Results, results, results!

In reporting Winkworth Plc's first half results, Dominic Agace, CEO said...

"Our business remains robust and our focus continues to be on providing a platform that can allow an independent business to compete as a top three contender in its local marketplace and, by doing so, ensuring a franchisee can generate a healthy return under differing market conditions.”

Now, far be it for HelpHound to take undue credit for its impact on the above, but perhaps a quick look at some of our members' positions in local search may show even the most cynical the impact professional review management can have on a business's online reputation (bear in mind there are commonly between 20-30 similar businesses in any given area covered by Google search in London)...

The key here? Moderation. Every single review posted to our members' websites is moderated - read by a professional moderator - before being published there with the reviewer then being automatically invited to copy the review to Google. This gives our members the confidence to invite reviews - compliantly - from all their stakeholders: current clients, past clients, potential clients and allow reviews from all those others who might otherwise be tempted to post direct to Google: property seekers, unsuccessful applicants and the like. In the secure knowledge that any reviews containing errors of fact or potentially misleading statements will be subject to moderation. 

From this small link all good things flow - a great score (on the business's own website and on Google - see above), backed up by great individual reviews and all in compliance with the CMA regulations (unlike so many of their competitors)

Every HelpHound member business is fully compliant with the law - the CMA regulations - which specifically state that a business must not hand-pick customers to invite to write reviews or control their timing. It must go a long way to explaining the longevity of our client relationships - read what some of them had to say back in 2017, words that hold good just as well today.

Winkworth rank second in London - has HelpHound make a difference?

There are many thousands of estate agencies in London, and one might reasonably expect the 'big two' (Savills and Knight Frank) to dominate most of the league tables. So who held second place in the critical SSTC (sales subject to contract) rankings for 2019?

 Here's the full article.

Now, at HelpHound we are as aware as anyone that there are multiple factors that will have led to these results in what every commentator agrees has been a torrid time for estate agency. But we reiterate the question posed at the top of this article: 'did HelpHound make a difference?'

Before we attempt to provide even the vaguest answer to this question please take a look at any of our Winkworth members. Here's just one...

In specific Google search ('Winkworth Blackheath')...

That star rating at top left is derived directly from the reviews on Winkworth's own website, not Google as so many assume (as is the score and number of reviews). It's the same for 'Reviews from the web'.

In Google local search ('estate agent Blackheath')...

We'll never know how much Google's algorithm likes business's that host their own reviews on their website, but Winkworth appears to be doing something - actually an awful lot - right: leading the 3-pack and leading natural search (with the score and reviews and stars showing as above).

On their own website (crucial for those that don't arrive there via Google - through Rightmove, for example)...

Is this impressive? A hundred and forty people prepared to say 'use Winkworth Blackheath'?

When combined with the actual reviews...

...well, at least three people thought so - see the 'helpful' votes below the review - all garnered within a week of publication.

In summary

If your attitude is...

• our customers all ignore Google reviews
• our customers all ignore Google scores
• our customers all ignore our competitors' Google reviews, scores and rankings
• we don't care where we feature in organic search
• we don't care where we feature in local search
• we don't care what our Google rich snippets look like 
• we cannot be bothered to host reviews on our website*

...then you probably won't have read this far! So pick up the phone now and you will be well on the way to looking like Winkworth.

*occasionally we meet a potential client that assumes that we are offering some way of filtering negatives otherwise 'how can our clients look so good?'. They could not be more wrong. The CMA regulations expressly forbid 'cherry-picking' (selecting customers to write reviews) and filtering of any kind. Despite this, almost every business we meet is doing exactly that. For a simple guide to the regulations - and how to comply with them, read this.

Oh! - and while we're on the subject of the impact of 'looking so good' see these results, Google's numbers never lie.

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.

Winkworth wins Website of the Year

Congratulations to Winkworth - winners of the Negotiator Website of the Year.  Especially to Wilfred Tienzo, their head of technology, everyone else at Winkworth and at Homeflow, their web designers.

And what did the Judges say?

“A new website designed to give visitors a better experience, to be more responsive and, crucially, generate more leads. It works!”

Here's our contribution - and see it live here.

Feeding through to this in search...

• 'Reviews from the web' - centre right in the Google knowledge panel and right under their organic listing
• Star rating and score from their own reviews under their organic listing
• Google reviews - every person who writes a review to their website is invited to post a  review to Google
• Google rich snippets - the three influential quotes under reviews at the bottom of the Google knowledge panel

...in turn making them look like this in local search...

...reinforcing the message - 'We are good at what we do, not because we say so, but because our clients say so' time after time, backing up all their other marketing efforts.

Well done Winkworth!

Winkworth's new website is shortlisted for the Negotiator Awards

Congratulations to our clients at Winkworth for being shortlisted for the Negotiator Awards 2017.

We love the way Winkworth and their web designers at Homeflow have taken our API and incorporated it into their striking new website, and we wish them all the best on 31st October.

Two of the South-east's premier estate agents go live with HelpHound

Curchods and their sister business Burns & Webber have chosen HelpHound as their review managers.

Both businesses are very well-regarded by both their peers and their clients, now that regard will be transmitted to all across both their websites and in search.

Here's a Curchods branch...

...and already on its way with Google...

And here is one of Burns & Webber's...

Both have adopted our new API - enabling their marketing departments and web designers to tailor the display to their specific requirements.

Over the next weeks and months expect all their twenty-one branches to begin to make a significant impact, both in terms of reviews on their own sites and Google reviews, following in the footsteps of another API adopter: Winkworth...

...on their own site....

...and on Google...

 When this business joined they had two reviews on Google - one 1* and one 3* - that in no way reflected the professionalism of their management or their staff. See the difference professional review management - in tandem with a positive attitude from the business - has made: they now have 41 Google reviews (and a score of 4.8) as well as over 120 reviews on their own website.

Watch this space!

No better proof...

...than your own clients' opinions. How often do we say that? Well, this month Winkworth went live with their new website. Their head office asked for some comments on HelpHound for their internal newsletter.

We are proud to publish them here...

There is no reason why every single client of ours should not have exactly the same experience as these five. If you doubt this - please accept our challenge and try HelpHound for your business.


Additional notes:

1.  We are gratified that the words 'support'and 'help' are used more than once in these comments. If you run a mass-market business - online retail, travel etc. - it is often enough to simply invite reviews by email and you are up and running; a very low response rate will soon give you enough reviews to look great. But if you have a low-volume high-value business such as estate agency or wealth management, or your business is B2B - professional services like accountancy, legal advice or advertising - you will need considerable support, both initial and ongoing, to achieve consistently good results. It is partly the quaility of that support that ensures we can guarantee such great results for all our clients.
2. Winkworth's new site goes live - a detailed examination of everything HelpHound has incorporated into their website and into the Google searches for their branches.
3. If you are considering any other reviews service you should first read this.

Winkworth Kennington - a template for success

Note for mobile users: click on images to enlarge

Winkworth Kennington have really made their HelpHound membership pay dividends. In this article we will go into their story in some depth in the hope that others, whether clients of HelpHound or those at the stage where they are considering coming aboard, may learn from their experience.

Background

   Winkworth Kennington in Google search just eighteen months ago

We first met with Nigel Field and Loran Absalom nearly two years ago. Nigel has a reputation, both within Winkworth and across the world of estate agency, of being extremely marketing savvy and open to new ideas.  

They both saw the potential that publicly visible reviews had to drive business - they were already making considerable efforts to gain client feedback -  and were particularly reassured by two aspects of HelpHound's approach: 

• HelpHound are professional review managers, not a review website, and as such have our clients' interest at heart all through the relationship - they would be Winkworth's own reviews, displayed on their own website, with HelpHound providing the mechanism and the independent verification that is so crucial if reviews are to have credibility in the eyes of the consumer
• our Resolution™ system, because it balances the interests of the business and the consumer by allowing the business an opportunity to address potentially misleading reviews pre-publication. It removes the fear every business has of inviting harmful or damaging reviews

Implementation

With Nigel's full support Loran has driven the successful integration of professional review management into the day-to-day life of the office. The negotiators have built reviews into their initial pitch at valuation and see that thread through to the review that is written on their branch website and then to Google. 

Loran's feedback to us at HelpHound has enabled us to improve not just our service to Winkworth Kennington but has even resulted in a fundamental change to our own procedures that will benefit all our clients in the future (watch this space!).

Results

Winkworth Kennington are the best looking agent in their area in local search, desktop:

And mobile:

That message is reinforced when their potential clients visit their website:

  The scrolling carousel of review snippets to the right of our module draws the visitor's eye (to see it in action just visit their website) and our verification lends the crucial element of credibility

The 'Write your review' button:

 This small button is so important: it is what gives the whole system its credibility - by allowing anyone to write a review whenever they choose - and, crucially, ensures that the business complies with CMA regulations

The reviews themselves:  

The message from Kennington is clear: they value the reviews on their own site just as much, if not more, than the reviews they have on Google (and they are not alone - Greene & Co negotiators, for instance, print their reviews out and carry them in their vendors' packs when on valuations)

Their overall scores...

...give potential clients confidence at a glance


Their promise to publish:

... adds the crucial element of credibility


They display their reviews in their office window...

 

...which catches the eye of passersby


 And they have got nearly half of those reviews across to Google:

Which means looking great in the Google Knowledge Panel:

 Score - 4.8, absolute number of reviews - 40 and rising and, perhaps most important of all in terms of driving enquiries - the three rich snippets

And this is what they think of HelpHound:

Nigel:

Loran:

In summary

Winkworth Kennington are an exemplar because they have taken both our software and our advice and driven it through the entire office, from management through their negotiators to their support staff all of whom 'now walk to work with an extra spring in their step'. And that's how we want all our clients to feel!