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The Internet has changed how we do everything, from shopping, to business, to yes, even dining.
In addition to being able to find restaurants quickly and look at menus online before you go, nowadays it’s not an uncommon thing for diners to leave a restaurant and immediately post a review to a website such as Yelp.
As a restaurant owner, you may be wondering if these reviews can help you or hurt you. Do people actually read such reviews before deciding on a place to eat?
The answers to these questions are that they can both help and hurt you, and depending on the type of restaurant you have and your location, you can very much expect that diners will in fact read these reviews before visiting.
As a business owner, you can’t choose to participate in the online review process, and you certainly can’t change the direction that technology is heading. Since more and more people are reviewing everything they spend money on these days, you might as well get used to the fact that your restaurant is probably going to be reviewed at some point. You can’t change a bad review, but you can increase your chances of getting good ones. Read on to learn why these reviews matter, how to get good ones, and what to do if (gasp!) you get a not so friendly review from a customer.
Why Online Review Sites Matter (And How They Help You)
Sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Urban Spoon offer more than just the ability to rate restaurants and other businesses. One of the biggest benefits these sites offer restaurant owners is that they make it easy for customers to find restaurants. In an age when most people have a GPS in their pocket, the ability to find the closest restaurant to their exact location is great for business owners.
In addition, they make it easy for diners to get all the information they need in one place. Better reviews mean more customers, especially if you have a lot of reviews and a high rating.
Another great thing about reviews is that you can see what you’re doing right or wrong, and improve on it. In the past, if diners never came back, you might never know why. Now you know, and you have the opportunity to fix it.
Remember, however, that reviews are only beneficial if they are honest, so don’t be tempted to create a fake account (or two) to increase your ratings.
How to Get Consistent Five Star Ratings
Getting consistently five star reviews isn’t difficult if you care about your business. There are some things you can do to increase your chances of receiving high praise.
Decide What’s Important to You
What are you trying to accomplish with your restaurant? Is it cheap food quickly or a more relaxing and upscale experience? Figure out what that is, and go after that, without trying to get every type of customer in your restaurant.
Knowing whom your customer is and catering to that type of person will ensure good reviews. In other words, don’t try to attract vegetarians to your steakhouse.
Read Reviews on Your Restaurant
You should periodically read the reviews on your restaurant to see what diners are saying. In most cases, you’ll notice that people tend to have the same thing to say.
Don’t just look at ratings, read the actual review thoroughly. Many reviewers leave high ratings, but will mention a minor problem they encountered. If you read it, you can find out what these small problems are and fix them.
Look Up Your Competition
Being public information, you can now see what other people are saying about your competition. Look them up, read their reviews, and see what people like and dislike to get ideas for what you can do to improve.
Whatever you do, do not try to sabotage a competitor. Most sites have ways to filter these types of reviews out, and it can only hurt your business in the long run if you are found out.
Provide Excellent Customer Service
Good customer service scores major points when it comes to restaurant reviews. While you can’t control people’s taste buds, you can control how you and your employees treat diners. Remember, people are much more likely to talk about a bad experience than a good one, so do your best to ensure that experiences are always good.
Provide Something Noticeable
People write reviews when something stands out, whether good or bad, so make sure that you stand out in a good way.
Maybe you’re a casual restaurant with an upscale feel, and one thing that stands out about your restaurant is that your waiters are wearing bright white chef’s coats. Make sure those jackets are always crisp and clean.
Don’t Ask For Positive Reviews
While it’s perfectly okay to place a sign on your window that says something along the lines of “Find Us on Yelp,” it is generally frowned upon to specifically ask for anyone to leave you a good review. For reviews to be helpful, it’s best to allow customers to be honest when reviewing your restaurant.
How to Deal with Negative Press
Don’t Respond Right Away
Before you type out a scathing response to a reviewer telling them how wrong they are, take a breath, and step away from the computer. Even if you think a customer is completely wrong, they have put their opinion in a public place and some people will take it as fact. How you react to it shows your professionalism. You should respond, but waiting a day or two to calm down isn’t going to hurt.
The only reason you shouldn’t wait is if the reviewer used name calling, derogatory or obviously offensive remarks, or said something that you know for a fact is not true (it sounds like a competitor, for example.) In these cases, you don’t need to respond, you simply need to report it to the website where the review is found.
Is the Review True?
While your first reaction to a bad review may be anger, you should read it carefully and decide if it is true. It can be difficult to look at your business this way, but sometimes it’s the only way to improve upon your shortcomings.
Compare it to Other Reviews
If you have more than one negative review, look at them and see if they all say the same kinds of things. If so, you probably have a problem, whether you want to admit it or not. You may believe that your staff is perfectly polite, or that your service is super fast, but if several customers say otherwise, then you’re probably wrong.
Make an Offer of Amends
When you respond, you should be polite, apologetic, and ask the customer to give you another chance. A free meal is a good start, and much better than a paltry discount that could be seen as insulting. If you have the opportunity to make the response public, you should do so so that other reviewers can see that you are willing to make things right.
Conclusion
Restaurant reviews aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but that’s a good thing, because if you care about your restaurant and your customers, these sites work to your advantage. By keeping up with reviews, and handling negative ones professionally, these sites can be great for your business.