Impact of Negative Customer Reviews
If you're a restaurant owner, you know too well that bad customer reviews can have a negative ripple effect on your bottom line. From epic owner meltdowns to 50% decrease in restaurant profits, a negative review in this day and age is something that should be dealt with appropriately.
I've read several stories of restaurant owners who allow these bad reviews to overcome their civilized manners. From the owner who hunted a reviewer down to the owner who fires back online causing more damage to their reputation and business.
Where Do Restaurant Reviews Live?
If you have been living under a rock, welcome back! Sun is still shining and the world is still turning but a few things have changed. There are several restaurant review sites and as a restaurant owner you should be managing a profile on all of them.
Popular Review Sites:
Yelp
Google Plus Business
OpenTable
TripAdvisor
Zagat
UrbanSpoon
Benefits of Positive Customer Reviews
The benefits of positive customer reviews are seemingly endless. Typically, excellent restaurant reviews can increase walk ins, raise brand awareness, and improve SEO. A properly managed review profile can also improve customer satisfaction by creating an open communication between customers and owners and improve restaurant profitability by creating new loyal customers and sustaining a higher average profit.
Improve Restaurant Reviews in 3 steps:
1 - Be Transparent and Communicative
At the end of the day, an honest, hard working business will get noticed and everything positive will follow. But if only a handful of customers know this, your business may not see growth. It's important to get the word out! Show the world (or local area), how proud you are to work in the restaurant industry. Be transparent by letting customers know why certain items are costly or why certain menu items become available irregularly. Communicate diplomatically and effectively by asking your customers questions, for instance: What is your favorite menu item? How can we improve customer service?, What do you think about our restaurant atmosphere? This 2 way communication will show customers your business is run by a human being, just like them, who care about making improvements.
2 - Be Selective When Hiring and Train Often
Your employees are like the front line of a colonial army marching into battle. If they are effective employees, then the job will get done and customers will have a great experience. If they are ineffective, customers may have a negative experience and it does not end with the employee - your brand may get hurt. Being selective when hiring staff is very important. When you have a group of great employees, train them often so they themselves improve. Restaurants known for customer service, like Chick-fil-a, do this and it shows.
3 - Ask for Reviews
Notice I did not say ask for "positive" reviews, I just said ask for reviews, period. Don't beg, it's not pretty. You can ask for reviews in the most subtle ways. For example, you can place a review sticker on your front door or on your menu, or you can place a review badge on your website, maybe you can incorporate a simple message on your table checks. Either way, the point is to create some buzz from time to time.
How To Monitor Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty Through Multiple Units?
Managing multiple data feeds through multiple restaurants like QSR's or Franchise Chains, is simple. You don't have to create complex spreadsheets and waste hundreds of hours collecting data and making it ready to analyze. There our simpler ways.
Mirus Restaurant Solutions, a leader in restaurant performance management, helps restaurants do just that. With their Enterprise solution, management receives powerful insight like "How are my 200 franchises doing regarding customer satisfaction?" If there is a problem with 15 units, "what exactly is the source of the problem?".
To learn more, download an Enterprise collateral piece (PDF).
What Are Your Thoughts?
Is there a unique way you manage restaurant reviews?
Have you experienced negative restaurant reviews? And if so, how did you handle it?
Have you ever reviewed a restaurant before? And if so, what prompted you to do so?
If you are interested in learning how to increase restaurant profits by knowing your customers, check out this blog: 5 Ways to Increase Profitis by Knowing your Customers
Or you could learn: How to Attract Millennial Customers to your Restaurant.
About Mirus:
Mirus provides decision makers across operations, finance and marketing with actionable intelligence. Our analytic software consolidates transactional information and a host of other data sources to measure and improve restaurant performance. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Mirus is a recognized leader in restaurant business intelligence.
For more information, please visit www.mirus.com
