We've discussed at length the importance of a Google Places page for capturing leads and increasing your business. 97% of consumers search for local businesses online, and, sadly, unlike the Yellow Pages, the internet isn't alphabetical. In order to capture the potential customers that are looking for your services online, you need to make sure that your business is showing up.
Anyway, one of the most important parts of a strong Google Places page is a collection of good reviews. Not only do good reviews give potential customers a favorable opinion of your business when they visit your site, but the more reviews, the better you'll do in search results.
But there's a flip side: what happens if someone gives you a bad review?
Of course, nobody's perfect, and so you might get some less-than-stellar reviews at some point in the life of your business (although, with all the home performance contractors and energy auditors we've worked with, we're pretty sure y'all are a good bunch of people). But a potentially bigger problem arises if someone reviews your business maliciously -- a disgruntled former employee, for example; a competing business with shady marketing tactics; a pissed-off ex-girlfriend; you get the drift.
Well, this actually happened recently to an energy auditor we know. Let's call him Bob. Bob woke up one day and saw that somebody had posted a bad review on his Google Places page. Not the end of the world, but the review came from somebody that Bob had never worked for, and never even met. Furthermore, the review described work that Bob's company doesn't do. It talked about noisy tools, making a mess and doing poor construction; Bob does energy audits.
Whether this is competitor spam, a disgruntled neighbor, or whatever, doesn't matter. Negative reviews are gonna happen, and you're gonna need to deal with it. We recommend taking the following steps:
Flag the review as inappropriate.
Only flag a review if it's obviously spam or a scam. There is a link to do this near the bottom of the review itself. The link takes you to form where you can submit your complaint - be sure to include that you believe the review is a fraud. I would either mark it as “spam” or “other” in the drop down list. Keep in mind that it's up to Google to review this request, and that you may not get a response quickly (or ever), but it's still doing if the review is indeed sleazy.
Respond to the review.
This is your opportunity to work your charm by just being honest. If you think it's fake review, say that you think it's a fake review. Point out the number of positive reviews on your site, which should raise a red flag regarding the bad review anyway, and discuss any other conflicts (e.g., if it describes work that your company doesn't perform).
Get some more positive reviews.
Online reviews -- particularly in Google Places -- are increasingly important for a variety of reasons, and you should be doing your best to acquire as many good, legitimate reviews as possible anyway, but you can use this as a motivational catalyst to get going. Just shoot a quick email to former or current customers and ask if they'd be willing to write you a short review. Most people will be happy to oblige if they know how valuable it is for your business; you just have to ask. (Look for a future post from us on creative ways to solicit reviews from your customers.)
Beyond these steps we can only hope that Google takes a look at the bad review and removes it after you submit your request. This situation is a growing problem for many small businesses, and the way that Google handles it is something of a black box. As Google Places becomes an increasingly vital tool for local businesses, we hope they take this issue more seriously moving forward.