Google Places Removes Third Party Reviews from Search Results

[CARBIZ]

Definitely a blow to dealerrater. As of now, we are not going to stop any of our processes in place to get more reviews on Dealerrater. Since we have implemented these processes we have found our dealership getting more reviews on google's place page as well. It must spill over from the dealerrater effect and people think they want you to put them on google. Who knows. It still feels like a real bummer after all the work that went into these reviews for the last year.

Another note... Look at all the benefits that using the Dealerrater feed does for our dealerships. We use it on the front of our website, facebook, purecars reports, etc... I still feel like even if the reviews do not get posted back on google in the form that they did, Dealerrater is still and essential tool.

 

[chris deringer]

According to Google, this is a permanent change. This article from techcrunch suggests there may be other considerations (like on-going legal issues involving 3rd party review sites), besides simply the user experience for Google. It definitely means that Google reviews and the Google Places app are that much more important for a dealership to understand and use.

 

[Chip Grueter]

A blow to dealers, for sure.

DealerRater will just adapt as we can do something as simple as detecting a Google user account and then provide the reviewer with the option to leave the review on the dealer's Google Place Page as well.

 

[ArtMorris]

A blow to dealers, for sure.

How is this a blow for dealers? My customers know "Google", they've never heard of "DealerRater". If they Google for "bobby rahal reviews" they might learn about your site, but they had to go to Google first.

Google & Yelp review EVERYTHING, not just car dealerships. As a customer, why would I take the effort to create a login on a site that reviews only dealerships and then write a review? As a dealer, which process is easier for the customer and therefore more likely to result in a review being written? Many of our customers already have logins for Google or Yelp, but next to none of them use DealerRater.

 

[kevinfrye]

I looked at one Bobby Rahal dealership (Honda in PA) and saw it had zero DealerRater reviews, and 11 Google Places reviews. I have been doing this for several years now, and have setup almost the same process to encourage positive reviews from Google as DealerRater, and we have thousands of DealerRater reviews vs. hundreds of Google reviews. When we ask people to leave a review, they are willing to create a login to DealerRater to do that quite easily, but most share that they do not have a Google account, and they do not leave a Google review. Our experience has been that our shoppers have strongly embraced DealerRater. (Also saw that your Toyota dealership had 4 DealerRaters and 7 Google reviews, has your group, or an individual dealership, aggressively worked to manage your online reviews?).

With that said, I think you have an excellent idea Chip. When someone completes a DealerRater review, have the next step be to encourage them to do the same at Google. You can see if the reviewer has a gmail address and put them into a different process that shows them how to do it.

Maybe the better question is, why have dealerships had much greater success getting DealerRater reviews than Google reviews? Most every dealer I have talked to who is great at DealerRater has also been working hard at Google reviews for some time. And from a dealer's perspective, we have had great success mediating negative reviews (and removing fake ones from competing dealers) through DealerRater, but all you can do with Google is post a public response..

 

[NathanScripps]

Jumping in to say I agree this is a big change to prior dealer practice... but we are dealing with Google here, king of the black box business practice. They could make another major change next week and we all have to adjust. It's their internet, we just share it (or so it seems).

I think this whole focus on Google Places and customer reviews in general will (eventually) be great for the industry.

Both of the immediately prior comments point towards putting customer experience first, albeit with differing opinions. If everyone keeps the customer experience in mind, we will all come out on top. Review scores will go up, word of mouth online and off will be better, and rainbows and unicorns will dance across showroom floors. I know, a fairy tale, but at least a positive direction focused on great customer experience.

What are reviews for? TO MAKE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE BETTER. Reviews started as a way to make sure needs were met or exceeded consistently (CSI?). Then the internet made them public and easily accessible... basically, it made reviews into commoditized marketing segments, firing off new process in stores and a host of companies like Yelp and Dealer Rater, or reviving ones like CitySearch.

What do reviews NEED to be? Easy for the consumer, timely to their experience at the dealership, high volume to get an accurate picture (not just the absolute highs/lows, nor just buddies and family members submitting reviews), and (perhaps most importantly) they need to be read and acted upon by dealership staff. A review is fundamentally useless if it is never read.

This shift may very well put the spotlight back on reviews primary purpose... improving customer experience... and that sounds good to me.

 

[CAORYAN]

This is what happens when you can't control the integrity of 3rd party data and you know there is bad information being displayed on your "reputable" website that is trying to build trust on a world wide level.

If reviews are going to be a ranking factor than this is a no brainer. It's actually pretty smart if you ask me. Give more people a reason to open google accounts.

 

[ArtMorris]

has your group, or an individual dealership, aggressively worked to manage your online reviews?

For the past three years we have been focused on *private* online customer feedback, a way for our customers to easily share their level of satisfaction and comments/praise/complaints with our company. While this has been valuable for us, it has no outward benefit. Now we are plunging into the world of public customer feedback, but I would not say we have been aggressive yet.

Maybe the better question is, why have dealerships had much greater success getting DealerRater reviews than Google reviews?

Do these stores have a process that steers customers to DealerRater? My understanding is that the DealerRater "certified" dealers receive some coaching / processes / word tracks to help salespeople get their customers to leave a review.

 

[kevinfrye]

Art - we essentially use the same process to encourage Google reviews as we do with DealerRater (with exception of postcards), which has been frustrating, as we have understood the importance of Google reviews for some time, but the approach we are using with DealerRater is not working as successfully with Google. Already preparing to try some new things next week to see if we can see some more success...

 

[ArtMorris]

We point our customers directly to the Google Places page for their relevant dealership via a link in an email. They're already sitting in front of their computers (or smartphone), all they have to do is click the link vs. get the mail / read a postcard / go to PC / turn it on / type in URL / etc. If they're already logged in with their Google account they can immediately leave a review. About 10% of our customers that have shared their email address with us have GMail accounts, so all those people definitely have a Google account. With the proliferation of Android phones and the expansion of Google services that require an account I expect the percentage of our customers with Google accounts to grow.