How To Utilize Review Platforms for Your Restaurant Business

Word of mouth has always been one of the most important and influential factors for a business’s success, especially for restaurants. People like to talk about their favorite restaurant and share their thoughts about how they like any particular dish of any specific restaurant.

And as most of the world is on the internet, review platforms enjoy their fair share of importance. Review platforms such as Google reviews now stand tall as one of the factors for a customer’s purchase decisions. Therefore you might have noticed that many brands are using the Google review widgets for their website to showcase reviews on their respective websites. Various tools readily available in the market enable users to embed Google reviews on websites easily.

So if you are in the restaurant business, and looking for tips for using reviews for your benefit, then you have come to the right place. This blog will discuss simple and manageable ways to use reviews and extract maximum benefits from review platforms.

Tips For Using Online Reviews To Grow Restaurant Business

With the easy-to-find any restaurant on the web, people make their decision based on reviews. Ample platforms provide consumers with a forum where they can share their feedback and discuss. And here are tips on how you can utilize these reviews for your benefit.

1. Regularly monitor the review platform

Many businesses often make the mistake of making their profile on review platforms and not monitoring them in any way. Google reviews, Yelp, and Capterra are some of the major review platforms you need to regularly check on, as consumers often provide feedback on these third-party websites. 

Feedback on these review platforms might help you know the public response to your restaurant, and based on those reviews, you can work for your restaurant.

2. Reply to all reviews

People are free to express themselves on these platforms, so they tend to write their experiences. And hence, the reviews can be either positive or negative. Some might enjoy your service and taste of your food, or some might complaint about the ambiance. 

It is crucial that you not only acknowledge these reviews but also respond to them. You can either type thank you messages on the positive feedback or provide solutions to the concerns in the negative reviews. It will prove that you acknowledge all reviews and might help improve your restaurant’s reputation.

3. Personalize the replies

One of the essential steps in building a brand-customer relationship and making an online reputation is to provide personalized messages to your customers. It shows that you are really concerned about your consumers and consider their feedback.

So, whether you deal with negative or positive reviews, try to reply with personalized messages. While dealing with negative reviews, try to know more about the concerns and ensure that you will work on them.

4. Take appropriate measures for negative reviews

While dealing with negative reviews, first try to determine whether it is accurate or spam. By the tone of the review and feedback, you can get to know if the review is real or fake. If you still find it challenging to see the difference, then here are a few tips to recognize fake reviews:

Fake reviews have glaring spelling and grammar mistakes.

There would be an overuse of verbs and the word “I” or “me”.

Fake review writers often use made-up names and do not have any profile pictures. There would be phrase repetition across multiple reviews.

When there are genuine negative reviews, try to solve their problem and make sure they visit again. You can offer discounts to them or provide schemes for their next visit. If they have complaints regarding your services, you can ensure they will serve them better next time.

5. Encourage positive reviews

Positive reviews are essential for businesses; it helps them to build credibility for the brand. Therefore, it is important to encourage positive reviews and motivate people to post more positive reviews. We all know that Google reviews are the most trusted and visited review platform. So make sure you utilize these platforms for the reviews as it might help you in the long run. You can even opt to embed Google reviews on your website; it makes the consumers valued and, at the same time, encourages other consumers to write positive reviews. Hence, creating a review cycle.

Many tools currently available in the market provide you with a dedicated Google review widget, enabling you to display Google reviews on the website seamlessly. Reviews on the website not only help you in making the review cycle but also helps to make your website more engaging.

You can also provide replies to positive reviews and build a relationship with your customers. The more you encourage positive reviews, the better the stature of your business.

Lastly

We all know the impact of reviews on the business. If people find your restaurant through the internet, they will indeed check for the reviews; after all, no one would like to spend their hard-earned money on something that isn’t worth it. The review helps consumers make that decision and helps businesses know their stature in the market. 

So, it is essential to have a presence on review platforms and utilize them for the benefit. The methods mentioned above are some of the smart and manageable ways to extract benefits from review platforms. 

So what are you waiting for? Try them now, and take your business to new heights.