No matter how much foot traffic enters your restaurant, you always want more.
We know that restaurant owners and operators are constantly crunched for time. Here are some powerful tips and ideas to help increase foot traffic at your restaurant.
Not only will these tips help you bring in more new guests, they will also keep your current guests coming back again and again.
Better still, most of these tips can be automated, saving you time while improving your restaurant business.
Proactively Manage Online Ratings and Reviews
A study performed by Michael Anderson and Jeremy Magruder, professors at the University of California, Berkeley, found that positive reviews directly correlate to increases in foot traffic during peak business times.
For restaurants specifically, they found that a ½-star rating increase resulted in a 30-40 percent increase in the number of peak-time bookings.
Based on this study, online rating websites may not generate attributable financial returns, but they can definitely affect business success, driving more foot traffic and revenue.
There have been several more studies about the effects of positive customer reviews and ratings. For example, websitebuilder.org collected data and statistics about the impact of good and bad user reviews.
More Statistics
As you think about their statistics below, think about current foot traffic and revenue at your place of business. You’ll realize just how valuable user ratings and reviews are.
Here are some facts they discovered in their survey:
- 72% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more.
- 61% of consumers have read online restaurant reviews, more than any other type of business.
- 53% of 18-to-34-year-olds report that online reviews factor into their dining decisions, as do 47% of frequent full-service customers.
- 34% of diners choose a restaurant based on information provided on a peer review website.
- Consumers are likely to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews.
So, it is easy to see that getting more (and better) customer ratings and reviews is crucial. These reviews can help grow your customer base. Positive reviews can also improve revenue and drive down costs.
This trend is expected to remain the case for the foreseeable future. This is true, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tips For Managing Your Online Reviews
The first step in using ratings and reviews to improve your business is to solicit, monitor, and evaluate them closely and consistently.
Getting on a regular schedule of evaluating and responding to your reviews can help. You may begin to see specific patterns emerging.
When you identify an issue, good or bad, you should take immediate action to improve it.
For example, maybe you begin to see many positive reviews about a specific menu item or product. You could then feature it as a special. Perhaps you see consistent low reviews about a particular item. You could try modifying the recipe or removing it from your menu/inventory.
As another example, let’s say you notice great reviews about your front-of-house/showroom’s cleanliness. You could use these reviews to tell the world what other people are saying and experiencing about your business.
Or perhaps you notice consistent comments about uncleanliness. Then you can immediately start paying more attention to keeping your business clean, smelling good, and free of clutter.
Above all, you must keep a consistent schedule of monitoring and responding to your reviews.
Soliciting Positive Online Ratings and Reviews
Requesting reviews from guests verbally is not as effective. Many of them will forget, or they will not find time to locate your rating pages online.
For better results, restaurateurs can use email messaging to request ratings and reviews. That way, guests will have the links to your rating pages, and they can rate and review your business when it is convenient for them.
According to an online report, the average open rate for review request emails was 69%, and the conversion rate of emailed review requests is 21%. So it makes good sense to use email messaging to request them.
This will help ensure a consistent flow of positive online reviews. In turn, it will help attract more new guests and keep them coming back.
Automate the Process
With Bloom Intelligence, you can automate your restaurant reputation management processes!
After a pre-configured amount of time has elapsed after a guest leaves your establishment, an automated email is sent asking them to rate their experience directly on Google, Facebook, or the Bloom platform.
When the guest clicks on a button, they are taken directly to your ratings page on Facebook, Google, or the Bloom platform.
Or, if they had a bad experience, they are encouraged to contact you directly so you can make it right. This gives the ability for your guests to vent their frustrations directly with you if they did have a bad experience. Then you can engage those customers to make things right again.
Guests with a positive experience are encouraged to rate you directly on Google, Facebook, or Bloom.
Bloom integrates closely with Google and Facebook, so when the guest submits reviews on those platforms, they are sent to the Bloom Intelligence platform in real-time.
Now you’ll be able to discover new ratings, and then see, monitor, and respond to all reviews in one, simple place! This will save you a lot of time to concentrate on other aspects of growing your business.
Using a WiFi marketing and customer intelligence platform like Bloom Intelligence can help you execute these restaurant marketing strategies at a very affordable price.
It is perhaps the most powerful way to boost revenue, improve online ratings, bring back lost customers, and improve customer lifetime values – all while saving time and money.
If you would like to see Bloom in action, and how easy it is to use, call us today to schedule a demo, or schedule a demo online here.
.svg)