How You Can Get Better REviews and more repeat business
It’s easy!
The secret isn’t in “reputation management.” Read below to learn why.
I can tell you from responding to thousands of online restaurant reviews that most people write good reviews. What few bad reviews you get probably aren’t going to sink you, but how you respond to the bad and good reviews can certainly float you higher. So all those companies selling “reputation management” services that alert you when something is wrong are really just selling scare tactics. What you really need is online customer relationship management. Let me explain.
Alerting you to negative reviews is just the tip of the iceberg.
Even if you had the time to be sitting in front of your computer responding to reviews, you shouldn’t be the one doing it. You take the reviews too personally. You get mad, defensive and probably are a hot head needing to prove you are right and the complaining customer is wrong.
Well, that’s the wrong approach, and besides, YOU DON’T HAVE THE TIME!
You can never go wrong with being kind, respectful and timely. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve quickly responded to a POSITIVE review to have the reviewer THANK US for the comments and pledge to return soon. That’s what review management is about. Getting the vast majority of people who are happy with your product and service to feel a personal connection with your restaurant so they come back more often! Arguably even more important is the fact that the hundreds of prospective customers who read the reviews and responses will see you are a restaurant that cares and responds!
Sure there is the occasional negative review by someone who’s usually venting anger for the moment. When you respond with kindness, more often than not, the reviewer APOLOGIZES and REVISES THE REVIEW.
Now consider this: because Yelp shows reviews in 1/2 star increments, a restaurant whose reviews average 3.74 stars is displayed as a 3.5 star rating, while one who averages ever-so-slightly more, at 3.76 is shown as a 4 star rating! Lifting your average star rating as little as 2/100ths of a point can display as much as a half-star better to the public! A study by Yelp shows that a half star increase results in 19% more reservations. So as little as .02 of a point increase in average review scores make a huge impact on your revenues! That’s why every review counts and if you can get a couple bad ratings improved or removed, that can make all the difference.
HOW WE DO IT
our secrets to success
WE DON’T ARGUE. We politely set the record straight when opinions are stated as facts. We have no ego associated with the review. Our main goal is to show you are a caring, responsive restaurant who listens to feedback. We excel at getting people who write negative reviews to either remove them, upgrade them, and come back to give the restaurant another try; and people who write good reviews to be even more amazed at how nice we are and come back more often.
People tend to jump on a bad review and respond–having to prove they are right. I always jump on a good review and respond as quickly as possible. It keeps the customer’s feel good feeling going. On the other hand, I always wait a day to respond to bad reviews. I’ve learned that the customer has to settle down and get reasonable before he or she will CHANGE THE REVIEW ON THEIR OWN.
HERE’S ONE OF OUR ALGORITHMS. HER NAME IS SUSAN! We use real people to answer our reviews, often grandmas. Yes, grandmas. They use judgement, empathy and good manners when responding to reviews, as opposed to you who always has to be right and takes comments personally. Trust me, you aren’t the right person to answer your own reviews. Grandmas are. It works!
REAL TESTIMONIALS FROM SUCCESSFUL RESTAURANTS
OUR SERVICE DOES NOT JUST SUPPLY STRATEGY OR ANALYTICS. WE ACTUALLY GET IN THERE AND ANSWER THE REVIEWS–WE DO THE ACTUAL WORK!
Tom and his team have been handling our reviews for three years and it’s been great. I can’t tell you the number of times customers thank us for responding to their review and they almost always say they will return soon!
”It takes so much stress out of my day. I used to dread answering reviews. Tom always says the perfect response–exactly as I would have and even better!
”It’s great having all the reviews handled and especially seeing the report each month showing how they compare to previous months and other competitors. It’s very helpful!
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