The most effective Restaurant Reputation Management Strategy that drives engagement for innovative restaurants involves reading, replying, and learning from your reviews.
A recent reputation management study found that restaurants that reply to their reviews achieve 80% more online reservations than those that don’t.
So, as a restaurant, what do you need to reap the benefits of great reputation management? First, treat your online reviews as real humans; they are human reviews. Then, if a new review comes your way, answer it!
If a customer made a comment or a suggestion at the restaurant, we would think it crazy if we walked by and ignored it; we would stop, listen, and answer them. Sometimes, we might not even agree with our customer’s opinions, but that would not prevent us from answering and engaging with our customers. There should be no difference between online reviews; they are still our clients and have essential information for us.
Replying to reviews and engaging with your customers online will help to increase your brand loyalty and get more repeat customer visits.
How to get the most out of Online Reviews?
- Get your customers to leave reviews online by encouraging them while in your restaurant.
- Encourage them to leave reviews on Facebook, TableOnline, TripAdvisor and Yelp – not just Google.
- Make sure you reply to your reviews – 33 per cent of customers who receive a reply to a negative review change their review to be more positive.
- Get as many reviews as you can as often as you can. Review velocity is important for rankings.
- Reply to reviews fast – information from Google suggests that restaurant locations that reply to reviews in under 5 minutes are more likely to rank higher in local searches.
Innovative restaurants focus on constantly optimising their online presence, and review management is a key area to actively manage, ensuring they are present where dinners currently are online.
