Should I Take on a Client With a Low GBP Review Score

[bluebeacon]

Local medical clinic is looking to hire me as they have purchased two new machines and need to recoup their costs by offering new services. My concern is that they have a GBP score in the 3 range. I generally work with businesses that have at least a 4 or higher and the 1-star reviews are in the relative past as they have worked out their operational issues.
Competitors typically have a 4.5 or higher in the area, and based on my calculations it's going to take a minimum of 4-6 months of continuous 5 star reviews to match their competitors.

A lot of the 1-star reviews are what are perceived as rude or poor customer service. Do you guys take into account the business's GBP review score, and is this a red flag?

 

[Chris Barnard]

It could be my rose colored glasses, but I'd still look at it as an opportunity. It can be a red flag, but not one that would necessarily preclude working with a potential client. Are there others? (high employee/client turnover, out of touch management, dropping revenue...etc.)

If you can have that honest conversation with them and guide them down the path, maybe their internal processes adapt, allowing your optimization efforts to gain more traction.

 

[Tony Wang]

Not a deal breaker, but definitely a red flag. Talking with them should give you a good feel for how they operate the business. I would also bring the reviews up specifically, and talk about how important that is, maybe even ask why they got those negative reviews. That alone could tell you a lot.

If they sound sincere and are looking to improve, might be worth a shot. Otherwise, you have an uphill battle. If they're really just a 3 star business, that will hinder your results, and maybe they blame you.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I would only take it if there were very clear expectations that they probably won't rank in the local pack until that issue is fixed. I've had low-rated businesses rank, but they never stay there. It makes sense - their CTR is probably garbage because who would choose a 3.8 business over a 4.8? We also are going to be publishing a big data study soon and one of the things that correlated most with local pack rankings was average rating (shocker lol).

 

[chadkimball]

We also are going to be publishing a big data study soon

Are you publishing the new local ranking factors report? The last one was a while ago, was wondering if someone was going to stepup and fill the gap

 

[JoyHawkins]

That's not what I was referring to but I know Darren is publishing that one soon too!

 

[chadkimball]

awesome can't wait to see his and yours!

 

[bluebeacon]

Thank you everyone for the valuable feedback. After conducting further research into the clinic market, it became evident that the majority of clinics have low GBP review scores across the board, primarily due to the nature of their business. The majority of their patients are cash only, and the patient may feel rushed due to the need to see a certain number of patients per day to make this business model viable.

The equipment they purchased was for higher-priced cosmetic procedures; however, now they are competing with med spas and other higher-end medical establishments with much higher review scores. I just don't see how I could move the needle for them.

 

[ubertiger]

Just adding my opinion: It depends

As you mentioned, there are industries that have notoriously low ratings. So, first you need to set an industry benchmark and then compare the rating with it. Often delivery services like UPS, Fedex, DHL, etc. have low ratings because they don't have an easy channel to be contacted if something goes wrong. The users then use GBP to write about their frustration.

Also, it is important to differentiate between clients (who pay for a service) and users (who just use the service). In the example above, the reviewers are mostly "users" who have issues receiving a package but the "clients" are actually the companies who send the packages. Property Management Companies suffer from the same issue. They are reviewed by renters who often have problems but the actual clients are the property owners who want to keep the costs low for property management. They have different goals.

I would also check other review sources like Facebook, Trustpilot, Glassdoor, forum posts (e.g. search for "company name" intitle:forum), etc. If the low rating is caused by the business owner, leadership team or company culture and they don't want to change it, you will just loose by working with such a client. If a client is open for changes (e.g. business owner change), then a low rating can be much more rewarding than a high one. If you achieve to drive the rating from 3.5 to 4.5, it feels much better than just changing the rating from 4.4 to 4.5. Plus, the increase of leads and revenue driven by local SEO will be much more significant than some small changes ...