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Google Reviews for 2022: Predictions and Updates Law Firms Need to Know

Legal Webinars
10 min. read

[Webinar Transcript, January 2022]

This is a webinar hosted by McKay Allen, VP and Head of Marketing at Kenect, and Dan Couvrette, CEO of Divorce Marketing Group.

McKay Allen:

All right everybody, let's get started. Thanks for jumping on the webinar today. My name is McKay Allen. I'm on the marketing team at Kenect, and we've got Dan Couvrette with us as well, from Divorce Marketing Group. Dan, thanks for taking time out of your schedule to join us as well.

Dan Couvrette:

It's a pleasure McKay. I'm also the publisher of Family Lawyer Magazine and I've worked with McKay, and our firm has worked with McKay in the past, to present seminars and webinars, and they're always really valuable for family lawyers, so I'm looking forward to being a bit of a fly on the wall and jumping in where I can to make a contribution. But McKay, I know you've got some great stuff to share with the family lawyers. So, turn it back to you and let's get going.

McKay Allen:

Awesome. So, what we're going to do today is we'll take maybe five minutes and talk through a little bit about who Kenect is, just to give you an idea. So, the context of us presenting this, and why we feel it's an important topic. Then we'll jump in into Google Reviews for 2022, some predictions, some updates. There's some things that, based on what Google changed in 2021, we expect that they will continue to focus on, or change, or modify, in 2022 including changes to the Google My Business page area, including changes to some of the review gathering capabilities, et cetera. And then finally, we'll take questions. So, if you do have questions, go to that little question dropdown and type in the questions you may have there. In fact, why don't you go there right now, everybody, and just type in city and state you're dialing in from, or if you're in Canada, city and province, I suppose. Type in where you're dialing in from today, that's going to do two things. That's going to help us get to know who's on the call. It's also going to help you get to know where that little question area is. So, when you actually want to ask questions, you can do that really simply. So, go to that little question area, type in where you're dialing in from today.

We've got Kansas City, Missouri. We've got Missoula, Montana. We've got Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Tampa, Florida, South Carolina, Red Bank, New Jersey, San Antonio, San Diego, Salt Lake, LA, Pittsburgh. So, we'll get a good crew on today. So, thanks for jumping on everybody, and that's how you'll ask questions. Timothy's in Sacramento, thanks for jumping on Timothy. Dotty's in Grand Rapids, Michigan, it’s probably cold up in Michigan today, I would guess. Suburbs of Chicago, Catherine. So, thanks for jumping on again, everybody. That's how you'll ask questions, throughout. Dotty says, "Yes, it is cold in Grand Rapids, Michigan."

Cynthia, in Indianapolis, you guys have had a lot of business up there, you had the College Football National Championship Game in Indianapolis. Taran's in Missoula, so, that's great. All right, let's jump in here. Peter, by the way, is taunting everybody by saying it's 81 degrees in Tampa. So thanks for that, Peter. That's wonderful news, I'm thrilled for you.

Dan Couvrette:

You can disconnect Peter from the web.

McKay Allen:

Dan, I think, kicked you off Peter, is what just happened there. That's awesome.

Who is Kenect?

All right. So, who is Kenect? We're based outside of Salt Lake City, we're a text messaging platform built for law firms throughout North America. So basically, what we allow you to do is get the benefits of texting without having to give out your personal cell number. So, basically what we say, is you can turn your main business number into a textable line.

You can send and receive text messages with that main number just by logging into Kenect. This allows you to communicate really efficiently, to generate new leads, because we put a little “Text Us” button on your website to conduct video consultations as well, which is really, really good for those initial consultations and those initial meetings. And then drive online reviews with texting, which is what we'll talk about today. We were recently listed as one of the 5,000 fastest growing companies in North America. Not only just were we on the Inc. 5000 list, we were in the top 5% of the list, which was really exciting. So, we've quadrupled in size in just the last 18 months. So, it's an exciting time here at Kenect. We're also integrated with the leading case management systems in the legal industry. Now to be really clear, you don't need to use one of these systems to also use Kenect. You can use Kenect as a standalone. You can use Kenect without using any of these case management systems on your screen here, but we are integrated with them, that really helps with your intake. It really helps with your communication and really helps with keeping text messages in the client matter, and in the case, and in the appropriate place within the case process, whether you're using Panther or Filevine or Clio, or whatever.

How do we do it? Two way text messaging for your law firm so you don't need to give need to give out your personal cell. Web leads straight from your website, video chat for virtual consultations, and then online review generation and reputation management. Really important to us and a big focus for us. Why are we so focused on text messaging? It's a question we get asked about a lot, I'll say it this way.

We believe texting is the biggest change in communication strategy, or methodology, or whatever since the invention of the telephone 110 years ago. It is the biggest change in terms of how businesses need to communicate with their customers. 89% of clients would prefer to interact with a business via text rather than a phone call, they do not want a phone call. They do not want you to call them when they're at work, when they're in a meeting, when they're at dinner with their family, when they're on a webinar. They do not want to call you and wade through a phone tree and explain the problem to different people three different times. They would prefer to text. They text in their personal lives, they want to text with a business.

98% of all text messages are opened, 95% are read within three minutes. If you compare that to email, you're talking about 11% open rates on average, and a 10% of that read, and not even read within three minutes. It's just a better way to communicate. People do not want to be called, they want to be texted. So, that's important. Dan, thoughts on this slide, because I think this is like a fundamental shift in how businesses have thought about communicating with their customers. Is that fair?

Dan Couvrette:

We're working on the 10th anniversary issue of Family Lawyer Magazine and it's about predicting the future, McKay. And I just wrote down, meeting clients' expectations. So, what you're talking about, texting meets client's expectations, in terms of the speed and the accuracy with which they can communicate with a family lawyer. I'm 110% behind what you've said, this is what the future's going to be about, is meeting client's expectations, and texting is part of that.

Eight ways law firms use Kenect.

McKay Allen:

I agree. Yeah, it's massive. It's huge. All right. So, top eight ways firms use Kenect. I won't go through each of these, you can read. But look, streamlining intake is a big reason people start using Kenect, just sending case updates and communicating faster. So, imagine not having to set aside time, or try to make a phone call in a loud hallway, after a hearing in a courthouse. But instead you can text, and receive text messages, at any time, without giving out your personal cell, it's massive. And I would say too, in family law, what we found is sending photos, videos, PDFs, attachments, via text, is really important as well. You can also add a “Text Us” button to your website, that will allow you to get more leads. So, you will see leads increased by 40-60% in the first three months if you put this “Text Us” button on your website. This is how it looks when you log in, you just log into the Kenect texting inbox. It looks and functions a lot like an email inbox, but it's for texting.

And that is really important, to know how this works. So, you just log in. Your clients, rather, just see a regular text message on their screen. Looks like it came from your main business number, but you are managing them like this. You can also do this on your cell phone and assign leads to people at your firm. You can make sure certain people don't see the text messages, you can make sure other people do. So, it's really secure. You can request payments with our LawPay Integration, schedule messages, invite to video chat, request reviews, et cetera, et cetera. All right, video chat I mentioned, just keeps the video consultation right in the text thread, which is important.

Okay, talk about Google Reviews as we head into 2022. First of all, I want to talk about Google My Business pages. So, Google My Business allows you to put basic and verified information about your business online. So, this is used by Google as the central location for verified information about your firm. And it can be used for engaging with clients and attracting new clients. Now, you're seeing on the right here, an actual Google My Business page from a real firm, it's got their website, directions, all their Google reviews, which we'll talk about more, the address, hours, phone number, questions and answers, which they haven't taken advantage of by the way, popular times, photos, et cetera. The thing that's interesting about this, is most law firms spend far more money and time on their website than they do on their Google My Business page.

That's understandable, to some degree, but then they kind of forget that the Google My Business page generally receives about five times more views than your actual website. That's huge. I want to say that again, your Google My Business page is generally going to receive five times, or more, views than your actual website that you're spending hundreds of dollars on a month and probably thousands of dollars over the space of a two or three year period. It is the place where reviews are left, it allows your business to show up on Google results, and in Google maps. If you wonder why some businesses have big red dots and others don't, it's because those businesses have verified and active Google My Business pages. And if you simply don't have a verified GMB listing, you will not be seen as reputable. So, that's important to know.

This is the second, the bottom half, of that Google My Business profile. It's just a place for reviews to go. This firm was doing fine, overall. I mean 4.8 stars is great, but their most recent review was five months ago and it was a bad one. So, they've got to get more positive reviews here, because you don't want the last review left to be a bad one, five months ago. We get questions all the time about how do you claim your Google My Business Profile. If you're a new firm or you don't know if this is claim, do this. Search your business on Google, Google will display what it knows about your business. If you do not have a verified profile, it will come up with this verbiage, own the business, question mark, click on that. You'll be prompted to log into your Gmail account, click manage now, and then Google will ask for confirmation.

So, they will call you, email you, or send you some sort of postcard that will allow you to verify that you're the owner of the business. That way, I or Dan can't just go and say, "We own your law firm," which we've thought about just doing.

Dan Couvrette:

Often.

McKay Allen:

Dan thinks about it all the time. So, that's really important to note, some other foundational information here. Google Reviews are the primary method for clients to share feedback about your business. Anyone using Google can review your law firm and leave a star rating. I think that's a misconception. I could go in, even though I've never been a client of any of your firms, I could go in and leave you a star rating. And that's a big deal because Google doesn't verify, they do not attempt to verify it. These reviews can be just star ratings, they can be long or short. So, I think Dan, that this causes some concern among law firms. Like, " I can't control what people are going to say. Google doesn't even confirm that they're actually my clients." Do you think law firms feel consternation, maybe about this, Dan?

Dan Couvrette:

Well, unfortunately, most law firms are not paying attention to it. And those that do know that you need to get a whole bunch of reviews from all of your clients, because the more you have, the more you water down anything that might be bad, or anything that might not be accurate, or anything that might come from an upset spouse on the other side of the case. So, lawyers who are engaged in this know you need to add lots of reviews. That's the bottom line. You can't control Google, you can communicate with Google. They, as you said, very rarely, if ever, remove a review. So, the strategy is get more reviews and set up a system, like McKay is going to talk about, to make sure you get as many reviews as possible, as easily as possible.

Why Google reviews matter?

McKay Allen:

Yeah, good point. I think you're right, most law firms aren't even actually thinking about it. So, just the fact that you're on this webinar thinking about it is a big deal. Okay, so let's talk about why Google reviews matter. There are two reasons they matter and I'm going to dig into both right now. First is, because they matter to clients. 93% of clients use reviews as the first step in choosing a law firm, 91% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. If you would've done this webinar, let's say five years ago, which isn't that long ago really, feels like it, but it's not that long ago. These numbers would've been in the high 50% range. It would've been like 56% and 58%, that's how much this has changed.

Almost every client is looking at reviews before they choose a firm, almost every single one. And almost every single one trusts those reviews as much as they would trust a neighbor, or a parent, or a friend, telling them about your firm. That's pretty startling. So, that's the first reason is because they matter to clients, your clients really do care. Most people will not take action until they read reviews, they need validation for their decision. If a law firm does not have reviews, they are seen as unreliable. That's a big deal. So, that's the first reason is because they matter to clients. Second is, because they matter to Google. And I can't stress this enough, this may be more important than the first reason. 97% of people go to Google when they want to find a law firm, they don't go to AVO, they don't go to Yelp, they don't go to Facebook.

Almost every client is looking at reviews before they choose a firm, almost every single one. And almost every single one trusts those reviews as much as they would trust a neighbor, or a parent, or a friend, telling them about your firm.

Those are great tools, but when people want to find a firm, they go to Google first. And then I want to stress this second point. Google determines the order in which firms are listed based on ratings and reviews. And the data shows that if you are not in the top three, you will not get clicked. 98% of the clicks, total, are in the top three listings. So, just to review my chain of logic here, almost everybody goes to Google when they want to find a firm. Google determines the order of the law firms based on ratings and reviews. And if you aren't in the top three, you won't get clicked. So, you have to focus on Google reviews if you want people to find you online, it's that simple.

Dan Couvrette:

Let me add one more thing.

McKay Allen:

Go ahead Dan.

Dan Couvrette:

So, some people may know Divorce Marketing Group. We help market family lawyers, build websites, newsletters, videos, podcasts, et cetera. And I'm now telling clients, and have been telling clients for the past two years, or three years, or four years, that the most important thing is what other people say about you. You could have the fanciest website in the world, but if somebody, as McKay says, does a Google search, they're going to see your Google My Business page on the right hand side. And they're going to see the good or bad reviews, or no reviews, or a Google My Business page with no information. And they'll make decisions based on that before they even get to your fancy website, which I know is in most cases, a pain for family lawyers to be involved in creating. So, if you've taken the time and energy to have a great website, you absolutely need to take the time and energy to make sure you've got the reviews that back up whatever you're going to say on your website about yourself.

And of course, you should have all your reviews on your website as well. So, it's a number one step for me now, is to make sure that this is handled. Handle your website second, and you wouldn't have heard me say something like that five or ten years ago, but this is the case now. And the information that McKay shared is from Clio, an annual survey they do, they have 150,000 clients. And that information is pulled from surveying those lawyer clients. That's across the board, not just family lawyers, but it's solid information and gives you a very clear idea as to how important it is to do these things and make sure that you're well thought of by people and that is by having great reviews.

McKay Allen:

Isn't it interesting how that shifted in five years, Dan. It's really crazy how much focus Google's putting on this. Now, one of the things that gets frustrating, I think for law firms, at times, is they are thinking about reviews, is they say, "Gosh, this is never consistent, like Google never shows things consistently." And they're right, to a point. So, for example, you will see, occasionally, results like this, where there's a map, then the Google My Business listings. Then there are instances when you will see paid listings first, then the map, then the Google My Business listings. Now, I've heard law firms say, "Well, how did someone get up here in the paid area?" They paid to be there, right? They bought these ads, they bought these listings, and they are paying Google, probably what Dan? Between 8 and 20 bucks a click, maybe more, is that fair?

Dan Couvrette:

They're testing different markets, and it's between $1,000 and $2,000 spend per month to get yourself there.

McKay Allen:

Yeah. So, it's expensive. I hear people lament, "Like man, it's not fair they can just pay and be up there." So, two things I would say to that, number one is you too could pay to be up there. And then the second thing is, they are not getting as many clicks as Berger Law is, down below the map. People will usually skip the ads and go to the organic Google My Business listings. So, it still is better to have a bunch of really good reviews than it is to be paid at the top, which is I think, important to note.

You will sometimes also see this version where you will see paid listings, then paid ads, which are slightly different products that Google sells, then the map, then the organic listing. So, it just depends on the search, on the day, on the market, on the exact term somebody searched, precisely the order in which these things will show. But again, on this page, which of all these, do you think gets the most clicks? It's the Combs Law Group at the bottom, because they are the highest ranked Google My Business listing on this page. Dan, any thoughts on the results pages here that we've shown?

Dan Couvrette:

Yeah, what you've said is accurate and Google is one of the most valuable companies in the world, and the only way they make money is from advertising. So, those ads do get clicked, it's just that they bring so many people. So many people go to Google and trust Google, that even though a small percentage of people click on those advertisements, that McKay's pointed out at the top, and under the ad section there. That it is a valuable tool if you're looking to generate clients, because it's often very difficult or impossible for you to get on page one in the organic search results, because people who are on page one are there for a multitude of reasons that we don't have time to go into in this webinar. So, if you want to be on page one, you can likely get there by buying your way to page one, and you'll pay every time somebody clicks on your advertisement.

McKay Allen:

Yeah. Google, if there's one thing they're good at it, they know how to make money. Why does Google care about these reviews? I think this is really important for people to note. Google cares because they have one job. That job is to produce the result the searcher wants to see, that's their job. And so if they believe that a searcher's trying to find a law firm, they are going to focus on finding the best law firms for that searcher. And they believe the best, and most accurate and reliable way to do that, is to find law firms that have really good Google reviews. So, think about it from their standpoint, they're trying to produce the result the searcher wants to see. That's important, I think, to understand. All right, let's talk about some predictions and updates from Google. These are predictions that we're making based on 2021 updates that Google made that we think will happen in 2022.

So first, and Dan I'm curious if you'd agree with these predictions or if you'd add anything to it. So, let me go through them and then you jump in. So, Google is going to place even more priority on Google Reviews. We saw their algorithm, as the year went on, shift toward Google Reviews even more. We think that'll continue. There will also be other user-generated content. So, there's talk that Google will allow businesses to post things like blog posts, and longer form content on their Google My Business page, the page itself.

They're also placing a priority on longer reviews. So, if your clients are leaving you longer reviews, and you reply with a thoughtful, somewhat lengthy reply, Google seems to be placing priority on that. We also believe there will be an introduction of video reviews and content. It seems, stands to reason, that Google will start to allow more video content on their site, on their Google My Business profiles, I mean. And then, this one we're already seeing, which is businesses are prioritized to update their Google My Business page consistently. Remember earlier, I showed you that area, the page where you can add pictures, and you can add hours, and you can post Q and A's, and that kind of thing. Businesses who that will be prioritized by Google, more than businesses who don't, and I think that's important to note. Dan, thoughts on these predictions. And then what would you say are any you'd add to this list?

Dan Couvrette:

Yesterday, a friend sent me a link to a video. I try and avoid watching these videos that friends send you, who are retired, but I happened to click on this one. It was dancing robots, it was amazing. These robots, I'm a pretty good dancer, I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty good dancer. These robots put me to shame in terms of what they can do on the dance floor. It's just an indication to me as to where we're going in terms of technology, it is not going to stop. I wrote an article probably 10 years ago for Family Lawyer Magazine, about where I thought things were going to go technology wise after talking to technology people, people in the software business, et cetera. And we have far surpassed where I thought we were going to be in 10 years, it is now going to continue to move exponentially.

And what that means is that Google obviously is a leader in this field. They will continue to evolve to make it easier for people to get the information they're looking for, whether that's videos, whether that's text, whatever it is they're going to work to become more and more intuitive, to figure out exactly what the person wants and match them up with who can provide that information.

So, the more information you can provide, and the more reviews in this case you can provide, that touch on different types of divorce cases. So, one review is about child custody. The other one is about property division, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The more you'll build a stronger foundation, that Google will be able to tap into that information as time goes on, to bring you up to the position that you should be, and want to be, to share with clients what you do, what you're great at. So, just keep on thinking about every possible thing that encourages somebody to consider or hire you. That's the information you want to come out, whether it's on your Google Review page or whether it's on your website, or obviously it should be both.

How to get positive reviews.

McKay Allen:

Yeah, that's great point. I think you're right on the overall trajectory of technology too. We're in a really interesting time where, when you have 97% of people going to one website looking, when they make decisions about law firms, that gives you some indication of how important that probably is. All right, let's talk quickly about how to get more positive reviews and then we'll take your questions. I want to focus on this because this is the real, where the rubber meets the road. I want to say quantity and recency here are maybe the most important. A minimum of 50 reviews is necessary, 150 is ideal. Google will not start paying attention to you until you have those 50 reviews. It's really difficult for Google to care when you don't have 50 reviews. Now, I hear some of you saying, "Gosh, I'm a small town solo attorney. How on earth can I do this?"

Don't fret, just build the process to do it. We'll talk about that process in a second. But, and also I would say, text people who were your clients three, four or five years ago, and have them leave a new review. There's nothing wrong with that. And then recency, you can't just do a blitz in the month of February and be like, "Gosh, we're going to get a hundred reviews, woo-hoo." You've got to go and get those reviews consistently because if you do the blitz method and get a hundred reviews in one month, three months go by and suddenly you have a bunch of old reviews again, just do it consistently.

So, how do you get more positive reviews? Number one is build a process to ask. This process does not need to be some 12-page manual, it can be these four bullet points. Who do you ask? Do you ask everybody or just those that like you? I want to be really clear here. You have no legal, or moral, or ethical obligation, to ask everybody to leave you a review. All you need to do is ask the people that like you. Otherwise, you're going to ask for a bunch of negative reviews that you otherwise probably wouldn't get. So, just ask those that like you to leave reviews, how do you ask? I'm going to make the case that you should ask via text. If you ask via email, you're likely going to get a 1-2% response rate, is what we see. If you ask via text, you're going to get a 35-45% response rate. We just published a case study yesterday that I can send out after this webinar, from a law firm who's getting a 57% response rate to text messages asking about reviews.

When do you ask, after the case? During the case? That's your call. I don't think there's a right answer there. Just ask when you know they're happy, is probably the best rule of thumb. And then finally, who's in charge of asking? Make sure you have an owner for this process. If you do not have an owner for this process, it will not work. You've got to have an owner for gathering reviews. So, that could be a marketing person. It could be an outside agency, it could be a receptionist. It could be a partner, doesn't really matter, just make sure somebody owns it. And then finally, ask in the right way, I mentioned texting before. Most law firms send an email asking for a review, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. It just usually doesn't work. You're going to get a 1-2% response rate if you do that. If you send a text, you're going to get 35-45% response rate.

And this one case study that we just published, indicated 57% response rate. You send a text that's got your logo. You can customize what this says here, select the review site, and they post the review. You do that, you're going to get reviews in a consistent way. Finally, this will be my last slide here, and then we'll take whatever questions you have. Steps of success is, number one, take control. Do not let angry clients determine your online reputation, get your great clients to leave reviews. I know you didn't get into this business to sell, you're not a salesperson, I get it, but you have to be aggressive about getting reviews. If you aren't, you will not get enough. So, go and aggressively get reviews. Sitting back and hoping you're going to get a bunch of good reviews is not a strategy. Go get the good ones, go get the good reviews. That's really, really important. So Dan, final thoughts here before we jump into a Q & A portion here.

Dan Couvrette:

I just want to mention one thing, McKay, talking about texting. Can you just clarify how a text, how it works for lawyers? Because when I talk to lawyers, their initial thought is I don't want to deal with the text. Like if somebody is a personal text, they're expecting a response from me personally. How does the system actually work for Kenect?

McKay Allen:

Yeah, so, good question. So you, or anybody at your firm that you designate, can log in to Kenect from any device, anywhere in the world. And send and receive text messages, just like you would send or receive emails to people. The from message that the text message will be from, will be your main business number. So, you won't need to give out that personal cell anymore ever, because every attorney I've ever talked to has given out that personal cell at some point and regretted it at some point. So, don't do that. Just say, "Hey, text us at our business number." And then you can assign the text messages. Let's say you have on one case an attorney, and maybe a legal assistant, working on a certain case, you could make it so that attorney and legal assistant, and maybe the partners, are the only people who see that text thread, or you can make it so everybody sees everybody's text threads.

Totally up to you and how you want to structure it, every firm does it a little differently. And then for your clients, they will see a regular text message that shows up on their cell phone, just like any other text message does. And they'll be able to respond to that text message. It'll go into that inbox, to the people who are allowed to see it. You can request reviews, you can send and receive photos. You can do a video chat, you can request pay payment via text. You can even collect new leads via text. So, I think the biggest confusion, sometimes we hear with law firms, is they're like, "Gosh, I don't want to buy everybody new cell phones." Or it's like, no, no, no. You just log into Kenect from any device, laptop or cell phone. And you can send text messages from the business address. So, hope that answered the question, Dan.

Dan Couvrette:

Yep.

McKay Allen:

All right, let's take some questions here. Can Kenect file text messages into a client's Clio file?

Yes, that's what we built the integration for, is all the text messages will flow into the proper place in Clio, for the client, and the contact information will go back and forth.

Alexander asks "How should a law firm respond to a negative review?" So, great question.

We're going to do a whole webinar about this in two weeks, about negative reviews and how to deal with them. But let me say this. Don't assume Google will take it down, they rarely will. So, that's the first thing. The second thing is, you should always respond, and respond with respect. So even if they're insane, just respond with, "Sorry you feel that way. My name's McKay, I'm one of the partners at the firm. I would love to speak with you about this personally and see if we can resolve this. Why don't you text us at our main firm phone number and I'll personally respond and see if we can resolve it." That's all you got to do. They're likely, never going to say anything again, but you've got to at least do that, so you make sure they look like the crazy one.

Dan Couvrette:

And get more reviews so that you water down any bad ones.

McKay Allen:

That's actually the right answer, Dan, is like the best way to deal with negative reviews is get more reviews, more good ones.

Dan Couvrette:

You talked about doing a blitz to get reviews, because I've had clients who've said to me, "Yeah, I'm just going to do a blitz and get reviews." What that causes, if you don't have a system in place, it causes you to become disappointed and it throws off your desire to create a system, it doesn't increase your desire. You just say I'm not going to worry about it. So, my and McKay's advice would be, set up the system, and set up the system through Kenect because it's the best one I can recommend, and start enjoying the results of the system. As McKay also says, your success rate will be more like 30%, rather than 1-2% from doing it blast. So long term, get a system in place.

McKay Allen:

Yeah, that's great. Yep, totally agree.

Okay. Susan says, "We have ethical rules against replying to reviews the way we want to. There's only a limited reply we can give. Is there a way to get a review removed? For instance, if it is a complete lie, like an opposing party, writes a review, pretending to be our client."

Yeah. So look, you can ask Google. Google generally only removes reviews when they are way over of the top, not somebody saying you're a liar. They won't take that down. But if they say, "Hey, this firm's a liar and I'm going to burn their office down." They will take that down. So, Google takes them down very rarely. Now, if you can prove or show that they are not your client, they will also occasionally take those down. But it's hard to prove or show that to Google, how you going to do that? So, keep that in mind, having them remove a review isn't a really good strategy because they kind of do that rarely.

Linda asked, "What's the best way to get Google to remove a review from an angry spouse?"

Same thing, Google's not likely to do it. The best thing to do is to respond to it and say, "I'm sorry you feel that way. If you want to talk about it, it doesn't look like you are our client, point that out in the review, doesn't appear that you are our client. I'd love to speak with you about this further though, text us at our main number.

Mark says, "I've heard Google's limiting the number of reviews and will actually start to kick out reviews if there are too many because they want to level the playing field."

No, I don't believe that's true at all. I think that they are going to be more selective about the reviews they allow. So, you may see certain reviews that in the past would've been published, that Google just will not publish for whatever reason. But no, our understanding is the opposite, that they want businesses to get more and more reviews.

Catherine says, "Most of the time you cannot talk to somebody who leaves a review because they're a former client."

Yeah, just reach out to them and see if they want to text you. I mean, that's all you can do, or they aren't a real client. Yeah, I'd say in the reply, just say, "Hey, please text this if you want to address this further." Disconnect to integrate with my case or a billing software. So we integrate with LawPay, a new integration we completed last month, we're really excited about. You can collect payments via text now. You'll get paid 85% faster, and we are building an integration with MyCase that will be done in Q1.

Yeah, Mark. You asked the same question about MyCase. Yep, we'll have that integration done, I believe in February.

Awesome. Thanks everybody. This was great. We wanted to keep this below 40 minutes and we did that. So, thanks again. We really appreciate your time, and again, thanks for jumping on the call today. Dan, any final thoughts?

Dan Couvrette:

This last thing, if people want to listen to other webinars that you've done, McKay, that can go to familylawyermagazine.com, we've got a number of them up there. And it's always a pleasure to do these with you. McKay, you've always got great information and I know you guys are up for helping people and their businesses. So, I appreciate the opportunity to work with you.

McKay Allen:

Thanks Dan. And I would say as well, Divorce Marketing Group and Family Lawyer Magazine. Great, great, partners for us. And if you're interested in learning more about Kenect, just text or call us at the number on your screen there, or go to kenect.com, either way. So thanks again, everybody have a fantastic day.

Kenect - Reputation Management for Dealerships

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