A professional business with more than a handful of Google reviews? Almost certainly breaking the law.

Let us be crystal clear here - because this is a very serious subject. We are not talking restaurants or hotels or any 'well-reviewed' type of business. We are speaking of what are commonly called 'the professions'. For clarity we provide a pretty full, but far from exhaustive, list here...

• the law
• medicine
• education
• accountancy
• banking
• insurance
• investment management
• estate agency
• surveying
• recruitment

The exception

The exception to the 'more than a handful' rule is the business that has attracted multiple negative reviews on Google. Here is an example:

And a sample review:

Now we make no comment on either the star rating or the content of this review. How could we? We know neither the business nor the reviewer. But we can comment on the impact this review is having: it has been viewed nearly 1300 times. 

So this business has forty reviews, but is, as far as we can see, not breaking the law (it only has two five-star reviews (and a smattering of five-star ratings). How so? Because it has done nothing to address the negative impression that is being shown in every Google search. If it had, and had proactively invited 'happy' customers to post reviews, simply in an attempt to redress the balance, it would have been in breach of one of the CMA's core regulations. It would have broken the law.

So - onto those that are breaking the law. The 'more than a handful' businesses. Here's one, and we will look at it in some detail so you will be left in no doubt that something is amiss.

As you can see, there are twenty-one reviews in total. Sixteen of those rate the business five stars out of five, one at four stars and four at one star. 

And the order those reviews were written in? The first was a one-star, the next ten were five-star reviews, then the second one-star, then another five, then two one-stars, then seven five-stars. 

What does this pattern tell us? As review management professionals with years of experience under our belts it tells us that the business was upset to receive that first one star review and so it asked ten clients that it knew were fairly certain to write a five star review to do so (it may well have asked more, but ten ended up writing reviews). After the second two one-star reviews it repeated the exercise, this time making sure to keep the reviews coming on a regular basis.

Note: for anyone thinking that the four negative reviews of this business 'don't matter' they should be aware that they have been viewed over four thousand times.*

*If you would like to know how to find the total number of views for any single Google review please read this.

What this business almost certainly does not know...

Is that it is breaking the law. That's why we have given them the benefit of the doubt and kept its identity to ourselves. And after all: there's an outside chance they could be inviting every single one of their clients to write a review in spite of only getting these twenty-one in the last year.

What should this business do now?

There's no winding the clock back, but they should take immediate action to become compliant with the CMA's regulations.

This will involve adopting one of the following courses of action...

1. stop inviting anyone to write a Google review
2. embed a link to their Google knowledge panel into their website and invite anyone to write a review at a time of their own choosing - thus addressing the CMA's two core regulations
3. adopt a professional approach to review management, by paying as much attention and applying as much effort to reviews as they do to every other aspect of their marketing and public relations

Option 1. may be the best short-term solution. It will, at the very least, make the business currently complaint while it seeks out a long-term solution.

Option 2. will make the business compliant with CMA regulations, but will also expose it to factually inaccurate and potentially misleading reviews, as well as denying the business significant SEO benefits.

Option 3. will give the business the best of both worlds: they will be able to engage with reviews - on their own website and on Google - safe in the knowledge that unfair reviews will be very unlikely to see the light of day and that they are complying with the CMA regulations. On top of that they will look great in all types of search, simply because Google rewards businesses that host their own reviews on their own websites.

Whatever your business's current situation, we would encourage you to to contact us; at the very least you will know for certain what compliance issues, if any, you are facing.

There's only one way to prove HelpHound will work for your business

And that's by doing it!

We can show you it working for our other clients - any of our other clients. And we can put you in touch with them so you can get their feedback first hand (just ask). And we can show you the numbers for a client who was gracious enough to share theirs the month after they joined...

But, at the end of the day, the only sure-fire test will be to do it for yourselves.

There's only one barrier - cost*, but given that the set-up costs plus the first three months' fees (by which time you will know for sure that HelpHound is driving new business) are likely to come in at less then £500, is there any significant risk?

*free trials? No. For the simple reason that we are not a widget driven solution like the reviews sites. We will need to be on hand - on the end of the phone or in person - for every day of those first three months to ensure that HelpHound is an unmitigated success for your business, and that will involve dedicated professionals providing very high quality advice (again: just ask any other client).


And finally...

Already got a solution? If you are 'doing-it-yourselves' (commonly by inviting happy customers to write a review direct to Google) you are inevitably in contravention of the CMA regulations - read more here - but, much more importantly you will be missing out on some of the most important benefits of professional review management. Wonder how the business above ranks so high in local search, and looks so good (stars etc.)? It's partly because Google loves businesses that host reviews on their own websites.

Using an independent reviews site? You may have noticed that some very big names have dropped these sites recently. Why? The answer is twofold: first, some of these sites are non-compliant with the CMA regulations and second, because they simply do not achieve what they promise. For further information on this subject, or on anything else reviews-related, please speak to us or read this article.

Service businesses and the professions - don't your customers deserve more?

At the moment many high-value 'service' businesses (and this includes the professions) - businesses where the transaction value is in the thousands (legal, medical) or hundreds of thousands (financial services, estate agency) rather than tens or hundreds (online retail) - are adopting a one-size-fits all approach to reviews, and using the same mechanism - reviews sites.

In this article we will set out the case for such businesses to use professional review management instead. We will set out the advantages and try to winkle out any disadvantages.

Reviews sites

Reviews sites give the business a widget to place on their site, enabling them to invite and display reviews there. 

Here's a familiar example...

And the reviews - and their associated score - may, or may not, show for any given Google search.

Great for: products, from shirts to vacuum cleaners; they give potential customers an 'at a glance' guide, especially when used in comparisons. Most of us have used John Lewis at some time - here are some of the toasters they're selling...

...and I'm sure most of us would agree that the reviews and ratings are useful. After all, who cares if the odd inaccurate or misleading review or rating is published - we're only talking toasters.


But services?

You are selling your home - or you have a complex legal matter that needs urgent attention  - you have £250,000 to invest - or you need the best possible heart surgeon?

Are you beginning to understand where we are coming from?

In the four examples we have used here we are betting you - as the consumer - want to know...

• that you can be as sure as possible that the person writing the review has first-hand experience of the service concerned - not a member of staff (present or past), not someone with an axe to grind or a point to prove
• that the business under review is showing you all the reviews written by its customers/clients/patients
• that all of its customers/clients/patients are able to write a review
• that all of its customers/clients/patients can write a review whenever they want
• that the absolute minimum of those reviews contain inaccurate or misleading information or statements

And, now with your 'business' hat on you want to be sure...

• that only genuine customers of your business or practice will be writing reviews
• that you will have the opportunity to correct errors of fact or misleading statements before the review is published*
• that your reviews will show up whenever a potential customer searches for your business, or a business like yours

Like this...

...the business's own reviews under its organic listing (top left) and its Google reviews in the Google knowledge panel (right)...

...and like this in a geographic (local) search...

Now, we expect, you are beginning to see where professional review management comes in. It will tick all the 'boxes' referred to above - and give your customer/client/patient the confidence to make contact with you - the rest is up to you.

Disadvantages? We promised these earlier on but, in all seriousness, there are none - unless your business is sloppy and unprofessional (in which case no reviews solution will work). 

As we said in the title of this article 'don't your customers deserve more?' And, as a business person your next question will undoubtedly be 'and just how much more is this 'more' going to cost me?' Our answer? Not a penny more. Talk to us, and once we understand your business we will tell you exactly how much - but we're betting it's less than you're currently paying for a single click on Google.


A very important note...

* 'that you will have the opportunity to correct errors of fact or misleading statements before the review is published'

This has to be the reason that so many service businesses and professionals have so far avoided reviews altogether: they are simply not confident that their business's reputation will not be unfairly harmed.

And where reviews sites are concerned they are absolutely right. Why? Because reviews sites are unmoderated, so anyone can write anything about the business. But businesses are now strongly advised to engage, for two reasons...

1. Anyone can write a review to Google, at any time. So businesses cannot 'opt-out' of being reviewed. The result is that businesses that don't find a way to engage with Google reviews will get reviews anyway - and, human nature being what it is, those reviews will be from their least happy customers (simply because they are the most motivated).
2. Because consumers increasingly expect businesses to help them by engaging with reviews. They actively want to see what other customers think - they really want to see reviews of the lawyer/doctor/financial adviser/estate agent they are considering using (wouldn't you?). They want to see this...

Rather than this...

"One of the UK's leading wealth managers" (source: their own website) - with one review, the content of which is of dubious value - and one rating: of no help to prospective clients whatsoever.

...or this...

One of the largest law firms in the world: no reviews and these six virtually valueless ratings.

...or this...

A review of services rendered twenty-two years ago and a change of address!

...and, trust us, these examples were very easy to find. 

The solution...

...is very simple, and it's called moderation. Every single review that passes through HelpHound is checked before it is published on our client business's website - for errors of fact and/or potentially misleading content.

There's more on moderation here but the nub of the matter is that it gives businesses - good businesses - the confidence to engage with reviews. To show their prospective clients just how great they are at what they do, and in turn give them the confidence to make that vital first contact - the rest is up to the business.

And a last word for the cynical (and what business person doesn't address a subject like reviews with a healthy dose of cynicism?): if it can work for a great estate agent (and Nigel Field and his team at Winkworth in Kennington provide a great service - if in doubt read their reviews - and while you are doing so remember that they started off exactly where you are today and in exactly the same frame of mind) - then surely it can work for your business?

Then you will reap the rewards...

...documented by Google and sent to your inbox every month.

2019 - the year the CMA finally clamps down on businesses that abuse reviews?

We sincerely hope so. Because if they do not a whole lot of consumers will be continue to be misled (and many honest businesses will miss out on custom). Let's look at the current situation...

Here's a checklist of the kind of abuses that we see committed by businesses every day...

Just one of dozens of such ads on Ebay - today - so there must be thousands of businesses out there cheating the system 

1. Only inviting happy customers to write reviews (called 'cherry-picking' by the regulators)
2. Only inviting customers to write a review at the time the business choses
3. Using a reviews site or mechanism that allows the business to challenge negative reviews
4. Posting fake reviews to reviews sites
5. Posting fake reviews to Google
6. Employing an outside agency to post favourable reviews of the business
7. Using reviews of one product to promote another - reviews of a vacuum cleaner to promote a bicycle, for example
8. Using reviews achieved in one market (e.g. USA) to promote the business in another market (e.g. the UK)
9. 'Gating' - getting legitimate reviews to one site and then inviting only those that rate the business 5 stars to post their review to another site
10. 'Secret gating' - inviting reviews to the business and then only inviting those that rate the business 5 stars to post to a reviews site or to Google
11. Getting employees (or their friends and family) to write reviews
12. Incentivising customers to write positive reviews (incentivising customers to write any kind of review is against Google T&Cs)

Wow! - that's a full dozen. How about what customers are looking for when they read reviews?...

1. Honesty
2. Transparency
3. Case histories that they can relate to
4. A regulated environment

So what can be done to pull the two together?

1. Regulatory action

Five years ago we would have put 'education' (of businesses) in front of regulatory action, but now, in 2019, we know that any business guilty of any of the breaches listed above above is performing that breach wilfully - they know they are breaking the law. They are cheating the system. Worse still, they are cheating consumers.

Excuses

Here are the main reasons we hear from businesses that are in breach...

• We didn't know [whatever non-compliant behaviour they had adopted - the most common is cherry-picking happy customers to write reviews] was against the CMA regulations
• We were told by [insert name of reviews site] that their system was compliant (using a closed system - where only those invited by the business to write a review can do so, or a system that allows the business to appeal against negative reviews, to cite just two examples)
• We had received unfair reviews from [ex-staff/competitors/customers with an axe to grind] and we needed to redress the situation urgently

...and none of them will be acceptable to the CMA. Remember that the CMA regulates your business's use of reviews - and the sanction, if your business is found to be in breach of the CMA regulations, will be on your business.

The solution

All businesses have the following two options...

It is possible to look great without cheating

1. Put a button on your website inviting all your customers - and anyone else - to write a review direct to Google (why on earth would a business want their reviews to appear anywhere else - except their own website - in 2019?) or...
2. Adopt professional review management and get moderated reviews to your own website and to Google

Further reading...

• For those that are still unfamiliar with the CMA regulations here they are, along with our analysis
• And for those who might be thinking that 'doing it right' may be expensive, just look at how much extra business this client did as soon as they adopted professional review management (speak to us for more case histories)
• Moderation is all about ensuring that reviews are accurate and appropriate - it ensures that factually inaccurate or potentially misleading (as well as fake or downright abusive) reviews are very unlikely to see the light of day

Back to basics - is your Google score hurting your business?

The reason for this article is that there is an 'urban myth' doing the rounds of some businesses that runs something like this...

'A score of 4 out of 5 on Google is OK'

...and another that goes...

'Having no Google reviews is OK'

...not to mention the one that says...

'Looking awful on Google is OK'

...and they are all damaging businesses.


How - and, just as importantly - why?

The 'how' is simple. Let's use some examples:

If looking really, really good on Google, like this...

...and this...

...is a 'good' thing (and we meet few marketeers these days that don't agree that it is), then all logic tells us that looking like this (we have used real-life US examples to protect innocent UK businesses)...

...and this...

...must be a 'bad' thing (or at least 'not such a good thing').

And like this?

...or even this?

...and this...

Must transmit the wrong message entirely.


Let's look at those last two in more detail...

No reviews

Having no Google reviews has the potential to harm your business in any - or all - of the following ways...

• it looks insignificant
• it looks as if you are behind the times
• it looks poor by comparison with competitors
• it fails the Google Filter (as does any business that scores less than 4.5)

Scoring between 4.0 and 4.5

If it were an A level everyone would be happy, but this is the harsh world of business. A business with just thirty Google reviews that scores 4.0 will have up to seven one and two star reviews. And these will be read by potential customers.

Bear in mind that all one and two star reviews say the same thing, no matter how they are worded, and that is: 'Don't use this business'. 

And they are read and they are believed and they are trusted. So they will deflect business.

And the business will be failing the Google reviews filter.

Scoring less than 4.0

We will be blunt here: no-one who sees that a business is scoring under 4.0 - be that 3.9 or 1.6 - is going to contact that business (if you doubt this, ask yourself a simple question: "I need a plumber, would I call one where over twenty per cent of their customers said "Don't use them"'? If you have any lingering doubts replace 'plumber' with 'heart surgeon' in that question). 

If you have sufficient business coming in through avenues other than the web, OK. Otherwise serious remedial action is needed.

Important note: if your business is scoring 4.5 or better but is achieving that by selectively inviting customers to write a review (or denying customers the opportunity to write a review unless expressly invited) you are currently in breach of one or more of the CMA's core regulations. Speak to someone here at HelpHound and we will advise you on your business's options.

Are all businesses that score below 4.0 rubbish at their jobs?

No, they are not. How do we know? Because we work for lots of businesses that scored well below 4.0 when they first joined HelpHound. What they did all have in common is that they had let the very small minority of their dissatisfied customers control the image they were presenting in search.

How will we know that scoring 4.5 and over will result in more business?

There's only one way - achieve a good - great - score and then see the results for yourselves...

• your click-throughs will increase
• your inbound enquiries will increase
• your customer facing staff will tell you
• Google will tell you - like this...

This is a HelpHound client's Google My Business report. Your business gets one every month, just wait until your Google score gets north of 4.5 - as it has in this case (see Google's 'congrats' above the stars) - and then look at the numbers in green.

And finally - why use HelpHound?

Three main reasons...

1.  We will take the fear out of inviting reviews. Most businesses initially shy away from inviting reviews because they are, quite sensibly, concerned that some of their customers will write inaccurate or misleading reviews. HelpHound's moderation process reduces the chances of that happening buy well over ninety per cent.

2.  We will enable you to display independently verified reviews on your own website. Not only will these increase inbounds through your site, they will be picked up by Google to show in all searches and in 'Reviews from the web' in the Google knowledge panel. Here is how the client at the top of this article looks...

...in search, in local search...

...and in the knowledge panel...

3.  You will be compliant with the law. The legal authority in the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority, forbids any practice that puts consumers at a disadvantage. The core of its regulations say that any business inviting reviews must enable their customer to write a review at any time of their choosing and that all their customers must be given the opportunity to write a review. This rules out practices such as selecting customers to write reviews (known as 'cherry-picking', probably the most common contravention of the CMA regulations - for more see here).

So: if you have persevered and read this far, you only have one more step to take, call us and we will conduct a thorough review of your business's current exposure to reviews and then make recommendations to bring your business as close to the holy grail of 5.0 as you deserve.*

*please note: there are no 'smoke and mirrors' involved - no 'filtering' of negative reviews. If your business has existing CRM issues these will need to be addressed before you adopt a review management strategy. HelpHound cannot 'make' a business with inadequate customer care practices look good. What we can do is make a business that truly cares look great.

Respond to reviews - doing so will improve your business's score

We have said it before (here's last year's article) but this article on the Harvard Business Review prompted us to repeat - and simplify - the message (and it applies to every business on the planet - not just hotels). 

Responding to reviews is proven (see here) to have the following effects:

• customers will - on average - increase their score of you business. And with the Google filter now set at 4.5 every 0.1 counts.
• customers will be less likely to post a negative review - because they know it will elicit a response from the business.
• customers will 'keep to the facts' - again, knowing they will be challenged if they exaggerate

On top of that, customers that post a positive review will have that positive experience reinforced if you thank them. It will also impress readers, of whatever kind of review, if you show you care about each and every comment made by your customers. 

If you have any questions at all, about the response mechanism on a particular platform (Google, TripAdvisor, Facebook etc.) or about just how to word a particular response, just call us here at HelpHound.

The demise of the reviews sites - and an important warning

Here we go again. But bear with us, this is an important warning for unsuspecting businesses. 

The gloves come off...

It is high time we spoke even more frankly about reviews sites - so businesses relying on HelpHound for advice understand the position (even more!) clearly.

Reviews sites, through no fault of their own, have been made redundant - by Google. Not maybe. Not perhaps. Redundant - full stop. 

Ten years ago, around the time most reviews sites were founded, Google was yet to enter the reviews market; a market they now dominate as they do so many others. Let's look at this in more detail...

Reviews sites mainly break down into two distinct categories:

• Reviews of businesses: TripAdvisor, Yelp and Trustpilot, to name but three of hundreds
• Reviews of products: Feefo in the UK, Trustpilot again

But Google now cover both those - for free. 

And you - the consumer - want reviews of a - any - business? You google it. 

And when you do that - guess what you see? Google reviews. 

That is, if the business has any (it staggers us just how many businesses persist with reviews sites - when the evidence is there every single time they search. Just take 20 seconds and search for your business - on your mobile, because that's where your potential customers are looking, at least 70% of them).

Does your business look like this...

What do you see - and all consumers see - lit up in lights in these searches? Google reviews, of course

Or, like so many who are still inviting their customers to post to a reviews site, like this...

   The reviews sites are here, if you look carefully enough (under 'Reviews from the web') - but how many of your prospective customers are going to take the trouble to search them out?

And products? Google has well-and-truly stolen a march on product reviews sites, by launching its free offering in January of this year...

 We're betting the reviews site's salespeople are keeping very quiet about this.

This has inevitably driven the review sites - whose bread and butter was online retail until Google gazumped that - to divert at least some of their sales efforts towards service businesses. 

So what are the reviews sites offering to such businesses? The easiest way to answer that is to look at their most recent marketing. This advertisement appeared last week (aimed at estate agents, but it could just have well been targeting any other kind of service-based business)...

Interestingly enough not the site that contacted our clients - but it could easily have been.

...point by point...

1.  'Gain valuable insight' - Google reviews will do that.

2.  'Influence customer behaviour' - agreed. But Google v. reviews sites? Rightmove answered that in their survey - recognition of Trustpilot was at 11% and Feefo at 2% - Google - has anyone not heard of them?

3.  'Generate more sales' - agreed, again. But again - whose reviews are more likely to influence purchasers? And just as important: whose reviews are more visible in search?

4.  'Improve customer service': there's no doubt that taking account of reviews helps businesses and their staff improve the service they are delivering, but it's not an argument for a reviews site over Google reviews.

5.  'Build brand credibility': Now they're losing us - how does using a reviews site (with very low consumer recognition - see point 2 above) over Google 'build brand credibility' - except, possibly, for the reviews site?

6.  'Improve you SEO' - we are glad they qualified this claim with 'can' as we monitor Google very closely and we have seen little, if any, hard evidence of SEO benefits accruing from employing a reviews site.

7.  'Increase conversion rates' - accompanied by a very precise number - 13.5% (we'd love to see the source of this). We have no argument with the contention that showing reviews on your website 'increases conversion', but we are just as concerned with getting consumers to your website in the first place - and that means Google reviews.

To sum up...

No business needs a reviews site in 2018. Those employing them should save their money and choose the free Google alternatives (which, apart from their functionality, must have more credibility as well - they certainly have more brand recognition!).

So what is HelpHound's role in all of this?

Service businesses do need someone to add value to Google - and that's why HelpHound exists. To give business's the confidence to engage with Google reviews without fear of risking their reputations - or contravening the CMA regulations. To provide support and advice all the way along the journey and to ensure our clients always have the best advice - in the strictest sense of that phrase - when they join and ever afterwards.

And to enable the business to show their own independently verified reviews on the business's own website, of course!

Our advertisement?

Let's try something like this...

'Want to generate more business? - HelpHound will ensure...

• great reviews on your own website - safely (all your reviews will be moderated, to ensure accuracy and, as far as is possible, authenticity)
• great reviews on Google
• stars and ratings in organic search
• stars and ratings in local search
• stars and ratings in 'Reviews from the web'

Your business will, in short, look great everywhere, by working in concert with Google, not competing with it. And proof? Google will provide that, month-in month-out, via your Google My Business report...

Every business receives their Google My Business report every month. Thank you to Curchods for allowing us to share theirs with our readers.

...and we wouldn't want to crow, but these figures are unarguable and, we would humbly suggest, just a little better than 13.5%.

HelpHound - all the advantages of a reviews site and all the advantages of Google rolled into one, with none of the disadvantages.


Further reading...

• 'Aggregator' sites - such as reputation.com and Trustist - also lack these vital mechanisms to protect high-value service businesses - and you don't want to be importing inaccurate and potentially misleading reviews into your own website.

• The CMA regulations - you need a reviews solution that will allow every one of your customers to write a review whenever they choose - only then will you be compliant with the CMA regulations.

• Results - you've seen the Curchods' Google My Business report in the screenshot above - now read the whole story.