Before the digital era, we relied on testimonials from our friends, family, and acquaintances. Nowadays, that’s old news, especially since we are surrounded by online review sites like Facebook, Google, TripAdvisor, Zomato, and others. These platforms offer a free opportunity to collect feedback in the form of positive reviews and advice about your business, whatever its nature.
The importance of online reviews is not only to show how exceptional your five-star experience is to your customers but also to measure and understand your business’s strengths and weaknesses. If you’re a restaurant, you want to know which dish you serve best. If you’re a clinic, you want to know which doctor or nurse is the best, you get the idea. You also want to be aware of any negative reviews.
Many studies show that reliable customer reviews now have a greater influence on online purchase decisions than family and friends do for 68% of customers, while recommendations from friends and family influence only 42% of consumers. That’s a significant difference considering your future depends on your potential customers. On the other hand, brand reputation and trustworthy online reviews have replaced the good old word-of-mouth recommendations — which are still important today!
A key point to understand here is to interact, engage, and connect daily with your customers and potential clients on review sites and search engines. The brand-customer relationship has evolved so much over the past decade that brands connect and add value to people’s lives every day, whether in small or big ways. It always matters.
In light of this introduction, it’s clear that online customer reviews play an important role in developing and enriching a brand’s reputation, both online and offline. Make no mistake, the web represents a significant part of offline life; they are interconnected because everything that happens in real life becomes viral immediately and vice versa. Therefore, it’s essential that you encourage your customers to contribute to your brand and leave online reviews. Whether positive or negative, it’s always their honest opinion and a good way to improve your search engine optimization. From there, it’s up to you to decide.
Here are some methods to encourage customers to leave reviews and the hidden costs of not doing so:
Satisfied customers are a goldmine waiting to be discovered — invite them to write about their experiences. Since they are happy, they will likely write joyfully when asked. With online marketing, timing can be critical. As soon as you spot a satisfied customer, you should ask for their review and a positive write-up. The happier the customer is with their experience, the more enthusiastically they will write, which benefits the business.
As restaurateurs, missing this opportunity is like missing the school bus: your brand loses the value that this customer could have added, missing the chance to be introduced to their social circle — and also their social circle’s circle. Good news travels fast, just like bad news. You missed the freshness of the experience. Since it’s a recent experience to describe, if you ask later, they will write a cliché. More importantly, you forgot to show the customer how much you value their opinion, which is priceless to them.
Catch them while they’re happy, my friend, and make up for a bad review. Advertise smartly using your online social media platforms!
A trendy way to interact with brand followers is to run a contest based on reviews. Create a post that says something like:
"Leave us a review! Once we get 100 reviews, we’ll give a gift!"
Most people don’t like spending their precious time writing online reviews, but who wouldn’t want to win a gift? Make sure to keep up and fulfill your gift promise, and when you do, make it go viral. It’s free, smart, and exciting. Not doing this can actually cost you customers or followers to someone else. Worse, it might make them lose interest in your online channel because followers simply want to feel a sense of belonging. If you don’t give them the feeling of being part of your brand, they will surely look for that engagement elsewhere.
At some point, customers will end up on the brand’s official website, it’s inevitable. So, if some pages on the website contain a “review request,” the chances that someone will write one are higher. It’s important to provide this for user experience. Another method is to show a nice pop-up. However, don’t do this on every page, as it can quickly become very annoying and ruin the user experience.
Giving up this habit would affect daily interaction; it wouldn’t be extremely catastrophic but won’t keep you top of mind. The efforts you make to be part of their daily life and reflect on their entire journey as customers, while creating innovative ways to participate in and enrich this journey, will pay off 100%. Potential customers can feel important if they get the chance to leave a review even before dining at your establishment.
Google reviews play a crucial role in the world of online brand reputation. Your ratings are extremely important in how potential customers perceive you on Google My Business. Note that 35% of customers say Google reviews encourage them to dine at a restaurant.
Make sure you have created a Google My Business account to manage this aspect of your online reputation. Did you know your restaurant probably appears on Google even if you haven’t created your own Google My Business account? Don’t forget to check out our other blog about how important it is to encourage customers to leave reviews on Google to improve your Google My Business profile. Improving your activity on Google My Business directly enhances your search engine optimization.
https://www.localyser.com/blog/google-reviews-matter-for-restaurants
Again, people just need a little encouragement to take the next step and write a comment and leave a few stars on your rating. First, the customer must know the business wants a review. Second, the customer must know where to go and what is expected of them: it sounds like a briefing, doesn’t it? It is!
Make sure to send them to online review sites such as Google for Google reviews, Facebook, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. You can include a clickable link and thank them for participating to help the business provide even better service in the future. Ignoring this step prevents the customer from knowing why it’s important and how they can help. They might sometimes feel uncertain about the most important platform to leave their review.
As soon as a customer thinks they are indifferent to your brand, you lose the connection with them. So, use this well and get those Google reviews written by your satisfied customers.
Not encouraging customers to write their honest feedback disconnects your brand; it loses its emotional appeal with customers, reduces the sense of belonging and appreciation, and they may think their opinion is neither valued nor needed. Give them the feeling, “I review, therefore I am.” Make them exist at the heart of your brand.
Localyser can help your hospitality business, improve your restaurant’s SEO, and get those positive customer reviews for your business. Our online reputation management company is here to improve your Google search, your digital marketing strategy, encourage 5-star ratings, and help your restaurant business deliver a more positive experience. Schedule a demo with us today.
