The Ultimate Guide To Google Reviews For KBB Retailers
The vast majority of KBB businesses will have, whether they’ve created it or not, a Google My Business profile on which clients and others can post reviews. The reviews have the potential to make or break your business- so take time to understand their value/ risk and develop a strategy for managing them.
Think of your reviews as being akin to a stock listing for a public company. The more reviews you have, the bigger the index you are listed on. Think of your share price as being the number of reviews you have multiplied by the average rating and think about the average rating of your last five reviews as being an indicator of your share price momentum- up or down.
In this article we’ll have a look at the value of these reviews, how to solicit more of them, what do about poor reviews, and what to do with unfair or dishonest reviews.
The Good
There are some huge potential benefits to a retailer from having a strong review profile- some obvious, some less so. Here are the top five ways reviews can help your business.
- Potential prospects are more likely to click on profiles with good reviews- it builds trust and confidence, and further they are more likely to complete a form/ call you and become a lead.
- Potential clients, including those you have met face to face, are highly likely to research your reviews before deciding to purchase. Clearly the better impression they form the more likely they are to purchase.
- Businesses with very strong reviews can charge a premium as people are prepared to pay more in expectation of excellent service. Think about this; if you were spending £20k and one company is £500 more than another but has a lot more positive, recent reviews including photos etc, versus a competitor that has only a few reviews and a mixed bag, would you pay a 2.5% premium? (NB this could be a 8%-12% increase in gross profit)
- Reviews help you improve your rankings in search results. Google themselves are open about this. You can read it here Improve your local ranking on Google – Google My Business Help directly from the horse’s mouth, ‘More reviews and positive ratings can improve your business’ local ranking.’
- Suppliers (and potential suppliers) read reviews too. Your reputation affects their reputation, the implications of which could be wide ranging, up to and including whether to do business with you at all.
How many reviews do you need?
The answer is… it depends. To gain trust and authority, certainly well into double figures, spread over a period so it doesn’t seem unnatural, but with enough that are recent to be relevant.
From a ranking perspective, this is competitive; so, you want to aim to have more than your competitors, by which in this case we define as the companies who are triggering results in local map searches above and below you. If you presently rank third and the competitor in first has a lot more reviews than you, then you want to aim to beat that count over time. NB reviews aren’t the only ranking factor so reviews on their own may not be enough to overhaul them into that first position. In terms of ranking think about this, the listing in position six gets 10% of clicks, versus the listing in position one getting 43%- over four times the amount of traffic. Source (Google Click-Through Rates (CTR) By Ranking Position [2020] | Ignite Visibility)
As a general rule for a KBB retailer you want to aim to garner a regular flow of positive reviews- aiming over time to have at least 30- and if you install more than 3-4 project per month substantially more than this. A profile with more than 30 reviews, with an averaging rating greater than 4.7*, that is growing can achieve a lot for your business.
How to ask for reviews and what to ask for.
The easiest way to request reviews, and by far the most professional, is to use the tools in your GMB profile to generate a ‘Profile short name’ by clicking the button under ‘complete your business profile’
And then under reviews click share review form
Having done this, your review form will go from looking like this
To looking like this:
Now you know how to ask- what should you ask for?
Again, here are our top five requests:
- Content length. ‘Great company.’ Doesn’t move the needle nearly as much as a lengthy review that mentions the product describes the process, the people etc. So if you can try and steer them in this direction.
- Product keyword mentions. It can help your ranking if you manage to get them to mention the product they bought. If they bought a ‘handleless German kitchen’, prompt them to include this in the review.
- Geo-contextualisation, if they bought a Bathroom from your York showroom and had it fitted in their home in York, it would be great if either or both of these things were mentioned in a review.
- Photos. If they are happy to take a few photos on their phone and upload them this can be great for you. Firstly, its clearly authentic- building trust. Two, every photo taken and uploaded contains data called ‘EXIF’ data. Amazingly this data contains information on exactly where the photo was taken- meaning the location data is shared with Google in a machine-readable format. This is location data really helps Google understand where your business is active and can help rankings accordingly.
- SPAG! If you read the review and there are issues with spelling, grammar and punctation, rewrite it and send your client a corrected version to amend.
Respond to good reviews
Finally respond to the clients review warmly, thoroughly, and promptly. Thank them, ask them to get in touch if they ever have any issues, use product descriptors, geo-contextualisation and do so promptly. PS look at the message Google displays in the review section of your profile and try telling me they don’t take review response rates and promptness into account- it’s a very strong hint!
The Bad
Negative or even generally positive reviews with caveats need managed. First up- a bit of context; if you have lots of reviews one bad one isn’t a catastrophe but be warned we know of specific examples where large deals have been lost after customers have read just one or two poor reviews. Here’s an action plan to keep your review profile danger free.
- Make sure you know about them. You can download the GMB app that will alert you to reviews.
- Put up a holding response- for example, ‘Hello Mrs Smith we are urgently looking into this and will contact you shortly to resolve your concerns.’
- Contact the client and try and manage the problem to an acceptable solution. Be empathetic, courteous and try to defuse the situation- its really not helpful to see the problem escalate and become emotive.
- Once you’ve resolved the problem then you can ask for the review to be amended/ removed- you may even find that the client ends up with a review something like, ‘we had a few snagging problems, but these were ultimately resolved to our satisfaction.’
- If you resolved the issue, even if they don’t revisit their review, you can update your response to say the issue was resolved and the client acknowledged this to you. Once the dust has settled, maybe a few months later contact them again and ask if they are happy; if the answer is yes then ask them to consider updating their review accordingly
The Ugly
There are reviews that can be really damaging to your business and you need to think about these as being in two categories:
- This really bad, but its fair, we really them down.
- This is really bad, it isn’t fair and it isn’t accurate.
Depending on which category the review falls into determines your response.
It’s your fault.
If this is the case, own it. You need to do whatever you can to resolve the situation. They’ve paid you a lot of money in return for an expectation of a professional service. Everything from a rouge fitter to a pandemic causing supplier shortages may have caused this, but you’ve got to own it. Control what you can control- which is your attitude to the problem and the communication about it. If speak with the client regularly, are empathetic and demonstrate a real willingness to resolve the problem, you’ll be able to turn around most of the really bad reviews people leave by turning around their view of how you tried. Remember the maxim ‘run towards problems not away from them.’
What they’ve written just isn’t fair.
If someone has written a review that is demonstrably unfair, then in law they may have defamed you via an act of libel. Defamation is based on common law, as specified by the Defamation Act 2013: “A statement is defamatory if its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant.”
Note that it must also be untrue – though bear in mind the burden of proof is on the person who committed the alleged defamation. The person who is making the defamation claim must only prove that 1) the statement was made and 2) it is defamatory. They do not need to prove that it was false. (Taken from DMA Law) Can You Be Sued For Online Defamation? DMA Legal News (dma-law.co.uk)
If someone has defamed your business, and this has the capacity to result in serious harm- such as cause you the loss of orders, then stand up for yourself. Solicitors can handle this on your behalf by sending letters outlining that they have libelled you and specifying how.
The cost of instructing a solicitor to pursue an action as far as letters isn’t huge and in most cases will be enough to get the review removed. You should never allow yourself to blackmailed or treated unfairly in a situation that is not of your making.
In the meantime you can report the review to Google, and or approach ones of the many companies out there who claim to specialise in getting bad reviews removed.
Bad reviews from others.
Disgruntled ex employees, unscrupulous competitors… maniac ex boyfriends all fall under the category of fake reviews. Report them to Google, put up a holding response along the lines of, ‘we have no record of any client presently or historically with that name or matching the description you’ve provided. If this is genuine, please contact us to resolve the issue.’
What else can you do?
Firstly, and obviously aim to have great customer service by responding to client’s concerns promptly and courteously such as they never feel the need to share a poor review publicly. Secondly, you can by contract detail a complaints procedure and try to make it confidential pending outcome.
Complaint’s procedures
You can consider having a formal complaints procedure and perhaps mandating it by contract. A formal procedure gives your clients somewhere to air their concerns without resorting to public reviews. Particularly in larger retailers where the client may not have ever met or spoken with management, these more formal procedures can act as last chance to identify an escalating problem and prevent it exploding.
A final step, and one to consider only as part of a wider business strategy is to consider using professional arbitration in disputes. This isn’t a small step, but it could potentially save you a lot of money in legal fees if you had a serious dispute with a large client. Here is an example of how this might read- note this doesn’t constitute legal advice and you should always speak with a solicitor to obtain specialist advice should you wish to explore this further.
15.1 The Company has a formal complaint investigation and resolution process, which is available on request.
15.2 Under the Alternative Dispute Regulations 2015, all retailers are encouraged to offer ADR and are required to notify consumers whether they intend to use ADR and who the certified ADR provider is. Pursuant to this the company will will use RetailADR, formerly known as ‘The Retail Ombudsman’ is an independent, not-for-profit, government approved organisation, approved by: Chartered Trading Standards Institute, pursuant to The Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authority and Information) Regulations 2015.
15.3 In the event of any dispute that cannot be resolved by our internal process, the Company will pay 75% of the facilitation cost of the ADR process directly to RetailADR, with 25% paid by the Consumer, which will be refunded to the consumer if the Arbitrator decides appropriate.
15.4 If deemed necessary by the Arbitrator, the Company will also pay the costs of an inspection report by the Bikbbi (The British Institute of Kitchen Bedroom Bathroom Installers.) As the only Government mandated body for the industry, both parties agree that should a need arise for an inspection report, the Bikbbi are the only competent body able to undertake such work, and You agree to permit access for such a report.
15.5 Should you wish to formally raise a complaint, the entire complaint, and all aspects pertaining to it will remain confidential until such time as you have either accepted or rejected the Arbitration opinion.
The final term in this excerpt shows how a retailer attempted to ensure reviews couldn’t be used as unfair leverage in resolving a complaint, but we must stress we don’t know if they ever tested it in legal argument.
The bottom line.
Good reviews are extremely helpful in helping your business grow and thrive. They come naturally to great businesses with great service, but with a little strategy you can magnify and maximise the results of your awesomeness. Learn to covet and value them and you’ll be building a pillar that can support your long terms success.
Poor reviews are an opportunity to fix and learn… hopefully fixing a client relationship in the process and giving you ‘turnaround points’ when people read your reviews and see then when tested you came good.
Unfair and defamatory reviews are just that- so stand up for yourself and don’t be a victim.