Positive Reviews Pro Users,
The team at here at National Positions wanted to take a moment to inform you about some updates from Google that will be affecting some of our Positive Review Pro’s functionality settings.
Reviews are a fantastic driver of business. Often, reviews are the sole or primary factor that determines whether a new or returning client chooses your company over your competitor. Furthermore, Google’s continued focus on using public reviews as a ranking factor, makes the need for attracting positive reviews even greater. It’s no wonder brands have added review campaigns into their marketing mix.
As the saying goes, “The only thing that is constant is change.”
Changing Standards for Attracting Reviews
Brands have ways of putting their best foot forward when it comes to attracting positive reviews. They could send follow-up emails or text messages asking you to rate your experience. Some review systems focus more on the promotion of positive reviews over negative ones, a practice that Google has discouraged. The reason? Google wants to be sure that all reviews, positive or negative, have the same opportunity to be heard. In other words, comments are no longer allowed to be “gated.”
Google Updates & Text Reviews
The latest Google changes prohibit the practice of review gating. This means that while soliciting reviews is still allowed, to stay in compliance with Google you should no longer selectively generate positive reviews. Some of these changes stem from the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a set of rules that became enforceable on May 25, 2018. With the EU’s focus on user data privacy and Congress’s scrutiny of Facebook, it’s only a matter of time until the FTC turns its attention to less-than-authentic data.
What’s in Google’s New Review Policy?
Google outlines updates to its text review policies.
Effective as of April 12th 2018, Google released some specifics related to their criteria for text reviews, including:
- Don’t use reviews for advertising purposes. This includes, but is not limited to, posting email addresses, phone numbers, social media links, or links to other websites in your reviews.
- Don’t discourage or prohibit negative reviews or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.
- Don’t include promotional or commercial content.
- Don’t offer or accept money in exchange for reviews.
- Don’t solicit reviews from customers in bulk.
Understanding the Risks
Understand that abusing a reputation and review management platform can lead to actions being taken by Google. Aggressively soliciting only 5-star reviews can eventually lead to action being taken by Google. One of the key takeaways from this Google update is: “Don’t discourage or prohibit negative reviews or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.” “Selectively solicit,” this is very important. Know that being overly selective in your review process comes with risks and keeping your gathering of reviews open to all reviews will help mitigate this risk.
Next Steps for You
- National Positions is advising all our clients using Positive Reviews Pro to take following steps in light of these updates from Google.
- Continue collecting reviews from customers (The volume and recentness of reviews is as critical as the rating)
- Change the Thank You Page setting to Always Show Review Site Links
- Make sure to update your “positive” and “negative” reply content as those features will continue to be supported
*Positive Reviews Pro Updates Coming Soon,
- All Campaigns will have a choice to proceed directly to a review site regardless of rating or to proceed to the private feedback form
- Your Follow Up message will soon also include messages to address negative reviews.
How National Positions is Helping
In an effort to mitigate any issues that may arise from SMS campaigns, National Positions has made additional changes to benefit our Positive Reviews Pro users, including:
- All SMS campaigns have been upgraded to “800” (toll-free) numbers
- This complies with new 2018 rules for wireless carriers that treat 800 numbers as business numbers and all others as personal numbers
- This change has also increased deliverability (i.e. less blocked messages)
- We have absorbed the cost of switching to 800 #’s (no additional cost to you)
Remember, Google Reviews Are #1
In spite of the changes, reviews should still be a vital part of your ongoing marketing strategy. Now that mobile searches exceed desktop searches and 91% of all searches are performed onGoogle, it’s time to acknowledge recent developments and start planning now.
How Will This Affect You?
It’s important to understand the data behind the vast majority of solicited reviews and how these changes may or may not impact you.
National Positions examined nearly 1,000,000 recent (ungated) campaign emails and SMS text messages to gauge how many customers were positive about our clients’ services. The results showed that about 90% of all ungated reviews were positive, with an overall average of 4.63 stars! This data suggests that this extra step of “gating” reviews is unnecessary and should have little impact on your overall reviews.
The truth is, nothing is 100% perfect.
Finding perfection is about as likely as finding a unicorn. Additional data has shown that most people who use reviews trust a 4.5-star review more than a 5-star review. Additionally, a 4.6-star rating was trusted more than a 4.9-star rating. So, is there a “perfect” star rating? Not necessarily, but studies show that having less than a perfect 5-star rating on Google is not a bad thing. In other words, we shouldn’t be afraid of critical feedback that may show up in our reviews from time to time.
What Should You Do With a Bad Review
If you do get a bad review, should you jump for joy? Of course not. Negative reviews should still be addressed to the best of your ability. Here are some steps you can take if you find yourself looking at a negative review on Google.
Respond to the reviewer
- After identifying the source of the negative review (via Google profiles or the review program you may be using), respond privately and publicly.
- Be cordial both privately and publicly. You never want to go on the attack or be defensive.
- Try to understand the issue and attempt to offer valid solutions. If someone felt strongly enough to leave a bad review, attempt to remedy the issue with equal or greater resolve.
- Responding publicly: Public responses show the world that your business cares about your customers, and people love that!
- If you can resolve the issue – politely ask if the disgruntled reviewer will remove the review, or possibly remove the old one and leave a positive one instead.
If you are dealing with a particularly difficult situation, you may be able to have the review removed altogether if it violates Google’s terms of service. This is a possibility if:
- The review is spammy
- It contains graphic language
- It’s irrelevant to your business
- It’s fake
- It was planted by a competitor
Where to go from here?
We understand that these ongoing changes from Google may seem overwhelming. However, it is important to remember that Google’s #1 goal is to provide the best user experience possible.
Need additional help? Review and Reputation Management is one of the key areas in which National Positions specializes. So, if you need assistance or have additional questions as to how you can make sure you are Google compliant, feel free to contact us anytime. We are here to help!