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The Restaurant Review Dance: Four steps to a better reputation

September 30, 2016

The importance of both knowing, and fiercely protecting your restaurant’s reputation online, is integral to business success today in any area of food service. For proof, look no further than the following three research findings:

• The addition of a single star in Yelp ratings for restaurants equates to a 5 to 9 percent bump in revenue, according to research from Harvard Business School Professor Michael Luca. 
• More than one-third of diners report that  peer  reviews  impact  their  restaurant choices, while 53 percent of millennials say online reviews play a role in their dining decisions, according to the National Restaurant Association 2012 National Household Survey.    
• One survey found about 61 percent of consumers report checking online reviews about a restaurant before their visit — more than any other business category. 

The four-step dance to a better reputation: 

Now that we’ve made the case for closely guarding this online asset, here are four basic steps that make it easy for you to waltz right into a better online reputation and the customers that come with it: 

Step 1:  Create and  Optimize

Make  a  list  of  sites  that  are  relevant  to  your  business. Some  of  the  major  players in our current restaurant review landscape, include:  

•Yelp 

•TripAdvisor 

•Zomato 

•Google 

•Zagat 

•Facebook 

Also keep in mind that if you offer catering or similar other types of service-related food service functions, also consider checking out Angie’s List.

Now, when checking each of these sites, determine whether you already have an existing listing. If you do, claim that page. If not, create it from scratch and then follow these steps to ensure each location’s listing is optimized for accuracy and customer leads: 

• Accuracy: Ensure your address, phone  numbers, hours of operation and other basic contact and ordering information are completely accurate. Also ensure that the type of cuisine and price range, as well as eating-in or dining-out options are all correct.
• Menu:Either publish your menu in the listing or link to your menu. Make a regular notice to update this information, as well as pictures, logos and other visual items that are critical to your impression on customers.
• Incentive:Add incentives, like special offers, coupons as well as perks for those who spread good word via social media, along with links to your brand's social media sites.

Step 2: Generate  reviews   

Now pick up things on the other end, by doing the necessary work to prompt customers to provide feedback about your brand on these sites. Here are just a few ways to accomplish that:  

• Train  staff  to  request  feedback: Make sure employees know that this should be an organic, conversational subject in their dealings with customer and that they must never offer incentives for customers to give feedback about your food or service online.
• Use table tents, to-go packaging information and other signage to direct customers to review sites online to share their impressions of your brand.
• Share customers’ reviews on your social media venues and elsewhere, particularly those that highlight great food, service or customer loyalty.

Step 3:  Respond  and manage 

• Stay abreastof what’s happening on review sites, as far as customer comments are concerned, and maintain rapport with those who post reviews, even if they are less than positive. It pays to show you are responsive even to negative words, and that you want to build a relationship with customers and keep them happy.   
• Use negative reviewsas chances to invite a customer back for another try and give your restaurant another chance to exceed customer expectations. 
• Be timely in your responses. Leave no more than 24 hours between customer post and response.

Step 4: Analyze

• Analyze your reviews across different platforms, with an eye toward possible trends, including difficulties with a particular employee, location or shift.
• Compare your reviews to those of your competition, with an eye toward what a customer would take away after reading about your restaurant as well as competing brands. Are there weaknesses you can improve, or strengths you can accentuate?
• Designate an individual or group of individuals to keep an eye on these comments and reviews for regular reporting if you cannot do so yourself.
• Make sure you are respondingin a  pro-active way to negative feedback to demonstrate you are there to please the customer.