HelpHound - the COMPREHENSIVE solution to reviews for ALL businesses

Regular readers will have seen all the Google AI scrapes posted here in recent months. One theme has been consistent: the comparison of HelpHound with Trustpilot. Here's a typical example...

Not 100% accurate - our reviews are incorporated into your Google listing, not under (or not at all):

Our client leading local search (in a very crowded marketplace) with their stars and rating highlighted (arrow); see Trustpilot anywhere? Quite.  And we should be quite clear: we moderate every single review, but we will only intervene if a review contains factual inaccuracies or has the potential to mislead a future reader, we do not - and cannot, by UK law - intervene simply because the reviewer is 'unhappy'.

And so far, so good. We are delighted to be singled out as the best review management option for high-value professional businesses, because that's exactly what we developed HelpHound to be (not, as some other solutions - no names - as a way of confecting a score of 4.5 to be used in marketing).

But here's the thing: a business doesn't have to choose between HelpHound and the review sites, be that Trustpilot or one of the myriad out there - Feefo, reviews.io, Yelp, Tripadvisor, or one of the industry-specific sites (Trusted Trader and so on) - if we (and our client) decide that they need a profile on one of those sites, then we will manage that as well. 

We have a high-profile client that looked great on Google and on its own site, but noticed that Trustpilot was attracting reviews from those that had - often unfounded or the result of misunderstanding - negative opinions. This was driving the business's score down to a point where competitors were able to weaponise it against the business in question. Unfairly. Funnily enough, the business also had an inbound sales call from Trustpilot offering 'help' too.

What did we do, together?

First, we pointed out the following:

1. The business's Trustscore (Trustpilot's name for the rating) could be improved without having to pay Trustpilot
2. That the business owned their own reviews, and could do whatever they liked with them, and that included asking their customers to copy them across to Trustpilot
3. That their Google score was of paramount importance, notwithstanding Trustpilot's pitch as to visibility in search. Google's own reviews always take pole position in search and Google is the search engine of choice for well over 90 per cent of the UK population, and it commands 98 per cent of UK mobile search

Second, we implemented - jointly - the following strategy:

• We first set up a test: we asked a percentage of customers who had written a review to the business's own site to copy it to Trustpilot
• We measured response, and then we calculated the number of positive reviews that would be needed to restore the business's Trustscore to good health
• We switched the repost request away from Google to Trustpilot for a percentage of customers for a period of weeks

Result?

The business's score on Trustpilot restored to well above 4 ('Great' in Trustpilot terminology). All for no extra cost. Diary note to repeat the procedure at intervals in the future.

So, our objective on behalf of all our clients:

First...

...to enable them to safely - and compliantly - invite reviews to display on their own website and use in their own marketing

Second...

...to get as many of those reviews as possible across to Google, to ensure a really impressive presence in competitive searches there

Third, and it is a distant third if we are honest...

...to look good on the review sites that matter to our client without incurring any extra costs

One more important consideration

Both Google and HelpHound are designed to host reviews and score a business per location. If a business has multiple locations, it is essential that the consumer can discover how the customers of that specific location feel about the service they were provided, and the service they can expect. Trustpilot charges significant fees for multiple listings, which is why it is so rare to see individual branch/office/outlet scores hosted there.

Conclusion

So, we repeat the title of this article: HelpHound works for all kinds of businesses, and it works more effectively and more comprehensively than any other review solution. Think of us as a review broker, in the sense that wherever your business needs reviews, now and in the future (remember Qype or Ciao, anyone?), we will enable you to get them there. If that means to Trustpilot, fine; if that means on Yelp!, so be it. But, just for the foreseeable future, at least, we will almost certainly continue to focus on enabling our clients to positively glow on Google, and in the relevant Google searches.

Review Management - a Guide for PR, Advertising and Marketing agencies

You know that an outstanding presence in Google reviews is a must-have for all of your clients; you also know that achieving that - a score of 4.8+ and 200+ reviews - is easier said than done, especially while maintaining compliance with the CMA regulations. What follows is a step-by-step guide to achieving this for them without running any risks - of attracting adverse reviews or of breaking the law.

This article is intended as a reference point for agencies to decide how best to advise all of their clients, whatever their current situation.

And if you haven't time to read the whole article, just scroll down to the final paragraph: 'So - after all of the above - are there any other benefits for our agency?' and you will see a precis. But we strongly recommend you follow the 'Bezos principle' (see video above) and read what follows - we promise it will reward the effort.

Note for readers

It is so easy to promote a 'one size fits all solution' to reviews, after all, that's what the review sites do. But businesses differ, not only in the way they market their products and services - see what we did? There are two distinct categories of business already! - but in the way they have historically approached (or avoided approaching) reviews.

In this article we are going to address review management from two distinct perspectives: the type of business and the current situation each business finds itself in. All of your clients - and, indeed, your own business - will be in one of the following 4 categories. For the purposes of this exercise we are going to ignore those in 1, 2b, 3 and 4 (you will understand why as you read on). For those in category 2a we will further break them down by their current status with regard to reviews and follow that with specific relevant advice.

Then it is over to you. Speak to us and we'll arrange a mutually beneficial approach to those of your clients you feel we can help. That will usually mean starting out with an individual review audit* and then progress to providing definitive tailored advice. And it will end with your client scoring 4.8+ with three figures of reviews, a great SEO kicker and in full compliance with UK law. 

As you read this article you will see continuous references to both compliance and moderation, each one hyperlinked to a full explanation. They are the two underlying planks of effective review management, so we make no apolgy for repetition.You can read them now or as you read on, the choice is yours. 

* A review audit - as the name implies, begins with examining every aspect of a business's experience with reviews to date and ending with a summary of advice and recommendations. Covering the likes of existing presence on review sites - Google/Trustpilot/Feefo/Yelp/Reviews.io and so on - and compliance with the UK government (CMA) regulations, as well as providing a roadmap to effective and compliant review management for the future.

First: the 'type of business'...

Almost every one of the UK's 5.5 million businesses falls into one of four categories...

1.  Product-based - retail in the main. Broad-brush we know, but most people will buy a pair of shoes or a dishwasher irrespective of the service element involved in their purchase. Otherwise, such businesses are served by the commercial review sites (oddly, rarely by Google reviews) - just see any online retailer's website or advertising.

2a.  Service-based - the professions and high-value transactional businesses: medical, legal, financial, educational and the like (estate agency is a good example - a service business that is infrequently used but where the consumer is aware that the wrong choice may potentially cost them many thousands of pounds) as well as 2b. Trades - plumbers, electricians, and so on.

3.  A hybrid of the above two categories - car dealerships for example - they 'sell' cars and 'service' them (We know, but we want to make quite sure there are no misunderstandings given what is to come later). 

4.  'Impervious' businesses - utilities and transport companies are two obvious examples: where the consumer either has no choice at all (South West Water or a train from Paddington to Bristol anyone?) or the business is so massive that, often despite protestations to the contrary, it really doesn't care what people are saying online (it's easy to tell: they don't repond to customers' Google reviews, when it's free and easy to do so). 

Now something about HelpHound. In an ideal world, we would welcome clients from any of these four categories, but years of experience have taught us to concentrate all our efforts on Category 2a: the professions and service-based businesses. And there is absolutely no doubt that it is in that sector that HelpHound can add the most value - in pure £££s as well as in many other ways.

Why would HelpHound effectively ignore the other three categories?

We can add value for any business, whatever its nature, but...

Category 1: After all they love reviews, don't they? Yes, they do, and the review sites - Yelp, Trustpilot, Feefo, Reviews.io, etc. - have targeted them very effectively. They would do better with professional review management, but we can add more value for other kinds of business.

As long as they score 4.0 they're generally pretty happy.

Category 2b: Trades and  'man+van' businesses, which often don't have dedicated business premises - needed for a Google profile - are covered by the likes of Which? and lead-generator businesses such as Checkatrade and TrustedPeople.

Category 3: Businesses, where the major earner is sales, and service is sometimes even a loss-leader, tend to focus on in-house reporting rather than reviews. They shouldn't, but they do. We'll be here for them when they come around.

Category 4: 'Impervious'. Well, they must be - why otherwise do they make next to no attempt to address - or even respond to - reviews from their customers (we'll repeat it - it's free!)?

So, we are left, happily, with 2a. The professions - medical, legal, educational, and financial as well as the likes of recruitment, estate agency, and so on. Most of these businesses really care about their images online...

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We make no apology for using a HelpHound client to illustrate this category. When this business adopted HelpHound they had just 2 Google reviews!

• it knew that scoring 4.9 on Google would drive business through its doors

• it knew that a Google score of less than 4.5 would hinder their new business efforts

• it knew that everything else being equal, numbers of reviews matter

• it knew that its work is complex and often misunderstood

• it knew exactly how harmful a well-written but factually inaccurate review can be

• it knew that hosting their own client/patient/customer reviews gives them valuable feedback and data

And - once they understand the CMA regulations...

• it is very pleased that it is in full compliance with UK law

Now to the sub-categories of 2a

You may be surprised to read that there are very few businesses in 2a that have adopted the correct solution. Here we go (you should be able to allocate one of the following descriptions - A to G - to each of your clients)...

A - No reviews

Still regularly encountered. Reason: almost always fear, with a capital 'F'. And that fear is fully justified: if a business provides complex and difficult to comprehend services there will be a proportion of people who will grab the wrong end of the stick with both hands and then be tempted to beat the business with it. And these days that stick - which used to be a relatively harmless 'green ink' letter or an angry phone call - is invariably a 1* Google review. 

The fatal flaw in the 'Don't engage with reviews' strategy is that it put's the business's image way beyond the its control. We used to encounter hotels that had 'no review' contracts for airline staff staying - that didn't last when the same staff realised that all they had to do was create a new Google account and fire away! One day one such unhappy customer will find their way to writing a Google review.  Best have 100 5* reviews there when they do. Even better still, have their review directed to your business where it will benefit from HelpHound's moderation.

It's the very reason we invented moderation. Moderation gives businesses of all kinds the confidence they need to compliantly invite reviews from all their customers. The alternative - crossing fingers and toes in the hope that unhappy consumers don't write reviews - may have worked ten years ago, but it's far too high risk a strategy in 2023.

B - Few reviews - less than 50 - and a high score (4.6 and up)

Often the result of at first engaging and then stalling: the engagement is often prompted by receiving a one-star review - 'let's squash that one!' - or a member of staff driving engagement short-term (we know of one keen young person who stayed late at work once a week for a month and got their business 40 Google reviews, then he left and the business got three reviews for the rest of the year). 

The key here is to embed professional review management into the business in the same way as every other essential discipline. Many businesses do this and then fall at the compliance hurdle: they cherry-pick (invite selected customers to write reviews) or gate (use mechanisms like surveys to pre-qualify 5* reviewers), all understandable until you realise they are both against the law. Our question to prospective clients is 'Why break the law when a) it so quickly becomes obvious to your competitors and b) it is so easy not to?' Needless to say, no agency professional wants to find themselves in a position of advising a client to adopt a non-compliant solution.

C - Few reviews - and an average score (4.0 - 4.5)

Believe it: a score of under 4.6 will result in two things: the business comparing less favourably with its competitors as well as a handful of damaging 1* reviews underlying the score (a score of 4.0 from twenty reviews means at least four harmful 1* reviews). Neither need happen if the business adopts a moderated solution.

D - Few reviews - and a low score (lower than 4.0)

This is a tricky one: we need to establish why the business has attracted negative reviews: it's either a flaw in their CRM - put bluntly: they're not that great at what they do.  Our advice in these circumstances is simple: sort your CRM and we'll speak when you have done so.

Or they have left the field clear for a tiny minority of unhappy customers. More common than one might think: once a business has experienced the power of a negative review to harm enquiry rates - clicks and calls - it is not uncommon for business owners and managers to retreat into 'denial mode'. We hear comments such as 'reviews don't matter' (they do), 'our score doesn't influence the flow of enquiries' (it does) or 'people pay no attention to negative reviews' (they do, in spades). 

Once such businesses have been introduced to our moderation process they quickly shed such denial, which is exposed for what it is - an understandable but mistaken reaction to the fear of attracting more negative reviews.

E - Many reviews - over 50 in most cases - and a high score (4.6+)

Now we must tread carefully.  There are many businesses that have high Google scores by simply being great businesses, but once a business has more than 50 Google reviews and a high score the very numbers generally - not always, but generally - indicate a proactive stance towards reviews. Put plainly: the business is inviting reviews. 

Fine, as long as the business has some mechanism that allows all of its customers to write a review at a time of their own choosing. The CMA's definition of 'all' and 'at a time of their own choosing' is, as one might expect from a government agency, very precise. We have businesses constantly trying to convince us that they comply by various means - 'we include a link in the signature block of every email' or 'we email customers inviting reviews on a regular basis' but the only sure-fire solution is to include the link you will see on every HelpHound client's website. Before you say 'But that is asking for trouble' (we would agree, if it weren't for what follows) bear in mind that the link will invite a review to your own website that will then be moderated. So a 'win/win': compliance and moderation (and credibility) all in one.

F - Many reviews - and an average score (4.0 - 4.5)

There are some businesses that continue to believe that scoring 4.4, or even 4.0, is fine. Good even. But if you are to win business against competitors that have adopted professional review management your business needs to be scoring 4.6+ (in some cases even that score will leave a business languishing by comparison with its competitors). If your business is scoring between 4.0 and 4.5 and is leading the field in search then our advice has to be: take that lead and extend it before one or more of your competitors does. Nothing gives us more satisfaction here at HelpHound than seeing a client's Google score overtake its competitors.

G - Many reviews - and a low score - (less than 4.0)

Very few businesses find themselves in the arguably luxurious position of being able to ignore reviews

Now we are in the territory of 'don't care', which is at the extreme end of the denial syndrome we discussed earlier, or what we term 'review immunity'. Some businesses, often those that have a very high public profile such as fast food multiples: when did you last see a McDonald's franchisee bother to respond to a review? an airline? or a utility (South West Water - see above)? But these businesses are in the minority; most businesses are vulnerable to Google reviews, be that their headline score or the negative reviews underlying it. 

 

 

Note on scores and numbers of reviews: these are, of necessity, subjective but they are based on over ten years of experience and are backed up by hard statistics. In some marketplaces - financial services is an obvious example - it is currently unusual to find a business with double figures of Google reviews, whereas in estate agency any business worth the name probably has north of a hundred Google reviews. Why? HelpHound has to take part of the blame here; when we took on our first high-profile Plc client in estate agency enough of their branch network - of over 100 - took the bull by the horns and trusted us that they wouldn't be swamped with unfair reviews (thanks to our moderation process) and went on to prove us right. That set a fire under the whole sector: if your competitor scores 4.9 with 200 reviews you had better do something to compare with them or you will be losing significant business.

This Harley Street medical clinic client also answers the question we are sometimes asked about confidentiality: 'Do we see resistance from those using sensitive services?' The Harper Clinic specialises in treating menopause symptoms, how much more sensitive could a business be?

The red arrow is pointing at the key to all of our clients' compliance with the CMA regulations, as well as the route to moderation. By clicking on 'Write a review' anyone can write a review whenever they wish, and that review will be moderated to ensure, as far as is compliantly possible, that it contains no errors of fact or statements likely to mislead a reader

This also, by coincidence, provided proof of another kind. When faced with a business that is concerned with allowing all of its stakeholders to post a review whenever they choose - in other words: in compliance with UK law - we don't hesitate to point out that estate agency is hardly the least criticised business sector of all time, so, if we can show it working, for the professional agencies at least, how great a risk would a medical practice or a firm of financial advisers be taking?

So - after all of the above - are there any other benefits for your agency?

There are two answers to this - both of which provide tangible benefits for your business:

1. Your clients will be grateful that you introduced them to HelpHound. There is no downside for them. They will be compliant with the CMA regulations from the day they join and just one look at our 'Results' will show them the potential uplift in enquiries through both Google and their own websites. HelpHound membership will earn them extra revenue over and above our fees, from the outset*. It also has the potential to make them significant savings on the likes of Google Ads, as well as the boost to their SEO.
2. By becoming a HelpHound introducer you will be adding a growing quarterly income stream for your own business

*If you have a client that already has a score of 4.9 and 200+ Google reviews they will be just as glad they joined: aside from a continued compliant flow of reviews to Google, they will be hosting their own reviews - valuable data - on their own website and benefitting from our moderation going forwards. No more cherry-picking or gating and a great SEO kicker too.

Review solutions - a checklist

Professional advice combined with years of experience will ensure you safely negotiate this maze!

There are over two million words in the 750 plus articles on this blog - and every single one of them relates to reviews and review management - so here is a simple checklist for your business (for more detail you can always interrogate the blog by entering whatever specifically interests you into the search box - above left, and you can also always call and speak to one of us!). 

After each of these 10 points we have added a link to the most relevant article - again: feel free to read as much as you like or just pick up the phone and speak to us.

1.  Don't be sold a solution: there are several review companies out there with large PE/VC-backed salesforces that will promise you the earth.  Research the market thoroughly before you decide on the right solution for your business.

• Would you buy shares - or entrust your business's reputation - to a business that was in direct competition with Google? No, nor would we 

2.  Own your own reviews: apart from the fact that data is so valuable these days, and you don't want to be giving that to someone else unless there's no alternative, you want to be able to vary your review solution as the years pass without losing those reviews you have already accumulated.

• Don't 'donate' your customers' reviews and the attendant valuable data to a reviews site 

3.  Distinguish between product and service review solutions at outset: product reviews are rarely read, they simply provide the fuel for the all-important review score that you see next to virtually every product on an e-commerce website these days. The content is therefore pretty well immaterial, as long as the overall score is over 4 out of 5. Service reviews, however, are read, and in some detail, almost always 'worst' first. If you are a service business the following point - 4. - is vital.

• If you need product reviews Google provide a free widget 

4.  If you are in a service business or one of the professions your review solution must incorporate moderation: a single factually incorrect or misleading (or even plain 'unfair') review can, if published on Google, literally stop the phones ringing. Over the years we have seen this happen so often we have lost count. For the same reason solutions that incorporate a feed direct from Google are extremely high risk. Only a moderated review solution can ensure against reputational damage in the long term.

• Moderation: the only way to ensure your reviews fairly and accurately reflect the service your business provides 

5.  You need to display your own reviews on your website: apart from the blindingly obvious reason that customers like to see and read reviews there, Google gives you credit for doing so in SEO; you may be wondering why some of your competitors rank higher in search - if they host their own reviews (not those from review sites or Google) that will almost certainly be a contributing factor.

• Reviews - and how hosting your own boosts your SEO and consequent visibility in search 

6.  Respond to reviews, wherever they may be: if you don't consumers will make all sorts of assumptions: that the negative reviewer is correct and their assertions are unanswerable is just one; that you simply don't care is another. If a customer has taken the trouble to compliment your business online a simple response thanking them is all that is needed.

• Responding to reviews - the unforeseen benefits 

7.  Dont expect Rome to be built in a day: once you have a solution on board you should adopt realistic targets for reviews on your own website and reviews on whatever external platform you have chosen (after careful consideration and comparison with the alternatives). Remember: four reviews a month equates to fifty reviews a year; three years at that rate equates to 150 reviews. Mind you, we have seen clients accumulate those numbers in much shorter timescales; where there is a will there is a way.

• How to set realistic targets and achieve the reviews you need 

8.  Don't sacrifice quality in the quest for volume: it is tempting to adopt all kinds of mechanisms to generate the maximum flow of reviews. In our extensive experience the only one that produces quality reviews in terms of content is email backed by personal contact; expecting email alone - or worse still, text or other kinds of media - to do the job is unrealistic and will only lead to disappointment and/or low quality one-liner reviews full of typographical and grammatical errors.

• Quality trumps quantity - every time 

9.  Don't break the law:  every business we meet usually is, intentionally or unwittingly. UK law categorically states that businesses that invite reviews must allow all their customers to write a review at whatever time they choose. Let us be clear on this important point: hand picking happy customers to write reviews is illegal; only inviting customers to write a review at a time chosen by the business is illegal. Having a moderated review solution - see point 4 above - protects your business from inaccurate and misleading reviews and ensures compliance with UK law, so no excuses there.

• Why most businesses continue to break the law 

10.  Google won't attempt to sell you their reviews solution: but it is invariably the best one - alongside an independent hosting and moderation solution for your own website.

•  As far as service reviews are concerned review sites are well past their sell-by dates

That's it. Follow these ten points and you won't go far wrong; ignore any one of them and your business will almost certainly suffer, now and in the future.

Further reading...

• ABC of reviews - 12 chapters covering all the above in more detail

 

The end for review sites?

Last week a law firm successfully sued the author of an online review, written on Trustpilot, criticising the firm's services - and they were awarded £25,000 plus costs. It was a first for the UK.

You may wish to read the story behind this before we examine the broader question in the headline. Here it is (the article will open on a separate page, so you won't be taken away from this article).

So: what are the implications for review sites like Trustpilot?

The case for the defence

• Reviews are popular - they are written in their tens of millions and every survey ever conducted shows that consumers rely very heavily on them when choosing a particular business or product 

• Reviews provide reassurance - consumers use them to find businesses, and consumers write them to either let others know that they were satisfied with the business in question or not, as the case may be

• Reviews enable SMEs to compete with larger businesses - by enhancing the small and medium-sized business's profile in search

The case for the prosecution

• It is far too easy to write a 'fake' review, positive or negative

• It is far too easy to have a malicious review published

• Reviews are often factually inaccurate

• Reviews are often misleading

• Businesses can easily get friends, family and staff to write reviews

• Businesses can easily cherry-pick happy customers to write reviews

• Businesses can ensure that only positive reviews appear where they really matter by 'gating' negative reviews

• Review sites offer businesses 'advantages' that in some way impinge on the reviewer's ability to have a negative review published - in order to justify their charges

Our conclusion

And it's one we came to many years ago - is that reviews would be a powerful force for good, for consumers and businesses, if the points made by the 'prosecution' above were addressed - but, with the emergence of reviews of both businesses and products on Google, the days of the independent review site were numbered.

So we addressed the 'prosecution' issues. How?

The first thing we did was instigate moderation. Moderation, in the context of HelpHound, means checking every single review pre-publication, for the following:

• no experience of the business being reviewed - our view is that reviews must be first hand, not 'my husband told me' and definitely not 'I read about this business'. We reject this kind of 'review' as it is unhelpful; to those relying on reviews to make informed choices and it is manifestly unfair on the business

• bad language - we take the position that reviews are not social media, where everyone is allowed to let rip with foul language and abuse. Reviews are there to enable future customers of a business to better understand how that business operates, and, in that context, no matter how aggrieved the reviewer, we insist on moderating such outbursts. That doesn't mean the review doesn't get published, but it does mean we will ask the reviewer to delete such foul and/or abusive language pre-publication. It's a rare occurrence - maybe one in a thousand reviews - but important none the less

• Factual inaccuracies - these help no-one, so we do our very best to revert to the reviewer if we are sure their review contains one. It does mean that we need a pretty thorough understanding of our clients' businesses, but we see that as a central part of our role anyway.

• Potentially misleading statements - the same as factual inaccuracies, but often as a result of misunderstandings between the business and their customer, or simply incorrect use of English

• Friends, family and staff: we have a simple two-strikes rule: first offence (and you would be surprised how easy it is for a professional moderator to spot the offenders) and the review is deleted and a final warning is issued to the business, second offence: end of contract - our credibility and the credibility of our service is simply too valuable

• Cherry-picking: our clients all invite reviews on their websites, from anyone. The absolute opposite of cherry-picking

• Gating: there are two common forms of gating (which essentially means pre-qualifying what a consumer might say before inviting them to write a review): sending a questionnaire to every customer and then only inviting respondents who indicate complete satisfaction to go on to write a review and a sophisticated subset of that wheeze: simply invite all you customers to write a review to a reviews site and then only invite those that have posted a 5* review there to go on and post a review to Google

We should make the point here that none of the above may be used as an excuse to either delete or in some other way bury the review in question. The review will be published unless the reviewer either retracts or modifies their review. This is welcomed by the business as it will have had the opportunity to resolve whatever issue the review contained and it is equally welcomed by the overwhelming majority of reviewers who never wanted to publish an inaccurate or misleading review in the first place. Also bear in mind that the business has 'right of reply' right under the published review.

The next thing we did was address the issue of compliance with UK law - the CMA regulations. No review system works if it is not compliant with the law. But, surprisingly, reviews sites remain either fundamentally non-compliant or easily abused in non-compliant ways by their clients.

The law is not complex. Its core rules state that:

• everyone should be allowed to post a review and...

• the business should not control the timing of that review

There is a complete analysis of the CMA regulations here, but that is the nub of compliance. The CMA is on the case of businesses that flout these rules.

Review sites

All of these, from huge quoted companies like Yelp through the likes of Trustpilot with significant financial backing to relative minnows like Feefo, came into being before Google became a significant player in the review space. 

It is our contention that, had those businesses known that Google was going to commit such significant resources, they would never have entered the sector. 

Google reviews

• Google reviews are free. No upsell, no freemium model. One offering for businesses, one for products. Google has the whole market covered, for free.

• Google reviews are seen by more consumers, far more, than any review site's reviews. Witness the way Yelp has been relegated to fast food and small local services: larger businesses with professional marketing departments know it's Google reviews all the way.

• Google reviews are trusted by consumers, and rightly so: Google knows whether a review is genuine or not, after all, they know just about every key-stroke the review has made and where they have been. Google reviews have to be attached to an identity, unlike reviews on most review sites where there is no confirmation of identity whatsoever.

• Google has an appeals process: just try getting an unfair or inaccurate review of your business that's been posted on a review site taken down - it's well-nigh impossible. But Google will listen to a properly drafted appeal.

If a business is not using Google for reviews, an alarm bell should ring. Why would a business pay for a reviews solution when Google holds all the aces and is free?

So - to answer the question posed in the title of this article 'The end for review sites?' - our answer is 'the ones with significant financial backing will limp on, but as businesses become more and more aware of the contents of this article, the current crop of review sites will all fade away unless they can find a way to comply with the law and compete with Google. And that is going to be an uphill struggle of some proportions.

Our advice

In a sentence: 'Don't hitch your business's future reputation to a solution that manifestly doesn't deliver.'

Our advice has not wavered since the beginning of the last decade:

1. Focus on Google
2. Employ a review manager - like HelpHound - to moderate your reviews and enable you to publish them on your website
3. Then get as many of those who write reviews to your website to copy them to Google - and any other locations that matter (Facebook and/or Instagram perhaps)

Simple. Long-lasting. Inexpensive (just ask!). Most of all: effective.

Reviews - a guide for consumers

Some businesspeople reading this may wonder what an article directed at their customers is doing here. The answer is pretty straightforward: to understand how review management works in any depth it is vitally important to understand how consumers view and interact with reviews. It is also sometimes useful to have a ready response to the question 'Why should I do as you ask [and post a review to your website/Google]?'. 

To begin with, let us take a brief look at the evolution of online reviews. In the days before the web consumers had three main resources when it came to identifying the right service or product for their needs:

• prior experience of the business or product in question
• word of mouth: friends, neighbours, or colleagues who had previous experience of the business or product in question
• 'professional' reviews published in the media

And one smaller one:

• the 'Which?' organisation - with, currently, half-a-million subscribers

This all changed with the advent of what generally became known as Web 2.0. Web 2.0 was the nickname given to the interactive web, led by forums and evolving into social media - where the web moved from enabling businesses to simply offer their wares and services to consumers interacting with those businesses through their websites and other sites independent of the businesses.

Early examples

One obvious example, known to us all, is TripAdvisor. Founded as an online travel agency pure-and-simple, TripAdvisor stumbled upon the power of reviews almost by accident: here's TripAdvisor's founder, Steve Kaufer, in a BBC interview back in 2014...

"We started as a site where we were focused more on those official words from guidebooks or newspapers or magazines. We also had a button in the very beginning that said, 'Visitors add your own review', and boy, did that just take off."

Even more review-focussed from day one was Angie's List. Founded pre-web as a simple list of local building contractors, its evolution into a sort of Which? for US consumers - with about the same market penetration - has been driven by reviews attached to each listing.

Then came the first of the all-encompassing - in theory at least - sites: Yelp! Yelp aimed to be a one-stop site for consumers requiring peer reviews of businesses. 

All three had their drawbacks:

• TripAdvisor was, by its very nature, restricted to hospitality businesses and to this very day is dogged by accusations that it is far too easily gamed by interested parties: the businesses bigging up their own listings and their competitors doing their very best to knock them down.

• Angie's List began as a subscription-only service - like Which? - at a time when one of the key buzzwords on the web was 'make content free'. As a result it tends to gain subscribers when they are in 'spending mode', specifically around home moves, and lose them when that need declines.

• Yelp! has never managed to square its business model with its conflicting stakeholders' (and shareholders') needs. It sells uplifted listings and CPI advertising which is distinctly unpopular with major brands and some of its core target audience - SMEs and their customers. The SMEs resent paying to appear in search and consumers resent what they see as paid-for shills heading their results.

Product reviews

While all this US activity had centred mainly around service businesses, from hotels to pizza parlours, in 2007 a Danish entrepreneur noticed a gap in the market: product reviews. Along came...

• Trustpilot: predicated on the idea that consumers are far more likely to buy a product, whether that be a shirt or a washing machine, that is highly-rated by their peers. A free alternative to Which? if you will (but hosting consumer, rather than expert, opinions).

So what now?

You can see there is now - at least there was back in 2015 - a website catering for every consumer need for reviews. And that, in itself, was, besides being a solution, a part of the emerging problem: consumers - and businesses - were beginning to be confused by the variety of review solutions out there. Which to use when? Look at travel and hospitality alone:

• Tripadvisor
• Trivago
• Booking.com
• Expedia
• Hotels.com
• Orbitz
• Travelocity
• Kayak
• Hotels combined

Just examining the pros and cons of one of these would take up a whole article - and often has (see 'Further reading' below)!

But then, thankfully for all concerned, along came a business with the reach and the resources to cover virtually the whole spectrum, and for free. And the name of that 'Johnnie come lately'? Google.

Google enters the reviews sphere

Google, as is its habit, tiptoed into the world of reviews, first via the now-defunct Google Places and then Google Maps. When they were confident they had their offering right they brought it right forward into the prominent place in all Google searches it maintains to this day.

What did Google get so right?

1.  By its very nature: coverage. There isn't a business in the free world that isn't listed on Google. Google hosts reviews of all businesses. Near you. Or anywhere on earth.

2.  Visibility: Google is the gatekeeper. Everyone has to go through Google, so everyone sees Google reviews. Back in 2017 Rightmove conducted a survey on behalf of estate agents and asked respondents about reviews, here is the result...

'Where reviews were read, most (42%) were on Google, followed by agents’ own website (36%), Trustpilot (11%), allAgents (6%) and Feefo (2%).' 

..and we're betting the Google figure would be far higher if they conducted the same survey again today.  

3.  Credibility: one of the main stumbling blocks of other reviews sites is the ability - for businesses and consumers alike - to be confident that their reviews are being written by genuine customers of the business concerned. Google has a huge advantage here, and one it is yet to make real capital of, it knows where the reviewer has been, what they have searched for and, almost always, who they work for, as well as a plethora of other information. 

 

Google reviews, for that reason alone, invariably win for credibility. They can be trusted - and they are. That doesn't mean that there are not some very 'wrong' Google reviews out there (see 'Moderation' under 'Further reading' at the bottom of this article), but it does mean that Google knows who wrote them.

 4.  Product reviews? Google have those covered too: for free (sorry, Trustpilot)

Now some 'tricks of the trade'

With reviews now being so critical for businesses (the Harvard Business Review has conducted extensive research directly correlating business flows with review scores), you will not be surprised to hear that some businesses will go to extreme lengths to ensure they look good. Here we will outline some of the most common wheezes - when we say 'wheezes' we are being polite, what we actually mean is 'deception' and 'illegality' - and show you how to spot them.

• Cherry-picking: the business only asks customers who it knows will rate them five stars to post reviews. It is illegal but very common. How to spot? The only sure-fire way is to either become a customer and see if you get asked to post a review or ask someone else who has used the business if they were asked. Ex-employees often give the game away and the CMA, in the UK, have the power to sequester emails to see if all customers have been invited. Just ask to write a review; if the business says anything along the lines of 'You have to wait until...' or 'You cannot unless...' alarm bells should ring.

Another cherry-picking giveaway is the pattern of the business's reviews. Does it reflect the volume you would expect? Or is it 'lumpy' - many reviews one month and none the next.

• Gating: a sophisticated version of cherry-picking, against the law in the UK and Google's own terms of service. It involves inviting customers, sometimes every customer, to either write a review to a little-known site or complete a 'customer survey'. The business then only invites those who have indicated complete satisfaction to go on to write a Google review. If Google sees it happening they will delete all of the business in question's reviews, unilaterally, without giving the business recourse to appeal - despite this we see it happening often. How to tell? A major disparity in the business's score on the reviews site of their choice and Google (review site low, Google high) and significantly higher volume of reviews to the reviews site than to Google.

• Controlling the timing: where the business sends out the invitation to write the review at the most favourable time for getting a positive response, commonly done by online retailers within a week of purchase; that action is not, of itself, illegal unless the customer is then unable to return to write a further review at a later date (or modify their original review, which is the case with Google). One high-profile UK review site operates in this way. With Google the reviewer can edit their review at any time and as often as they like. How to spot? Simply ask the business where you can write a review - now. If the answer is 'I'm afraid you will have to wait until we invite you' head for the hills.

So: our advice to consumers

Maybe worth spending a few minutes reading the actual reviews of the businesses - estate agent (£2,780), conveyancing solicitor (£1,046), removals firm (£1,181), mortgage broker (£450) - you're considering using?

Use Google. When you are considering using any business whatsoever, but especially high-value service businesses where a wrong choice could cost you thousands - financial and legal services, medical and health services, estate agency and the like. 

Read the actual reviews themselves. So many consumers see a headline score - after all 4 out of 5 is OK, isn't it? NO! 4 out of 5 means that twenty percent of that business's customers rate the business 1 out of 5, and, given that you cannot rate a business less than one..!

Question the business about its negative reviews. Read its responses to those reviews.

If the business has few - or even no - Google reviews, ask them why.

Be especially sceptical of any business that uses any other review mechanism. Ask them why they use [Trustpilot/Yelp/Feefo...]. And ask them why they do not use Google - it's free, after all, and they will be paying the others.

Isn't this all a bit long-winded?

Yes - if you're buying a pizza. But not if you're choosing an oncologist or an estate agent. where the former may be a case of life and death and where you will be paying tens of thousands in fees to the latter.

Where does HelpHound fit into this scheme of things?

A typical HelpHound client's homepage: the 'Write a review' button at top right enables anyone - anyone at all - to write a review whenever they choose to do so, the button to its left enables anyone wishing to read all of the business's reviews to do so, instantly. This gives the business's reviews credibility which, when combined with the ensuing automatic invitation to copy the review to Google, is as absolute as can possibly be. We can confidently - and proudly - say there is no superior solution to reviews in the third decade of the 21st century than this.

HelpHound began life as a review site, but we soon realised that we could add far more value, for both businesses and consumers, if we became an intermediary; providing advice and moderation to businesses and the ensuing really high-quality reviews for consumers.

This meant that we were ideally placed when Google entered the marketplace: we could recommend Google reviews wholeheartedly to our business customers while they learned very quickly to value our service as moderators. All our business clients' invite the reviews you see displayed on their website using our software - and this enables our moderators to check every review for factual inaccuracies and potentially misleading comments pre-publication. 

This service is vital if reviews are to add value for both business and consumer. And we are happy to say it has proved itself and continues to prove itself day-by-day. As a consumer, you can be sure that a HelpHound's client's reviews - whether on their own website or on Google - are a true reflection of the business you are considering.

Further reading...

1. Moderation - the vital ingredient in professional review management
2. Trustpilot - taking the 'trust' out of reviews? and criticism from the Times analysed
3. Independent review sites - the unintended consequences for a business's Google rating
4. Compliance: the CMA regulations and the law
5. Yelp! - the largest review site on the planet departs the UK and the EU
6. Gating - the Google ban and the consequences of flouting it
7. Cherry-picking - some examples and more advice

Taking the trust out of Trustpilot?

No wonder review management is such big business

As all our clients know, HelpHound acts as a kind of 'broker' where reviews and review management are concerned. Our concern is to find the correct solution for their long-term review needs. In this context, we are sometimes asked 'why not Trustpilot?'

But before we answer, we ask 'what are your objectives with reviews?' The answer invariably, and quite correctly, is 'to use the power of our customers' opinions to drive more business'. HelpHound's primary role is to advise on the solution most likely to drive more business.

In this context, there are secondary but still very important considerations:

1. is the solution proposed the very best for our client's business?
2. Is the solution proposed trusted by consumers?
3. Is the solution proposed compliant with UK law (and Google's terms of service)?
4. Is the solution proposed liable to attack by our client's competitors?
5. Is the solution proposed able to be manipulated by the business (this, of course, goes to points one and two as well)?

One by one...

1.  The very best for our client's business?

There are two places all your potential customers look: Google and - providing you look impressive there - your website. So you need Google reviews and reviews on your website. Google reviews are free and they provide a free widget to embed those on your website, so, before you start paying anyone else you are going to need some powerful reasons not to use Google.

The main disadvantage of this 'free' solution is its inherent lack of moderation - you won't be able to stop inaccurate and potentially misleading, never mind downright unfair - or even, dare we say it, fake - reviews appearing. Bad enough on Google, worse when you're importing them onto your own website as well (fear not, there is a solution for this - read on).

2.  Trusted by consumers?

There's no arguing that Google is known by just about every consumer in the free world, and that gives it a head start in the 'trust' stakes. There are the occasional rumbles in the press about people gaming Google reviews and posting fake positive reviews of their own businesses and fake negative reviews of their competitors' but these, in our extensive experience, are rare. So Google gets an A-minus for trust.

The other review sites? They start at a distinct disadvantage, simply because they are reliant on the businesses to pay them - and that makes consumers sceptical, to say the least.

A good first step is to look at their Google reviews:

Just 9 out of 79 are positive and many appear to written by unhappy business customers, and as far as we can tell four of those are from reviewers who have mistakenly rated a Trustpilot client. And then there's this 5* one:

3.  Compliant with UK law?

UK law - the CMA regulations - say that if a business invites reviews - any reviews at all, as opposed to just being passive (a business cannot stop reviews being posted to Google, for instance) - it must allow all of its customers to post a review. It also states that the customer must be allowed to write their review at a time of their own choosing. 

Trustpilot appears to comply with these until you mine down into the relationship it has with its paying businesses. One of the 'benefits' Trustpilot allows client businesses is the facility to challenge any review - they call it 'quarantine'. A challenged review shows up like this...

...and if the reviewer cannot - or is unwilling to - or just plain cannot be bothered to - provide 'proof of purchase', the review disappears. This places the onus fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the consumer (who has to respond if their review is to remain) - against both the letter and spirit of the CMA regulations.

With Google, the onus is on the business to prove the reviewer categorically wrong as well as in breach of Google's terms of service, otherwise the review stands.

4.  Liable to attack by the business's competitors

What is the point of adopting a review management system that hands your competitors a stick to beat you with? You must be able to stand behind whatever system you adopt and to do this you must be able to say...

• 'anyone can write a review to our website at any time'
• 'all who do so are invited to copy their review to Google'

If your competitors can show that your review management solution is demonstrably skewed towards showing your business in a good light you have wasted time, effort and resources. Worse still, you have damaged your business's reputation in the marketplace.

5.  Able to be manipulated (against the consumers' best interests)?

For any review system to work compliantly two things need to be in place:

• a trustworthy external review management platform
• a business committed to dealing with that platform in a trustworthy manner

It is simply not good enough for the review platform - in this case, Trustpilot - to rent out their software to any business on the planet without having some form of audit and sanction mechanism to ensure that the business does not manipulate the results in its favour. 

There is a massive difference - in the impact on a prospective customer's thinking - between a negative review of an online retailer like this...

And a review of a service business like this...

Trustpilot's system probably works for online retail, where the volume is extremely high - sometimes thousands of transactions a day, but when it is applied to high-value low-transaction service businesses such as the professions (medical, legal, financial, property) where a single negative review can literally stop the phones ringing (see 'Jenny's' review of Intercounty, above), it is demonstrably found wanting.

It is just too easy for the business to flout the CMA regulations. By only inviting customers it knows are likely to write positive reviews and to use gating mechanisms (customer surveys etc.).

On the review sites themselves?

You have already seen what reviewers on Google think of Trustpilot,. Here's what 1,223 reviewers on Reviews.io think of them...

And, to be fair, here's what 189 reviewers on Trustpilot think of Trustpilots's main UK competitor, Feefo...

And even Trustpilot reviewers on Trustpilot...

...where twenty percent - over 15,000 reviews - rate Trustpilot 'Poor' or 'Bad'.

We suppose, to be fair, we should include Trustpilot's reviews of Reviews.io...

We heartily recommend you read the actual reviews, some of which are patently mistaken or misguided but many of which are obviously written by business owners that have first-hand experience of the service they have been paying for.

• Reviews.io on Trustpilot
• Feefo on Trustpilot
• Trustpilot on Trustpilot

Our advice

Take no short cuts - and plan for the long term. If your business provides a service, as opposed to selling products - then ignore Trustpilot, Feefo, Yelp and the rest - commit to Google. 

If your reputation matters, and this covers...

• your Google score
• your individual Google reviews

 - and that almost certainly applies to any professional business - then adopt a professional review manager. They will provide...

• software - in the form of an API preferably - to enable you to invite and display reviews on your own site and automatically invite those reviewers to copy their reviews to Google
• moderation - the facility whereby inaccurate and potentially misleading reviews and/or content can be corrected by the reviewer pre-publication
• compliance advice - the best reviews in the world are of no use if your procedures are not compliant

Proper professional review management - paying for itself over and over again.

Further reading...

This writer of this article has studied 9 million reviews left for over 198,000 businesses. He also uncovered this interesting memo...