Restaurant Online Reputation Management

History of Online Reputation Management in Restaurants

Of course, online restaurant reputation management is nothing new. Indeed, establishing a strong reputation through word-of-mouth has existed long before the creation of the internet.

If customers received a poor experience at a restaurant, word would travel fast to other customers.

Back then, reputation management was simply word of mouth.

Historically, customer satisfaction has always been an essential part of retaining customer loyalty and increasing profits from newly referred guests.

Restaurant Online Reputation Management Today

Today, reputation management has predominantly moved to the internet. In fact, now, customers rarely trust advertisements when compared to online social proof.

Ideally, most customers prefer to share their experiences online for others. In fact, a whopping 85% of consumers are willing to leave reviews.

Why Online Reputation Management is Important

How a restaurant chooses to manage its reputation can hurt or hinder their traffic.

Unfortunately, more than 60% of customers will not enter a restaurant after reading negativity online.

But, while it’s increasingly essential for restaurants to capture a high quantity of positive feedback, it’s equally important to respond professionally and constructively to negative feedback.

How to Improve Reputation Marketing in Restaurants

According to TripAdvisor, as many as 93% of executives consider enhancing and managing their online reviews as the most critical factor in their future business.

Likewise, one of the most effective ways to collect positive customer feedback is with Bloom Intelligence’s WiFi marketing suite of tools.

Three ways that Bloom Intelligence can help with reputation management:

 

1.) Triggered Marketing Campaigns

After someone visits your restaurant, you can send an automated and timed response to each customer, asking them to review their experience.

If they provide a positive review, you can send a follow-up email, incentivizing them to leave the positive review on popular sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor.

Alternatively, suppose they provide a negative review. In this case, it’s crucial to reach guests before they share a negative review publically online.

If a guest has had a poor experience, you can send an automated follow-up email asking how to make their experience better.

You can provide the guest with an offer to come back and visit to receive free chips, a drink, or dessert. Whether customers give your restaurant a positive or negative review, their repeat business is crucial.

Additionally, the cost of acquiring a new customer is a staggering five times more than retaining an old one.

2.) WiFi Landing Page Reviews

Instead, or in addition to sending an email to ask your guests about their experiences, you can add a review area to your WiFi login page.

That way, whenever a guest logs into your WiFi, they will see a section where they can provide their review.

Then, the customer’s review can trigger email follow-ups to either capture their feedback on a review site if it was positive or ask them how you can make their next experience better if it was negative.

3.) Facebook Ads

As more and more customers log into your WiFi landing page, your email list will grow.

Once you have a significant amount of customer emails, you can upload them into Facebook to create a Facebook Ad campaign.

The ad can only be seen by customers who log into Facebook with the same WiFi login emails. Your ad can ask for their review on a popular review site.

How to Use Positive Restaurant Reviews

A positive guest review is excellent social proof that is worth sharing.

A study by Northwestern University’s Spiegel Research Center claims that someone viewing five reviews online is 270% more likely to convert than with no reviews.

You can share review snippets on your social media accounts or your website. The more people that see these positive reviews, the more first-time customers you will receive.

Regardless of whether your customers log into WiFi, you can track first-time visitors in the Bloom Dashboard monthly to evaluate your social proof efforts’ success.

How to Receive Feedback and Respond Positively and Proactively

Truthfully, every review that you receive will not be flattering. So, you can filter your Bloom Intelligence positive reviews that you obtain through landing pages or automated emails.

However, how you respond to the negative feedback that makes their way to review sites or your inbox is very important.

53% of customers expect businesses to respond to negative reviews within one week. Consumers in their 40’s and above are most likely to stop visiting a place if no one addresses their concerns.

89% of travelers said a thoughtful response to a negative review improved their impression of a business.

 

 

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