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Customer reviews are an asset for your business. Besides providing valuable feedback to your product and services, they are a validation to your company and an assurance of quality for other customers.
According to a 2017 survey, 84% of consumers trust reviews just as personal recommendations. The same study found that up to 10 people have the knack for reading online restaurant reviews before placing any food orders.
These online reviews can be used in social media marketing as testimonials and are also a source of building a brand for your restaurant. Therefore, directly or indirectly, online reviews boost your restaurant’s reputation and ultimately ahead of increased sales.
Train Your Staff
You should train your staff to ask satisfied customers to leave reviews politely.
If your restaurant takes each negative review into account, ensure that it is addressed by your staff or someone else in your absence. A proactive approach is often the best rebound from online crisis containment when things go out of hand.
Incentivize Online Reviews
Your restaurant can offer some discount or a free drink for each customer review. You can also provide discount coupons which can be used on the next purchase. Another way of encouraging customer reviews is through using them in advertisements. This way, people feel honored and motivated. As a result, others will do the same.
Valued Customer
Another way of encouraging the customers is to give a special shoutout to the customer through social media pages.
Restaurants can host a ‘Customer of the Week’ event where they can display their pictures on the board inside. They can also value them by adding one of the customer’s recipes to their menu, or they can name any dish on the customer’s name.
Such tactics create a personal relationship between the restaurant and the customer and speak volumes about your brand and the core values that surround it.