In the restaurant industry, online reputation is just as important as food. If your operation receives overwhelmingly positive reviews, it means more customers and increased profits. On the other hand, negative reviews of your establishment will likely have the opposite results. Online reviews are that strong. Consumers put a great deal of weight on reviews, especially in the restaurant industry.
With this in mind, the infographic below, How to Deal with Bad Online Reviews of Your Restaurant, highlights the influential power of reviews and how to minimize the damage of bad reviews. The infographic also discusses a few positive aspects of having your restaurant reviewed.
Firstly, if you receive a bad review the most important damage control technique a restaurant can employ is replying. Responding the right way can turn a negative review into a positive and responding the wrong way will turn that negative into a vastly bigger negative review. The infographic should be helpful as a response technique guide. Remember that potential customers will also evaluate your response just as they would with the negative review itself. This is why it’s a good idea to professionally reply to negative reviews. Give yourself a chance to reflect on the underlying problem and the complaint the customer had. Then respond just as diplomatically as you would to a customer experiencing a problem right at your operation.
To correctly respond to negative reviews, you must monitor review sites for your restaurant daily so you can discover them. Assigning a person to spot-check reviews on an inconsistent basis usually isn’t good enough or fast enough.
Remember: Customer issues never get better with age. A badly delayed response is sure to ignite the issue further. This might leave reviewers with the impression you either don’t care about reviews or don’t operate as efficiently when it comes to acting on problems. On the other hand, a quick and professional response can win customers back and convince potential customers that see your restaurant as a responsive and committed business. For more insight into managing negative reviews for your restaurant, please continue reading below.
Infographic created by TouchBistro, a restaurant POS hardware provider
