Patient writes 1 star review for dentist at all 5 locations...

[Chris Ratchford]

I have a client who received a pretty bad 1 star review, but the issue is that the patient posted the exact same review for each location (but the only visited one office). Here's a link to the reviews in question: Google Maps.

I sent a DM on Twitter to @GoogleMyBiz, but haven't heard back (it's been 5 days). The client wants to respond to the review, but are holding off until I hear back from Google.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Chris Ratchford, I've flagged those reviews.

Whether that accomplishes anything always is a coin-flip. But I live in the area of those practices, so the "local" part of "Local Guide" may count for more in this case.

 

[Chris Ratchford]

Thanks Phil!

 

[JoyHawkins]

Contact GMB on chat and they should get removed in 48 hrs. That violates the guidelines so you should have success.

 

[Chris Ratchford]

GMB chat? On Twitter? I can't get a response... they usually respond quickly; but I'm not getting anything.

 

[JoyHawkins]

GMB chat? On Twitter? I can't get a response... they usually respond quickly; but I'm not getting anything.

Chat. The link to it should be in my guide under the contact Google section

 

[Chris Ratchford]

Thanks!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

@Chris Ratchford Make sure to flag the review from inside the GMB dashboard before contacting chat support. 99% of the time they won't even help you until you have flagged the review and let three days pass.

 

[Chris Ratchford]

@Chris Ratchford Make sure to flag the review from inside the GMB dashboard before contacting chat support. 99% of the time they won't even help you until you have flagged the review and let three days pass.

Just wanted to update in case this is an issue with others. When I went to flag the dup reviews in the GMB dashboard, I clicked the "Flag as inappropriate", but nothing happened (each time I clicked). I had to explain to GMB chat support and shared my screen with the support rep.

Strange bug, but it was not allowing me to flag the reviews. But now the process is moving and I should hear back in 3 days.

Thanks folks!

 

[JoyHawkins]

Let us know what they end up doing!

 

[GabrielNwatarali]

I have a client who received a pretty bad 1 star review, but the issue is that the patient posted the exact same review for each location (but the only visited one office). Here's a link to the reviews in question: Google Maps.

I sent a DM on Twitter to @GoogleMyBiz, but haven't heard back (it's been 5 days). The client wants to respond to the review, but are holding off until I hear back from Google.

Hi Chris,

The patient is obviously very upset. I suggest contacting Google My Business via email regarding the situation and they'll remove the other reviews. You'll probably get a quicker response via email.

Also, I would have the company respond only to the relevant review - the location where the client visited. But make sure that they use it as an opportunity to display the awesome customer service they have to offer (not to be extremely defensive). This is important.

After that, they should create a system where they can email clients for a review without actually directing them straight to GMB. Something that gives them an opportunity to address issues before they go public. For example, an email that says something like...

"How did we do?", with two options - great or bad. The bad is sent to your own review form and the good is sent to GMB. Now, if they do this, must make sure that they're addressing those issues they receive! Nothing stops the client from going to GMB directly later.

 

[JoyHawkins]

"How did we do?", with two options - great or bad. The bad is sent to your own review form and the good is sent to GMB. Now, if they do this, must make sure that they're addressing those issues they receive! nothing stops the client from going to GMB directly later.

This concept is called Review Gating and is against Google's guidelines. I've watched them remove hundreds of reviews from businesses caught doing this. I strongly advise against it.

 

[GabrielNwatarali]

Just wanted to update in case this is an issue with others. When I went to flag the dup reviews in the GMB dashboard, I clicked the "Flag as inappropriate", but nothing happened (each time I clicked). I had to explain to GMB chat support and shared my screen with the support rep.

Strange bug, but it was not allowing me to flag the reviews. But now the process is moving and I should hear back in 3 days.

Thanks folks!

Just saw this update. That's great!

 

[GabrielNwatarali]

This concept is called Review Gating and is against Google's guidelines. I've watched them remove hundreds of reviews from businesses caught doing this. I strongly advise against it.

Ah, thank you for the heads up. Good opportunity to reread their guidelines.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@GabrielNwatarali, it's a good concept, though. It's still worth determining who's happy and who's not before you ask a given person for a review. That's usually a matter of making sure that the person who asks for the review has some relationship with customers, and knows roughly who's happy and who's not. That's one reason businesses can't farm out all of the review-encouragement work, and shouldn't try to.

Google doesn't say anything about that, and couldn't do anything about it anyway.

 

[Garrett Sussman]

After that, they should create a system where they can email clients for a review without actually directing them straight to GMB. Something that gives them an opportunity to address issues before they go public. For example, an email that says something like...

"How did we do?", with two options - great or bad. The bad is sent to your own review form and the good is sent to GMB. Now, if they do this, must make sure that they're addressing those issues they receive! Nothing stops the client from going to GMB directly later.

Great suggestion Gabriel!

Garrett from Grade.us here (review management and marketing platform - we sponsor the Local Search Forum). We offer a service like that which we call the review funnel.

To Joy's point, Google has termed it review gating and said that it's against their rules. We think it's just good business to check in with customers and see if they had a good experience (so you can celebrate them) or if they had a bad experience (so you can recover them and make sure that they end up happy).

While the Grade.us service provides a non-segmented review funnel that just provides all customers with direct links to the various review site listings, we have not had any customers report that they've lost reviews on Google from using our review funnel (and I feel pretty confident that we'd hear).

That said, we give our customers the options with how they want to set up their funnel. With the segments, and with direct public links. Customers can strictly follow the rules or decide for themselves (similarly to how some business owners solicit reviews on Yelp despite Yelp explicitly saying it's against their rules). I hope this helps clarify.

 

[jwypick]

I have a client who received a pretty bad 1 star review, but the issue is that the patient posted the exact same review for each location (but the only visited one office). Here's a link to the reviews in question: Google Maps.

I sent a DM on Twitter to @GoogleMyBiz, but haven't heard back (it's been 5 days). The client wants to respond to the review, but are holding off until I hear back from Google.

Great suggestion Gabriel!

Garrett from Grade.us here (review management and marketing platform - we sponsor the Local Search Forum). We offer a service like that which we call the review funnel.

To Joy's point, Google has termed it review gating and said that it's against their rules. We think it's just good business to check in with customers and see if they had a good experience (so you can celebrate them) or if they had a bad experience (so you can recover them and make sure that they end up happy).

While the Grade.us service provides a non-segmented review funnel that just provides all customers with direct links to the various review site listings, we have not had any customers report that they've lost reviews on Google from using our review funnel (and I feel pretty confident that we'd hear).

That said, we give our customers the options with how they want to set up their funnel. With the segments, and with direct public links. Customers can strictly follow the rules or decide for themselves (similarly to how some business owners solicit reviews on Yelp despite Yelp explicitly saying it's against their rules). I hope this helps clarify.

I have a client who received a pretty bad 1 star review, but the issue is that the patient posted the exact same review for each location (but the only visited one office). Here's a link to the reviews in question: Google Maps.

I sent a DM on Twitter to @GoogleMyBiz, but haven't heard back (it's been 5 days). The client wants to respond to the review, but are holding off until I hear back from Google.

This concept is called Review Gating and is against Google's guidelines. I've watched them remove hundreds of reviews from businesses caught doing this. I strongly advise against it.

That's true but it could be used as a serious business tool to find out "how we did." I find that kind of follow-up usually inspires a genuine review from the customer.