Respond to reviews - there's so much to gain for so little effort

Is yours one of the 92% of businesses that do not currently respond to online reviews? Read on...

In few areas of review management are so many benefits achieved for so little effort. And some of those benefits are not immediately obvious. Here we show you just what we mean, but first, let's look at how your potential customers consume reviews in the first place.

Consumers read reviews - a lot!

And the more serious the nature of the transaction or purchase, the more certain they are to read those reviews. That means that reviews of professional services: legal, financial, medical, and big-ticket: the likes of estate agency, for instance, where the consumer knows the wrong choice may cost them thousands, if not tens of thousands are far more likely to be read than reviews of everyday purchases.

Consumers trust reviews

It still comes as a surprise to some, but every survey ever conducted reinforces the contention that a good Google score - 4.5 upwards - and great quality reviews - not just the 'Great business' soundbite ones - drive business because they are trusted by a significant proportion of consumers.

Consumers read GOOGLE reviews

Google serves its own reviews in every search. We would go so far as to say that if Google reviews had existed when the likes of Yelp and Trustpilot began they would have given up and found something else to do.

Google reviews are also a major ingredient in local search SEO: your Google reviews count towards your search ranking. Google reviews should be the first priority in every business's review management strategy.

Checking the 'worst' first

This little tab is clicked by everyone who reads reviews on Google

It's basic human nature. You know you do it, and so does everyone looking at your business. So let's look at two real-world examples - both taken from Google - one for a client business one from one that's not. The non-client first:

Then our client:

And not just the negative reviews (another HelpHound client): 

 
And now: the lessons...

1. The simple act of responding to the review will impress anyone reading it; people naturally gravitate towards businesses that communicate
2. The responses have been written with the certain knowledge that many more people than just the writer of the review will be reading it firmly in mind
3. The Google review box is a fixed height - as shown in these screenshots - in the first example three - nearly four - one-star reviews show. In the second, only one, thanks in part to the space taken up by the business's response
4. The simple act of responding to the review sends out a very powerful message to subsequent reviewers: that their review will be responded to. This keeps future reviewers genuine and will give those tempted to 'have a rant' serious pause for thought
5. By being a HelpHound member the business has the moral high ground; not only can it say [words to the effect that] 'Why didn't you contact us before posting this review?' but also 'You were invited to write a review directly to us but declined our invitation.'

All of the above add up to a message that will seriously impress a prospective customer. Think of it from their point-of-view, do they want to use a business that ignores reviews, or one that:

• invites reviews - from all their customers?
• publishes them on their own website and gets them to Google?
• engages with their reviewers if they raise any issues?
• responds to those reviews?

By now we expect we are all on the same page. Responding to reviews should not be seen as a chore any more than responding to a client email - it should be part-and-parcel of any modern business's standard operating practices.

Note: If you would like a copy of our memo 'How to respond to a Google review' which deals with the mechanics, please just call us.

How seriously do some businesses take their reputations? And what solutions do they employ?

This article was prompted by this photo taken through a business's shop window by one of our staffers on their way home from work one night last week...

It raised a whole load of questions, as you can probably imagine, but the one we are mostly interested in here is the one in the headline. 

So what does this business look like online?

First Google...

 

And against their competitors?

Then the first review site they are paying to belong to...

Then the next...

So, the above begs the question: why not concentrate on the obvious solution? The most effective and the least expensive as well? Certsainly the one most seen by their prospective customers. Not only that but the one that will see them safely through the medium and long term?

Let's just run through the number of solutions that have been available for businesses over the last ten years;

• Yelp: the big daddy of all review sites, launched in the UK to huge fanfare - and had their London HQ opened by the Duke of York! - gone from these shores in 2016.

• RaterAgent:  a niche website adopted by many estate agents - did a reasonable job until its demise in 2018. 

• AllAgents: another estate agent-specific review site with an intriguing business model. Try contacting their office if you consider your business has been the victim of an unfair review.

• Reviews.io: maybe read their reviews on Trustpilot (and vice versa)?

• Feefo: A review site specialising in online retail. Great where shirts and socks - online retail - are concerned. Moved into the service/professional business market in mid-decade, possibly because it was faced with the enormous financial clout of Trustpilot in its existing marketplace. But sites that allow the business to dictate who is allowed to post reviews are illegal in the UK. It's the same regarding timing.

• Trustpilot: why would a business display - and pay for - Trustpilot's green stars when they can display Google's gold ones for free? 

• And the aggregators, such as Reputation.com? Again - great for products, but far too high risk for professional service businesses where a single misconceived review can stop the phone ringing

So, to answer the question posed: at HelpHound we focus our clients' efforts on Google. Why?

• Because it has more visibility than any other solution - every single consumer sees a business's Google reviews, every time they search

• Because it has more credibility than any other solution - everyone knows Google

• Because it will dominate for the foreseeable future

• Because its reviews are trusted by consumers more than any other solution

• Because it's free!

And we at HelpHound add three vital ingredients to this winning mix:

• Reviews on the business's own site: not reviews from a third-party reviews site who will take them away the minute the business stops paying - the business's own reviews

• Moderation: nice to have for businesses selling products (who wants to publish - or read - misinformation?) but critical for service businesses where a single misinformed or factually inaccurate review can do really significant harm to business flows

• Advice: ongoing, unbiased professional advice. A solution is right for a client of ours? We'll recommend it. Google change their review algorithm? The law changes? Our clients will be amongst the first to know. If you have any doubt about the latter contention feel free to interrogate this blog!

And for those whose web designers are up to scratch: stars in competitive search as well:

No prizes for guessing which of these is our client.

Further reading...

• Reviews websites reviewed - some worrying results

Can consumers trust review sites (2)?

This story was run by most of the media last weekend:

Here's the link to the Times' report (here's the Mail as well)

So we looked up the review providers for both companies - which happened to be the same (Trustpilot) - and what did we see?

This:

And this:

On the face of it, at least from the headline scores, not so bad: most consumers check the overall score, in this case: 4.0 out of 5 for both. The key here is just that: that consumers have been proven to trust businesses that score 4 out of 5 (see 'How misleading are review scores?'). But is that a true reflection of the reality of customers' experience with these two companies? The press headlines would suggest there's more, so let's mine down further:

'Great'?

Seriously, Trustpilot? Both companies leave twenty percent of their customers, who are buying seriously big-ticket items - replacement windows and doors - so unhappy that they rate them 'poor' or 'bad'? That makes a business 'great' in Trustpilot's eyes?

Now we do what we advise all consumers to do (and where we advise all our clients to focus their efforts): look at the business's Google reviews (and scores!).

Only two example locations, but trust us, we looked at plenty and these are representative

So we have one simple question for Trustpilot and all their fellow review sites:

How do you add value for the consumer when compared to Google reviews?

Because if you cannot come up with a meaningful answer, and we surely cannot, you shouldn't be in the business of providing a service that would, on the face of all the evidence (see articles passim on the blog) benefit the business to the detriment of the consumer.

Here is a review site that claims to add value for consumers: Feefo.

But here is the same business on Google:

And Feefo's 'added value'? They only publish reviews where the reviewer has been emailed by the business and specifically invited to post a review. The added value is intended to be in the reassurance that the person writing the review is identifiably a customer of the business. But there are major flaws in this system.

1.  The business has control of the invitation, and it is just too easy for the business to 'forget' to email its identifiably unhappy customers.

2.  The business has control over the timing of the invitation. 

3.  Besides offering the business an opportunity to invite the review when the customer is at their happiest (usually just after delivery of the service or product) this method is illegal in the UK (see more here).

Google's added value?

1. It is seen by every single prospective customer, every time they search
2. It's trusted by consumers (by comparison with most review sites it's difficult to game)
3. It's free!

So: our question for all three parties: the businesses, the review sites and the regulators (the CMA in the UK): 

When are you going to stop using mechanisms that are open to abuse and self-evidently benefit the business and not the consumer?

If any of these parties, or indeed any of our readers, have answers, comments or suggestions please comment below.

 

How misleading are review scores?

Courier services are ubiquitous these days, and we all - as consumers - have our own horror stories, but what about the businesses that rely on these services for their lifeblood? How do they choose which to use? There are myriad ways, just as there are for any business service, from personal recommendation to responding to marketing. But these days people would be well advised to include reviews in the mix.

This courier company has a Trustpilot score of 4.2. And we're guessing most readers are already thinking 'that's OK'. Even Trustpilot calls it 'Great'. Well, here we explain why it's not. Not OK. And definitely not great. First, let's look at the numbers.

They have 785,645 reviews. Of those reviews, 15 percent (117,941) rate the business at the lowest possible - one star. Those ratings invariably mean a parcel or other shipment lost or damaged beyond repair, helpfully summed up by this, their most recent one-star review:

In addition, many reviews refer to the difficulty customers have with Hermes 'customer services':

So what Trustpilot actually reveals is a business...

• that loses or damages nearly one in six of all deliveries
• that is very bad at customer communications

And this, in turn, often leads to a potential customer doing even more research, and maybe coming across videos such as this...

Lessons...

For Hermes:

1. If you are happy with a business model that fails for one in six of your customers, carry on
2. If not, address the systemic issues raised in these reviews
3. Respond to your reviews - after all, it's Hermes that's inviting them in the first place
4. At this rate (assuming 29,000 self-employed couriers delivering 80 parcels a day each = over 2 million deliveries a day, with 15% going wrong = over a quarter of a million botched deliveries) soon no-one will be using your service unless they have no alternative!

For the consumer:

1. Don't rely on headline scores alone when choosing a business
2. Read reviews, both positive and negative
3. Read the business's response to those reviews
4. When you decide which business to use challenge them on the points raised in their negative reviews (and their responses)

You don't need to leave reviews out of your marketing mix

Stockbroker and wealth manager Charles Stanley has invested heavily in a multi-media marketing and advertising campaign it is calling 'Conversation Starters'.

Anyone who has been out and about in London over the past months will have seen:

And...

They also have a Google PPC campaign running, so appearing - and looking good - in Google searches is important for them:

They conduct customer surveys, and the results are great, and those findings are harnessed  for use in social media campaigns:

So what? Now let's look at the consumer journey - potential investor, in this instance - once their appetite has been well and truly whetted by everything your see above:

The initial search...

...shows the business scoring 4.0 out of 5 with one review. Maybe that review will be helpful?

...not really! And the story is the same for their twenty-two locations across the UK.

Now, we are guessing that Charles Stanley would address this 'Google reviews deficit' if it found the right mechanism, given that achieving critical mass with Google reviews is proven to drive so many clicks and calls. It certainly has a fertile field to plough with over 800 staff and many thousands of clients, so what do we suppose is stopping it currently?

Professional businesses, whether they be in the medical, legal or financial world (or any other service - as opposed to product - arena; estate agency, architecture and so on) need a mechanism that levels the playing field between their customer (client/patient etc.) and their business, otherwise they will be putting their hard-won reputations on the line.

And Charles Stanley is certainly not alone; here are screenshots of the Google review panels of five significant wealth management businesses, all Google PPC advertisers, that are seen by everyone who searches:

The solution

As ever - with apologies to our regular readers - the solution revolves around moderation (for a definition see here). Let's look first at the aspects of reviews - especially Google reviews - that give businesses like Charles Stanley warranted cause for concern:

1. that consumers - clients or IFAs in this instance - will write factually inaccurate reviews
2. that they may write misleading reviews - reviews where the facts are not in dispute but the general thrust of the review is open to misinterpretation
3. that dissatisfied clients will write disproportionately more reviews than happy clients
4. that the business will have no chance to correspond with the reviewer and correct errors of fact pre-publication
5. that the critical business/client personal relationship will be undermined

One by one...

1.  This does happen, and is always picked up in moderation of the review is written through HelpHound. We act as a mediator between the reviewer and the reviewed business. Reviewers welcome this part of our service as much as businesses - unsurprisingly, when you think about it: few reviewers actively want to publish inaccurate or misleading statements about a business.

2.  Ditto point 1. above. And that includes ensuring that the English is comprehensible.

3.  Only the case if either a) the business is inept at customer relationship management (CRM) or b) the business is not proactive in inviting reviews from its clients. Part of HelpHound's role is to ensure that the business and its staff are confident in inviting reviews from their customers.

4.  This is part of HelpHound's core offering: the ability to do just this. The quality - in terms of helpfulness to subsequent readers of the individual reviews - is paramount. 

5.  Extensive experience has shown that professional review management reinforces a business's CRM, not the other way around. It acts as a great marketing tool on the one hand and a valuable early warning of customer dissatisfaction on the other.

Just compare the search results above with those from any HelpHound client, and we're sure you will see what we mean. Looking good on Google - in terms of reviews - is massively reassuring for those making one of the biggest financial decisions of their life, whether that be investing capital or buying property.

The reviews themselves...

And the not inconsiderable contribution to the business leading local search:

So: HelpHound gives service businesses and the professions a safe and secure way of engaging with reviews. With a host of advantages (see 'Further reading' below) but with the objective of driving more business through search and the business's own website always at the core of everything we do:

This is the Google My Business monthly report for just one branch of a client business, for the month after full implementation of our service, showing the 'HelpHound effect'. Imagine what these numbers could do for your business.

Further reading:

• 'Visits up 27 percent thanks to HelpHound': a typical case history
• 'ABC of reviews - Our pitch to you': a full explanation and guide

Reviews are vital if you want to rank in search

We make no apologies for banging this drum again. Not only are reviews - those hosted on your own website and Google reviews - valued by your potential customers (88% of whom rate them as highly as a personal recommendation) but they are valued as much as any other factor by Google when determining your business's position - rank - in search.

Look at this typical search - the one all your potential customers make (this is an estate agent, but it could just as well be any other professional or service business):

Now look at the factors that influence Google when ranking businesses in search:

So, you need:

• Review quantity: Fifty is a first threshold. How do we know? We don't, and Google are never going to tell us, but common sense dictates that 50 is about the level that any algorithm is going to begin to notice review activity.

• Review velocity: It's no good having a 'blitz', as so many businesses do, getting a decent number of reviews and then easing up. Google wants to see regular reviews.

• Review diversity: Not just 'great business, use them' every time, and definitely not just Ratings (stars with no review content). Google wants reviews that help users decide which business to click through to.

And we would add:

• Review quality: a subset of 'diversity' above. Again: Google values information - the more the better, and it also values good written English (our moderation process ensures that).

Here's another case history (Winkworth, above, are also HelpHound clients):

The business concerned is a small independent with one location. How do they lead the Google 3-pack and Map Search? By ticking as many of the boxes listed above as possible, with help from their web designers and HelpHound: hosting 655 reviews on their own website and having 135 on Google.

Standing out in a crowded marketplace:

Inviting customers to write reviews direct to Google is unwise

Unwise? More like positively suicidal from a business's point-of-view. Here's a case history. 

What did the business do (wrong)?

The business in question knew that inviting selected customers to write a review is illegal so they took what they thought was the next logical - and most cost-effective - step: they put a button on their website inviting anyone to post a review direct to Google. Like this...

What is the impact of adopting this strategy?

1.  It made the business compliant with UK law - which states that if a business invites reviews at all it must enable all of its customers to do so at a time of their own choosing. This is important, not just because a business doing otherwise risks a fine and other sanctions, but because the knowledge that a business is flouting the law is extremely effective in the hands of its competitors.

But that's just about the end of the positive outcomes. Now for the negatives:

2.  Very few of the business's satisfied customers used this avenue: a much higher proportion of unhappy customers, perhaps even malicious reviewers with another agenda, made the effort to follow the link on the business's website straight to Google and write their - one-star - review there.

3.  As a direct result of adopting this solution: the business's Google score immediately began to fall. In the last two months the business has received the following Google reviews:

Five-star:    6

Four-star:   1

Three-star: 1

Two-star:    0

One-star:    14

That, in percentage terms, means sixty-eight percent of their reviews posted to Google since implementing the 'direct' policy now rate the business as one star. Any continuation of this trend - which will be inevitable without independent moderation (see this article) - will see the business's Google score fall until it is failing the filter. 

Just as damaging (maybe even more so): this strategy increases the likelihood of one or more negative reviews leading the business's reviews - and negative reviews dominating overall:

A hard-won online reputation tarnished in a matter of weeks - down from the Holy Grail of 5.0 to 4.7 and with the direction of future travel obvious to anyone with the slimmest grasp of review management and basic maths. 

Understanding the psychology

Having a button like this on your website:

...opens a communication channel between the business and its customers. The clear subliminal message conveyed is 'if you are hesitant about contacting us by phone or email, here is another channel you can use', it also tells every visitor to the business's website something about the business: that they welcome open feedback.

One like this, on the other hand:

...is an open invitation for all kinds of people* to post their 'opinions' straight to the most visible site on the planet: Google. It transmits an entirely different message: 'Don't tell us, tell the world' and invariably results in all kinds of unhelpful - to both business and consumer - reviews.

*it is now common knowledge amongst consumers that it is highly unlikely that any appeal a business will make to Google in respect of inaccurate or misleading negative reviews will succeed, therefore whatever they write is highly likely to stand. This has resulted in increasing abuses by reviewers that have the potential to cause extreme damage to businesses.

We commonly see businesses that have adopted this strategy with many hundreds of reviews. A 'good thing', you might reasonably think? No. The reason for those hundreds of reviews is that this strategy attracts a steady drip of critical 1* reviews that can only be countered by a high flow of 5* reviews. 

Look at this example: 

On the face of it a good score and lots of reviews. But the reality:

The first two of eighty-one, yes, eighty-one extremely damaging one-star reviews. And a monster to feed, with managers constantly demanding positive reviews from staff to counter these negative reviews and simply keep the review score above the vital 4.0 (below which experience dictates consumer confidence in a service or professional business will significantly suffer).

Conclusion

Reviews are important. Google reviews - and scores - are hugely influential. But negative reviews are extremely damaging, especially where high-value service businesses - medical, financial, legal, and the likes of the estate agents shown here - are concerned. Very few businesses continue to deny these three self-evident facts in 2020.

Independent moderation is not just 'nice to have', it is vital.

Further reading

• Moderation: the only legal mechanism that will save your business from unfair, inaccurate and misleading reviews.

• Reviews in the new normal - why reviews are so much more influential post-COVID: a survival checklist