Postcards not arriving

[Tiggerito]

Hi,

I work for a franchise business that has over 600 franchisees with service area businesses around Australia. And I'm really struggling to get their local businesses verified.

The only verification method offered to us is via the postcard. In the last few months we requested postcards for about 30 of the businesses and chased up with each franchisee to make sure they look out for the postcard. Not one was found. For some franchisees we re-sent several times and they were definitely on the ball looking for the postcard. And nothing.

I contacted Google support, they did the usual suggestions and I explained they were not an option. e.g. bulk verification (not available for SABs). They even suggested sending in videos at some point, again meaningless if there is no store front. And they finally replied that we had to request the postcard!!!!!

Has anyone gone through this, and found a solution?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Is this something that just started happening recently ? In the past were the postcards arriving?

 

[Tiggerito]

I personally managed verification in 2016 and managed to get about 10 verified with no known issue besides the usual amount of lost postcards.

In 2018 I managed to get an employee assigned to the job. They first created all the listings, and from December they started requesting postcards. Since then not one postcard has been seen.

The franchisees are getting a bit frustrated with this and have started setting up their own listings and requesting the postcard. They seem to work fine.

I'd rather not put the extra work onto the franchisees, as they make mistakes. And most are not active enough to get involved beyond looking out for a postcard.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Ugh, I'm afraid that the only solution to this is to deal with Google My Business support. Not sure if you were dealing with the call center but I'd suggest using Twitter instead. You can tweet to them at @googlemybiz or message them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GoogleMyBusiness/. Usually they respond in 1-5 business days.

 

[Tiggerito]

Trying the tweeting angle. I think I may also start a new account and test a request via that. I have the feeling that all the locations on our main account have an issue.

Thanks.

 

[Tiggerito]

Tweet never got a reply.

I created a new account and re-created some listings. 3 weeks later and we got our first postcard in a year. I want to see a few more successes before I make any conclusions.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Tweet never got a reply.

I created a new account and re-created some listings. 3 weeks later and we got our first postcard in a year. I want to see a few more successes before I make any conclusions.

Definitely report back and let us know!

 

[Tiggerito]

Just had another failed go via their support. The only option besides postcard I was given was to get the franchisees to make videos of their business. And they asked for details like a video of the office (that they don't have).

I've requested two businesses from the new account to be reviewed today. No postcard arrived after a month.

We got our first postcard to arrive in years. Pity it tool over a month and the listing had already been verified by an out of the blue call from Google.

I'll keep trying.

I have the feeling, in the end we just ask them to fend for themselves.

 

[Belen C]

Hello, after two weeks that you claim for the verification pin and haven't arrived via postcard, you can get in contacto with the Google Support and they will verified for you.
They usually ask for a photo of the entrance of the place with a sign showing the name.

You can put in contact here: Google My Business Help

This is how i managed to verify my listings when the post card didn't arrive.

Hope it helps

 

[Tiggerito]

Hello, after two weeks that you claim for the verification pin and haven't arrived via postcard, you can get in contacto with the Google Support and they will verified for you.
They usually ask for a photo of the entrance of the place with a sign showing the name.

You can put in contact here: Google My Business Help

This is how i managed to verify my listings when the post card didn't arrive.

Hope it helps

This is why I keep getting sent in circles. These are Service Area Businesses (SABs). No entrance, no signs. Support want me to get the business owner to make a video of their non existent office!

I've had countless digital marketing people saying "Our tech department can sort it out, they do it all the time". Once I explain they are SABs to the tech people, I never hear back from them.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Two questions...

1. What industry are these SABs in?
2. Where are they trying to send the postcards (e.g., their house)?

 

[Tiggerito]

They are Gardeners or Home Cleaners. Yes, the postcards should be sent to their private houses.

It's a franchise business, and all customers initially communicate via a central phone number or website.

 

[Tiggerito]

Update.

It's still a long battle, but I think we know how to avoid the missing postcard issue.

I started getting each franchisee owner to create their own listings with the help of regional managers and some guides I wrote. This has a very good success rate on the postcards arriving. It's just harder to control. Luckily I have API access which lets me enhance listings quickly.

Sometimes a regional manager would not listen to me and submit the listings themselves. They typically get about 3 postcards and then they stop arriving.

So my conclusion is that using central accounts to create and verify listings can trigger a secret red flag that cuts the account off. This maybe combined with other trust issue signals like being a SAB, using a central phone number and a common website.