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!

New from Google - your own Dashboard

Today your business received an email* like this from Google...

 *to the registered user on your Google My Business account. 

...and one click away is this...

...which contains all your Google housekeeping in one place. Need to change your office hours? Click top left. Need to create a new Google Post? Bottom left. But most important of all, from our point-of-view: responding to reviews at top right.

After all, this looks good...

...but this says so much more... 

We always advise clients to respond to every review they receive. It not only impresses potential customers in myriad ways (you care, you look professional, you look as if you understand modern marketing) it also gives you a great opportunity to highlight aspects of your products or services as well as giving fair warning to anyone tempted to unfairly criticise (that they will be challenged).

Local Heroes? Maybe there is a better solution?

Many of your will have come across Local Heroes (they have a big campaign on TV at the moment). The business model is simple - the tradesmen sign up to local heroes and Local Heroes give them leads, for which they deduct 20% from the invoice they send on the tradespeople's behalf.

An alternative?

Take just a fraction of that 20% and get your business looking like this on its own website...

Like this on Google...

Note the search term used here is not their business name, but the kind of search anyone living in Sussex might be reasonably expected to use - and it returns our client's Knowledge Panel!

...with reviews like these...

And this on Facebook...

...with reviews like these...

Our conclusion?

We think that tradespeople would be well advised to take a leaf out of Sussex Oven Cleaning's book and get professional review management working for them before contemplating giving away twenty per cent of their earnings.

Coming soon - Small Thanks with Google

Already released in the US, Small Thanks will undoubtedly be released for UK businesses imminently.

'Small Thanks' is a way of formatting and printing reviews for display, like this...

with many options...

...but don't feel the need to wait for Google - there's nothing stopping you using reviews in your POS displays, advertising and print media now!

A plea to Google...

Please use the reviewer's name in full, it carries so much more weight then an abbreviated 'Mrs P.'

How your customers see your reviews scores

  And you can be sure they will be influenced by your score

But first - how businesses see their reviews scores...

• 5.0 - too good to be true

• 4 - 4.9 - great

• 3 - 3.9 - OK

• 2 - 2.9 - best not look anymore

• 1 - 1.9 - reviews? What reviews?

Now - how consumers see review scores...

• 5.0 - brilliant - just what I need, I must use them!

• 4.8 - 4.9 - good enough that I won't need to check on their negative reviews before at least contacting them (but I will check them before parting with any cash)

• 4.5 - 4.7 - good, but I had better check what the negative reviews say about them, just in case

• 4.0 - 4.4 - I'll consider using them if there is no alternative and I have a pressing need for the product/service they provide

• 3.9 or less - really? There are businesses out there with scores of less than 4.0 that are still trading? Who is using them?

But seriously... 

  Yes, that's 74% of your potential customers reading between two and ten reviews before making contact - and if you have a negative review, or a score that's less than impressive, you can be sure they will be reading any negative reviews

Yes, seriously, this is how consumers use reviews scores - as a filter. And if they want to, in mobile search Google will automatically filter any business that scores less than 4.0 at the click of a button.

If you disagree with this assertion we strongly recommend that you get a handful of colleagues and/or friends together and ask them - and read this article (it has a great infographic, and, considering its nearly two years old, and the rate of growth in Google reviews since then has been exponential, you can probably revise all the figures upwards by at least 10%).

The only reason any business would choose a reviews site?

Because they had not heard of HelpHound!

No - seriously - that's what we hear from so many businesses when we first meet. Why?

Because HelpHound's solution to reviews - review management - wins hands down over committing your business to a single reviews site.

How?

We are guessing that you are considering a reviews solution for your business for one or more of the following reasons...

1. you would like your reviews visible in search - desktop and mobile
2. you would like independently verified reviews to show on your own website
3. you would like a star rating alongside your listing in organic search
4. you would like the score from your reviews to show in organic search
5. you would like a link to your reviews under 'Reviews from the web' in your Google knowledge panel
6. you would like great Google reviews

...all in order to drive more business.

So let's look at these six - an independent site will deliver on 1, 2, 3 (sometimes), 4 (sometimes), 5 (sometimes), but not 6. How important is 6 to your business?

We would suggest that 6 is the most important of all. Not showing in Google reviews is to miss the biggest opportunity of them all - and, not only that, it is to beg the question 'Why not Google?'

You want to look like this...

 Score and star rating in natural search (top left), 'Reviews from the web' in your Google knowledge panel (centre right), Google reviews and score (top right), Google rich snippets (bottom right)

And this...

  

prominent (some might say 'dominant') in local search - both in the google 3-pack and in organic search (first below the 3-pack)

And with the following considerations in mind...

• you want to comply with the CMA regulations
• you want a solution that will last for the foreseeable future 
• you want someone who will cover the whole market and advise you on exactly what changes in strategy you should be implementing in the future

Let's take these one-by-one...

A compliant solution

The CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) regulations have the force of law in the UK. Most businesses are unaware of these when we first meet - and are surprised when we tell them that most independent reviews solutions are non-compliant. They are even more surprised when we tell them that the onus is on the business to comply with the regulations - and that these regulations specifically stipulate that whatever solution the business chooses it must allow anyone to post a review at any time. 

A solution that leaves the invitation and the time of sending that invitation in the hands of the business is non-compliant, similarly a system that in any way denies a reviewer the right to have their review posted is non-compliant (evidence of purchase, for instance, should not be required).

A lasting solution

We have lost count of the times the flavour-of-the-month review site has changed. In estate agency alone we have seen the likes of ReviewCentre, allAgents, RaterAgent, Feefo, Trustpilot and now GetAgent. It's the same story from hotels to accountants. Just imagine how frustrated UK clients of Yelp must have been when they pulled out of the UK market last year? They all had to start all over again.

The one solution we know will last (barring some seismic event that none of us can foresee) is Google, so why commit to any other? If that seismic even does happen - then HelpHound will be here to advise!

A comprehensive solution

HelpHound are review managers - and part of that means understanding (and staying up-to-date with) all the various solutions out there in the marketplace, including developments at Google (who was first to tell the world about the introduction of the Google filter? ).

On top of that, and importantly, with HelpHound you, the business, retain ownership of your customers' reviews. So you can deploy them wherever they will be most effective, now, and in the future.


Further reading:

• the CMA regulations
• the future of reviews
• visits up 27% - within weeks of going live

Not yet engaged with Google reviews? Here's what will happen...

Still - in 2017 - we meet businesses that have not engaged with Google reviews. Why?

For a variety of reasons, but three main ones which we will explore here, along with their consequences...


1.  Denial - 'We don't see the need to'
   

It took years for Google reviews to gain traction - and during that time some businesses were lulled into thinking they did not/would not matter. But now they do - and how.  

Consequences:

• unhappy consumers write reviews - in rapidly growing numbers. Just look at these three businesses that had just six Google reviews between them two years ago...

 

• competitors that do find a way to engage will succeed, at the expense of those businesses that do not...

  Three clients of ours that had less than a dozen Google reviews between them when they joined

Answer: Engage with reviews, on Google and on your own website - with HelpHound's advice and support


2.  Fear - 'We are afraid to ask our customers to write reviews'*

HelpHound - and professional review management - will help you overcome the fear - we promise!

Completely understandable. What business would willingly risk its reputation? How can a business know, or at least be as confident as possible, that its customers will not write inaccurate or misleading reviews?

*there is a subset here: businesses that genuinely don't provide a good service or value for money - the kind we see every week on BBC's Watchdog - and thank goodness for Google reviews in their case. Three years ago they would have got away with it, now there's a good likelihood that a significant number of their customers will find their way to Google and write a review there. The rule for consumers in the second decade of the 21st century? Don't use a business that has no reviews on Google - and be wary of businesses that promote their reputations on independent reviews sites instead.



Consequences:

• unhappy customers will write reviews - in rapidly growing numbers. See the examples under 'We don't need to' above.
• competitors that do engage will succeed, by having significant numbers of great reviews, in absolute terms and relative to their competitors - reviews win business
• your business will stand out - but not in a good way (especially when Google begins to rank business by review score in search)

Answer: overcome the fear - engage, with HelpHound


3.  Reviews sites - 'We reckon we have it covered already' 

 The web has evolved so fast - look at all these review sites (and they are only the tip of the iceberg) - all supplanted in recent years by Google

Businesses that have committed to independent reviews sites over the last few years suddenly realise they have the wrong solution - Google is all.

Consequences:

• consumers won't see your reviews, relatively speaking - just compare the visibility of Google reviews and reviews from any independent site, from the world's biggest like Yelp and TripAdvisor to the relative minnows like TrustPilot and Feefo - and credibility? - there's no contest
• consumers will question why you have reviews on an independent site (if they see them) - why wouldn't you have them on Google?

Answer: get on board with a solution that is credible and future-proof: HelpHound - oh, and if an independent reviews site pitches for your business ask them the following questions...

• will my reviews show under my listing in organic search?
• will my reviews show in 'Reviews from the web'
• do you have a CMA compliant* system that minimises the chances that an inaccurate or misleading review will be posted?
• do I own my own reviews?
• can a customer post a review of my business at a time of their choosing?
• why should I choose to get my customers' reviews to your site and not Google?

 *it continues to amaze us that there remain reviews sites out there in the marketplace whose systems fly in the face of the Competition & Markets Authority's rules. If are unfamiliar with these we recommend you spend ten minutes reading this article - compliance is the individual business's responsibility and has the force of law.


Further reading:

• Resolution™ 'Taking the fear our of Reviews' - the system built in to HelpHound, protecting businesses and consumers from misleading and inaccurate reviews - and 'the Fear Factor' - more on overcoming the understandable reluctance to ask consumers for reviews
• 'Doctors: what happens if you ignore Google reviews?' - a salutary case-history for any business that has yet to engage with Google reviews
• 'The Red Carnation Story' - how one business showed the way by deciding to embrace reviews
• 'Visits up 27% thanks to HelpHound' - the immediate impact of professional review management