review) is that an awful lot of people had seen and/or read the following two reviews...

We have edited out the text of both reviews (aside from the first line) because the point we are making here is not about what the reviewers have said (although that was certainly unhelpful for the business) it is to show you just how many people are seeing those reviews when they conduct any relevant Google search. 

The lesson is obvious - we hope - and that is to take Google reviews very seriously indeed, because they are being seen, being read and being taken notice of. Employ a review management system that includes moderation, so you have a chance to defend your business against unfair or inaccurate reviews before they make it to Google.

Here's the flip-side...

The number of people that are seeing and reading a business's positive reviews.


How to find these numbers?

They are appearing - so far - only on mobile and only on the reviewer's stream there. So you will need to click on the reviewer's name and then search down their list of reviews until you find the one for your business. Under that you will see the number of views.


Further reading...

• Moderation - and why it is so vital -  the only way a business can prevent unfair or inaccurate reviews appearing

Is your business a shining star in search?

Like this, in a search for 'estate agents in Weybridge'...

...or this, for Harringay - showing not one but two HelpHound clients leading the way...

...or this, in Blackheath...

..or even this, coming second and fourth in Guildford...

...and this, when searching on your business name (which untold prospective customers will do, even if only to find your phone number)...

And a new client? Farrell Heyworth joined in the last six weeks - and here they are already...

Now - we cannot guarantee that the Google schema (the mechanism that Google uses to pull reviews and star ratings through to search results) will work in every case and for every search term because it is dependent on just how your website is configured but it has to be a very nice bonus indeed! If you would like more detail just read this.

Congratulations to Greene & Co!

Two branches of HelpHound clients Greene & Co have won Gold and Silver at the 2018 ESTAS...

...but regular readers won't surprised to hear that. With Greene & Co's commitment to customer service and reviews we are mildly surprised they did not win more!

Here's Gold winner Maida Vale on Google...

...and in organic search - with their HelpHound score, number of reviews and star rating...

...and Silver winner West Hampstead...

...and in organic search - with their HelpHound score, number of reviews and star rating...

Congratulations to Greene & Co, we are proud of what you have achieved since you joined HelpHound (here's the 'before'!). A business can make itself look good with handfuls of reviews, even dozens, but to look this good with hundreds the business has to seriously deliver.


P.S.

Remember that Greene and Co have this invitation to write a review on every branch website...

...and that everyone who has a review published there is automatically invited to copy their review to Google.

Are your Google reviews undermining your marketing?

We see so many examples of this. But first let's look at what a customer journey should look like...

First, the business markets itself...

Next, the potential customer, responds to that marketing - often as not by searching for the business online...

Then they either...

• feel confident enough to make contact or
• visit the business's website, where they will find...

 And...

 Reassurance that the reviews are independently verified alongside evidence - equally reassuring - that anyone at all can write a review

But this is what so many look like (marketing email received this morning)...

 Followed by this in search...

It has been proven that click-throughs drop for every 0.1 a business's score drops below 5.0 - for every 0.1!

Now, before you leap to the conclusion that so many potential customers are bound to - that the business is as bad as its Google score/negative reviewers say - pause and remind yourself of that central tenet of review management...

"If the business is not proactive then the way is clear for its minority of dissatisfied customers to dominate its image"

...but what is beyond doubt is that it is each business's responsibility to find a solution to this crucial aspect of their marketing. And, as HelpHound clients - like Greene & Co - know, that solution is just a call away. Phone Fiona Christie or Karen Hutchings on 0207 100-2233 and they will set you on the road to impressing your potential customers.

 

Such a big story behind such a little button

Our 'Leave a review' button is the key to so many benefits - for business and consumer alike - we decided to devote this post to them all. First, let's look at the way this client has described its function...

...we especially like this because it makes clear that leaving a review is so much more than just that. We have calculated that in over 5% of 'reviews' posted through HelpHound the 'reviewer' is consciously choosing to use it in preference to more conventional ways of communicating with the business (phone/email and so on). They are not 'complaining', in the strict sense of that word; often they are using their review as a way of establishing whether or not they in fact have cause for complaint, or (as is so often the case) there has been a misunderstanding which can now be resolved.

Examples (we'll use estate agency here, but the principles are the same for almost every business):

• tenants writing a review to query the return of their deposit
• landlords expressing disappointment with voids/rental returns
• purchasers/vendors expressing concerns over complex transactional issues

The process:

From the moment a customer clicks on the 'Leave a review' button HelpHound is involved...

1. The reviewer is shown a tailored review template
2. The reviewer completes their review
3. They hit the 'submit' button
4. The review is sent straight to HelpHound
5. HelpHound moderate the review
6. Reviews containing no contentious issues are published on the business's website (the business and the reviewer are both notified, simultaneously)
7. Reviews that contain potentially misleading or inaccurate content are referred to the business (again, the business and the the reviewer are notified)
8. The business engages with their customer - either via HelpHound or direct, the choice is theirs
9. HelpHound invite the reviewer to post their final review
10. The business responds to the published review

At which point HelpHound automatically asks the reviewer, on the business's behalf, to copy their review to Google.*

Results

For the overwhelming majority of businesses, who have an embedded culture of customer care, the results are reassuringly positive. They rarely score 100% (or 5 out of 5 in the world of reviews), but they also rarely score less than 90% (or 4.5 out of 5). The resulting scores and reviews themselves (which are read by prospective customers) present an accurate picture of the business and can be relied on as an accurate indicator by potential customers.

An analysis of an individual business's results*:

This demonstrates the effectiveness of HelpHound's moderation in enabling the business to welcome potentially damaging reviews whilst remaining as secure as they can be that those contain potentially misleading or inaccurate statements will at least be challenged pre-publication.

*Some readers will be wondering why the numbers of positive reviews drop post-moderation, albeit marginally. That is because some positive reviews contain errors too, and while our moderators will always ask a reviewer to post a final review, we cannot force them to!

So, to sum up, the 'Write a review button' is...

• Your business's key to getting great reviews; on your own website and on Google
• A great channel to further enhance your business's customer communications
• The key to eliminating 'fear' as a factor in review management

And on top of those three, there is much anecdotal evidence from our clients that their potential customers are seriously impressed when they point out that anyone can write a review of their business at any time.


Further reading:

• See a case history that embodies the benefits of this strategy here
• And another showing the measurable uplift in calls and website visits through Google

Greene & Co - just when you thought a business could not look any better!

One of our main roles at HelpHound is to ensure that our clients are always using reviews to their very best advantage, throughout the course of their membership - and many of you will have followed the evolution of Greene & Co since they joined HelpHound.

Here's a reminder of what a Google search looked like when they joined: 

And here are those three locations today:

Their remaining six that did not feature in a Google search on 'Greene & Co' back then look very similar

Against their competitors?

On their own website?

Remember that many potential customers will by-pass Google - it is important to host independently verified reviews on your own website...

 ...and it is these reviews that Google uses to allocate a star rating and score in organic search, to be seen by everyone searching on your business...

 ...and to deliver 'Reviews from the web' in your Google knowledge panel - linking straight to your website...

Compliant

 Every Greene & Co branch has this button on their website - ensuring anyone can write a review at any time

And all this achieved in compliance with the relevant regulations (which expressly forbid hand-picking 'happy' customers to write reviews). We estimate that less than one in ten estate agencies currently comply with the CMA regulations - which have the force of law.

Results

Results used to be anecdotal (verbal feedback from clients) - but now new clients can be immediately reassured when they see the uplift in calls and visits to their website because it will be reported to you by Google. Here is Curchod's Google report after they joined last year:

We have used this Curchods Google My Business report as Google only began sending them out last September - too late to prove the uplift for Greene & Co, but great proof for any business joining from now on

 
N.B. Without these results reviews and review management in any form are pure window dressing. We see marketing from the independent reviews sites every day which focuses on everything but results like these. Using an independent reviews site can backfire on the business by making them look worse on Google. For more on this subject read this article.

In summary

  

A typical Greene & Co Google knowledge panel, with a great score and star rating, the rich snippets are all positive with Google highlighting important trigger words; and 508 reviews on their own site just a click away

Greene & Co, by embracing the opportunities presented to them since joining HelpHound...

• look great on Google - great scores and credible numbers of reviews
• look great on their own website - with credible independently verified reviews there
• look great in any search on their business name and location
• look great in any local search
• look great in organic search - with a great star rating and score for every location
• look great in the Google knowledge panel - with great Google reviews, great rich snippets and great 'Reviews from the web'
• look great against their competitors in any search

...all essential if a business is to compete effectively in today's marketplace.

How does your business look against its competitors?

It something all businesses should spend just a little more time on - checking how they show in search against their peers.

Let's look at some examples...

In a specific search - your potential customer knows you, or they are responding to some of your marketing or a recommendation form a colleague or friend. They search specifically for your business. Let's look at a client of ours (nameless for the moment)...

...Google helpfully provides five alternative businesses in their knowledge panel. What is to stop that potential client straying (Google don't just put them there for fun, they know a percentage will click on them)? So what can the business in question do?

They can harness the power of their customers' opinions, first by having lots of great reviews and the resulting Google score...

 

...which leads the potential customer straight to the reviews themselves...

...and to the three rich snippets that Google gets from those reviews...

...then they have independently verified reviews on their own website...

 ...that are pulled through to organic search by Google...

...to give them a star rating and score there. Which, taken all together, mean that your potential customer is much less likely to be diverted away.

Now - local search - where the customer knows what type of business they want, but has an open mind as to exactly the business(es) they are going to contact. Here reviews back up the business's showing in the Google Maps 3-pack and in organic search...

 ...again, ensuring the business looks great, with eye-catching scores and stars in both.

Action?

Perform both searches on your business (we recommend our clients do so at least monthly) and see how your business is performing. Keep a record, so you can track improvements.

If you would like to see the actual numbers (in terms of increased visits and calls) when a business that is doing everything else right from an online marketing point-of-view joins HelpHound read this case history.

Reviews: How far behind can you afford to fall?

Here are screenshots, taken today, of two similar businesses we met over two years ago...

  When Greene & Co joined these three locations had zero, zero and three reviews respectively, very like the business on the right (and I'm sure they won't mind admitting - it's a matter of public record after all - that those three were not quite as complimentary!),

 ...the difference? Nothing discernible - except the one on the left has been a client of ours since then (and, apparently, keeps longer hours!).

 

The latest review from one of the four categoiries of reviews - buyer/seller/landllord/tenant - on a single branch. Just how reassuring do you think a review like this is for someone considering using this business?

We don't know about the second business, but we do know that Greene & Co a very pleased indeed to be where they are today - both on their own website and on Google. And not just because they look great in both places - which they do. They have found that, in consequence:

• they get more enquiries, both direct and through their website
• they win more instructions - their negotiators carry their reviews with them - usually on an iPad
• they look great - in search and on their own website - by comparison with their competitors
• office morale is boosted - even estate agents enjoy reading just how good a job they have done!
• feedback has become a useful management tool
• they can relax about 'having the right reviews solution' and, importantly, compliance with the CMA regulations

What made Greene & Co join*? In a single word? Trust. They trusted us with their reputation, and they trusted us to give them the best advice and follow that up with a professional service. And the ensuing results have proved us both right.

*Of course there was more, much more - and it's encapsulated in the articles on this blog and, right up-to-date, in this presentation

Getting rated on Google - our guide

Getting rated - and staying well-rated - on Google is not quite as simple as it seems - if you don't want to harm your business's reputation in the attempt.

Like a lot of decisions in business it boils down to 'Do we do it ourselves or do we retain professional help?'

So here we examine the alternatives - and their pros and cons:

Doing it yourselves

In the same way that some businesses do their own accounts or manage their own legal issues, it is possible to do your own review management. Here's how:

Strategy: Invite all your customers to write a review on Google 

Pros: by inviting all of your customers to write a review you will avoid accusations of cherry-picking. 

Cons: human nature being what it is, your dissatisfied customers are much more likely to write a review than your happy customers. If you hand-pick happy customers to write reviews it won't be long before you find your competitors are pointing that out.

 This is the kind of value only professional review management can add (and see Paul Grover of Winkworth's comments below).

We have seen refinements of this approach. Some businesses have worked out that they can invite customers to write reviews to an independent review site and then invite those who have written positive reviews to copy them to Google. This strategy is simply a refinement of cherry-picking (and, as such, just as vulnerable to criticism).

 Any business can look like this. But if you hand-pick the customers you ask to write reviews to Google you run the risk of being accused of cherry-picking, and that can do just as much harm to your brand and reputation as having no reviews at all (many would argue: even more so). To be credible, the system you adopt must enable all and any of your customers to write a review.

Remember: it is your business's reputation that is a stake. Be very wary of adopting any short-term strategy that may backfire in the medium to long term. 


Adopting professional review management

Strategy: Invite all your customers to write a review to your own website. Then invite them to copy that review to Google.

Pros: you get independently verified reviews - as opposed to testimonials - to show on your own website; you get an opportunity to engage with reviewers who have posted inaccurate or misleading reviews pre-publication (although the reviewer must always retain the right to publish) and you get credible reviews on Google.

Cons: if you don't look after your customers properly this strategy will backfire - you will get negative reviews. 

Remember: You need to be sure your own customer relationship management is in good shape before you embark on this strategy. Not perfect - no business is, and professional review management allows for this, but as good as you can make it.

What else will a review management consultancy do?

Like any other professional service, they make it their business to understand, and be up-to-date with, all areas of their expertise:

• understanding Google, G+, Google for Business and how they all relate to reviews
• knowing how all the independent reviews sites operate - from massive sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor to specialist sites focusing on specific business niches
• knowing response and appeals mechanisms inside-out
• being constantly aware of the strengths and weaknesses of all the alternative solutions
• being ahead of the curve with new techniques and solutions

Ultimately, it is very simple:

 Here are two examples of what can be achieved with professional review management. The first over a two-year period, the second in just over six months. Desktop on top, mobile underneath. But perhaps the most important added value is invisible: that both agencies can stress that all their clients are invited to post a review - and all that do so, on their own site, are automatically asked to copy them to Google - no fear of being accused of cherry-picking with HelpHound - and definitely no fear of being subject to the Google Filter.

We need to be able to reassure our clients that, month by month, year-on-year, that they are far better off employing a professional review management service. Our review management service.

We want you to feel like Paul Grover at Winkworth:

HelpHound in 2016

In 2016 we provide our clients with an ever more comprehensive solution to reviews and review management.

Note: whilst we have used estate agency for the examples that follow, they apply equally to any and every business, from accountancy to zoos.

Taking our clients from this (on their own websites)...

To this...

And this...

From this (on Google)...

To this...

And this...

And this (on mobile)... 

And this (on Facebook)...

From this (in organic search)...

To this...

There is only one way your business can tick all of these boxes...

• Your own independently verified reviews on your own website
• Great Google reviews
• Star Ratings in organic search

...and that is by being a member of HelpHound

Notes:

1. Google reviews: In theory a business can do one of the above three functions for itself: it can invite customers to write reviews to Google. But even in this respect, HelpHound adds value: our clients get reviews to their own websites before they ask their customers to copy them to Google. In doing so they give themselves, and their customers, a crucial opportunity to correct inaccuracies and misapprehensions: providing prospective customers with an even more accurate picture - on their own websites and on Google
2. The customer journey: it is important to understand how your potential customers consume reviews. In non-specific (e.g. 'business' in 'locality') search it goes: 'Google the type of business combined with the location - read the Google reviews - be impressed - visit the business's own website - be impressed again - contact the business or make the purchase
3. Negative reviews: While HelpHound membership will not work unless a business is committed to high standards of customer service, we recognise that no business is perfect - and that some customers are less than perfect as well! - so all negative reviews are first offered to the business for comment. By joining HelpHound the business commits to responding in 100% of cases, benefiting both business and consumer. The reviewer always has the option to post their review after the business has responded - currently just under 3% do so
4. Time and effort: Sometimes prospective clients assume that results like these are a result of a considerable amount of time-consuming effort. You should be reassured  that any well-managed business should be able to incorporate review management quickly and effectively - with results coming just as swiftly. For a detailed example see this case history
5. Review Management: It's a relatively recent discipline. Before review management a business's only option was DIY. But that meant hours of research and the difficult choice of 'which review site to commit to?' With HelpHound we do all the research and you retain ownership of your reviews. We are your professional advisers in the same way as your lawyers or accountant. If we think there is a review site that's important for you - such as TripAdvisor for our hotel clients - we will be the first to advise you
6. And finally: Our service to you: one of the aspects of membership that is often commented upon is the backup we provide for our clients. This email from Paul Grover of Winkworth sums this up far better than we could ourselves:

If you have any more questions just call - 020 7100-2233 - or email Karen Hutchings - karen.hutchings@helphound.com or Fiona Christie - fiona.christie@helphound.com - and they will answer them.