We fix negative online reviews, but online platforms need to do more. Consumer King spoke with Google, their response could fold under scrutiny…
By René Butler
Five or six years ago the hospitality industry seemed utterly panicked by pernicious commentary on TripAdvisor, the go-to platform for trash talking diners/phantom diners.
Consumer King were contacted by many restaurants and hotels to assist with soothing negative reviews; yet circumstances have cooled naturally since a) TripAdvisor doesn’t enjoy the grip it once had and b) the hospitality industry has, in part, learned how to contend with unfavourable online words. Some businesses bite back at the author, others are more philosophical, taking the rough with the smooth.
Yet, unfair negative reviews still impact on businesses all across the UK. At present, around one in ten enquiries we receive are related to the topic. They come from a broad church which includes the financial services industry, independent shops, the dental industry, even a driving instructor has got in touch. Mainly it is for complaints about comments on Google, Facebook and Yell but sometimes industry specific platforms and online newspaper articles.
Some clients want us to pursue the issue of negative reviews and few have seemed as forthright or enterprising as restaurateur, David Moore.
Moore runs Pied a Terre, a Michelin Starred restaurant in Central London. We secured a double page spread in the Daily Mail, back in 2016. Much of what Moore suggested still resonates today, see here: ‘TripAdvisor is a Monster Spiralling out of Control’.
Why is this relevant now?
Fast forward four years to last week and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into online heavyweights Amazon and Google saying neither has taken enough action over long standing concerns relating to bogus reviews. Moore it seems, was ahead of the pack, he called it, online platforms are apathetic at best.
The CMA claim businesses typically pay review farms £13 for positive comments and a star rating which both Amazon and Google enable. Some such farms can churn out tens of thousands of bogus reviews each year. The result? Enormous mirages for the consumer, leading to the purchase of dodgy goods and services.
Old news, perhaps, and Amazon and Google are hardly likely to be shaking in their online shoes, even if they face court for breaching consumer law. Both say they are able to demonstrate ‘evolving’ resources and policies which combat the practice debated.
These resources and policies are quite primitive at heart. Amazon started off by making sure a purchase had been made for a reviewer to be given credence. Again, Moore suggested this be ‘a thing’ long before Amazon made it so. Though it was easily countered with a simple tactic…make purchase/write review/quickly get purchase refunded. Amazon reacts, the review farmers re-adapts, cat and mouse etc.
Meanwhile, Google told Consumer King they blocked 55 million reviews last year and closed almost 3 million fake Business Profiles. In short, they say they use sophisticated algorithms to achieve this. They pride themselves in never revealing the other side of the Google curtain so we’ll never know of their exact methods, beyond analysis of: IP addresses, location, length of text, activity of Gmail accounts etc.
Given the high frequency of bogus reviews – one in five (?) – their sophisticated methods need some revision, as great as these quoted numbers sound.
Either way, the CMA investigation should further a debate about the often-devastating damage bogus negative reviews can have on small and medium size businesses, rather than focus so much on their positive equivalents.
An online author with bad intentions can cause Public Relation disasters. Their work can be as crass as a brick through the window and often as traumatic. Google has acknowledged the hurt it can cause, but they do little about it, casually directing concerned businesses to support.google.com/business
No joy from Google
Few businesses are successful when applying to have an offending review removed, especially if they are inexperienced in dealing with the likes of Google. Even if you demonstrate clear red flags in the review, you’ll usually find the search engine giant lacks interest, the appeals process is merely ceremonial. Other platforms have a similar mindset. Google will not reveal how many requests for removal are upheld. It’s fair to say, only a tiny fraction is.
And yet, positive reviews prompt engagement, Google loves to boast. Through Google My Business, they cite 74 per cent of customers trust a business after reading a Google Review. It stands to reason the reverse is true, that around three in four consumers are influenced after seeing adverse comments. Empirical evidence on the matter varies, but it’s safe to say if you see even a lone one-star review, it casts doubt about a business’s quality.
Review websites such as Trustpilot and Trustatrader are far more proactive in dealing with blatantly bogus authors. Businesses are able to have a two-way dialogue with Trustpilot and Trustatrader when flagging up a suspicious review, though of course, this is a customer speaking with a service provider. Amazon and Google do not have the same obligations to businesses affected by a review and can sit comfortably as unreachable – the CMA are hoping to change these circumstances, but it will be hard going.
What you can do…
If a bogus negative review is affecting your business, you have two options:
A) The DIY Method
Flag the review for removal via the platform’s appeal process after clearly and thoroughly composing a strong argument which demonstrates as much evidence as possible. Avoid the blunder of firing off an appeal in haste. Often, you get one opportunity to make your case. If you are unsuccessful your business might be forever unfairly judged.
Earlier this year, a well-known Leicestershire flooring company had this exact problem. Their knee jerk reaction to two blatantly bogus reviews caused havoc, making the appeals process much harder than it would have been had they slowed down to think of their response, armed with all the facts.
Who knows how much business they lost as a result? Who knows what the impact will be on their long term reputation?
B) Contact the Professionals …either Legal or Public Relations
There are law firms who specialise in suing pernicious review authors. With a spare £10,000 this may be a viable option. You must prove the review was a delberate attempt to defame you and the comments were unfair. A good start is if you can prove the author was not a legitimate customer. You must also be confident the author can be traced, otherwise it’s a lot of money down the drain.
As Public Relations experts, Consumer King are able to offer the option of getting negative reviews removed outright, and at reasonable expense. Like other experienced PR firms, we are able to work efficiently when dealing with review platforms. We know the processes and quirks for getting reviews removed and we are able to better position our clients against future unwanted attention.