Handling Negative Reviews

People try out new restaurants all the time. But first, they decide whether or not it is worth trying.

In order to determine if they should eat at a specific restaurant, after they get the location, hours and menu, they check out the online reviews. Many dig to find out what others are saying about a new place.

Online reviews range from positive to neutral to negative and there is no doubt that these reviews are the key to either attracting or driving away potential customers. Negative  reviews are a considerable threat to a restaurant’s reputation and ultimately cost the business.

According to research conducted by Dr. Michael Luca, assistant professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, a one-star improvement in Yelp ratings translates to a 5-9% increase in revenue.

Handling negative reviews is crucial for the success of any restaurant. While 10 positive reviews can encourage a person to eat at a specific restaurant, just one highly negative review can change their mind completely. Such is the impact of negative reviews.

Many restaurants either do not understand the impact or do not know exactly how to deal with negative reviews. Developing a plan for managing your restaurant’s online reputation and dealing with negative online reviews is a smart business decision.

However, when faced with negative reviews, many restaurants usually react in one of three ways:

OSTRICH RESPONSE 

This is when restaurant management buries its head in the sand until the storm (aka the negative reviews that it is faced with) subsides.

Restaurants that use this approach to deal with negative restaurant reviews ignore the danger when it comes close to them, hoping that it will not harm them and will simply fade away.

It is important to recognize that even though one shoves their head under ground, there is still a large part left exposed in line with the danger. In addition to losing potential guests, negative reviews can potentially affect employment, employee morale, and other aspects of the business. The ostrich response is not a smart response.

What’s worse is it’s very difficult to quantify the lost opportunity, to measure how many potential guests decided not to choose your restaurant as a direct influence of negative online reviews.

IN-THE-FACE APPROACH

This is a relatively recent trend in the restaurant industry. Some restaurants simply charge head-on to negative reviews. Restaurants that use this response to negative reviews tackle them head-on by attempting to undermining the review system (by promoting 1-star ratings) or taking a strong and sometimes aggressive stand to customer reviews. This approach has caught the news recently and has been used by a number of restaurants to counter negative reviews from customers.

It would be interesting to see if this approach has produced positive business results. There is no denying the attention and free publicity some of the restaurants using this approach have benefited from the media in recent times.

But the fact still remains; guests wanting to try a new restaurant to dine are looking for “authentic” reviews and social proof to help them make the decision. And, going aggressive is sort of ignoring the feedback within the reviews, not a smart business strategy long-term.

LEVEL-HEADED APPROACH

The level-headed approach is the rational approach to dealing with negative reviews that is used by the majority of restaurants when they are faced with dissatisfied customers.

Take an objective approach, listen carefully to what the customer is saying, and genuinely make an effort to understand and address their concerns. Use the lessons learned from the feedback to improve your business.

The level-headed approach is considered to be the appropriate way to handle a negative review. Taking this approach encourages customers who have had a bad experience with the restaurant to first contact the establishment before they publish a bad review online.

Listed below are some other effective ways to handle negative reviews:

INSTANT FEEDBACK CHANNELS

Customers generally publish negative online reviews when they cannot find a way to voice their concern with a business. If a restaurant provides their customers with the ability to provide “instant” feedback, the number of negative reviews and damage to it’s online reputation will decrease considerably.

Train your servers on the basics of asking customers about their experience. When asked sincerely, your customers will give their honest feedback on what they liked and what they did not like. Remember to listen to their suggestions and do not argue.

Also provide your guests with easy ways to contact management. One of the most effective feedback channels is a website contact form. The contact form should be personalized to invite guests to provide more details than the standard name, email, and message input fields found in most contact forms.

Additionally, the email address and phone number of the restaurant should be provided on the website, which guests can use to provide feedback.

HAVE A FAST RESPONSE TIME FOR COMPLAINTS

When guest feedback is received through one of the channels (in person, a feedback card, website contact form, email, phone), it is important to respond to complaints extremely quickly.

Responding to guests’ concerns quickly gives the impression to the guests that they have been heard and the business is sincerely addressing their issues. A good rule of thumb is to respond to a guest complaint within 24-48 hours.

In the case of a website ‘contact us’ form and emails, an auto-responder can be setup to automatically respond with an acknowledgement to received messages.

If a restaurant does not respond quickly to a customer’s complaint and start addressing the issues they have expressed, the complaint will turn into a bad online review.

RESPOND TO ONLINE REVIEWS

So, what do you do when a negative review appears online for your restaurant?

Review platforms such as Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp and Google Review to provide a mechanism to contact reviewers. Restaurants should take advantage of this feature and respond to as many online reviews, as they possibly can.

Restaurants should thank customers who publish good reviews and tend to the issues addressed by customers who publish bad reviews. Many times, once you have addressed their concern, they will actually update their review to a more favorable review and rating.

Consumer research points to the fact that people tend to share a “bad experience handled well afterwards” much more than a “good experience” or a “bad experience that is not handled”. That is interesting, but not surprising. It is inevitable, despite the restaurant’s best efforts, there will be complaints and bad reviews; the key is how quickly and effectively they are handled. In fact, bad reviews can be used to even create a positive PR opportunity, when handled well.

OFFER INCENTIVES TO CUSTOMERS WITH NEGATIVE REVIEWS

A good digital marketing strategy is one that retargets all customers, including those who have published bad reviews. In order to retarget customers who have had a bad experience, encourage them to visit the restaurant again. Make a sincere offer to welcome them back to your restaurant and give you a chance to make things right.

A restaurant should consider offering an incentive such as a 10% discount or free appetizer. One way is to create a special coupon code to be able to identify them as those customers with concerns. Accordingly, the staff can be trained to handle their concern accordingly.

It is important to keep in mind NOT to offer incentives to change their review or rating. You ideally want them to visit the restaurant again and have a positive experience, which will prompt them to revise their review and rating of the restaurant, but never a direct exchange of incentive for good review.

ACCEPT THE FACT THAT THERE WILL BE SOME NEGATIVE REVIEWS

Last, but certainly not the least, accept the fact that there will be negative reviews. A restaurant cannot stop its customers from publishing bad reviews; all it can do is deal with them efficiently.

You cannot make everyone happy. As humans, there will be miscommunication and expectations will not be met 100% of the time.

In fact, a restaurant having only good reviews arouses the suspicion of guests. All perfect reviews for a restaurant is not credible. People tend to think that they are fake reviews and assume that the restaurant paid to have those reviews put in.

When dealing with negative reviews, there are also some things that restaurants absolutely must do. Restaurants should have a person responsible for managing the business reputation, managing customer feedback and online reviews. Restaurants should use the feedback from customers and online reviews to identify opportunities to improve their operations.

Source: Mano Behera for The Digital Restaurant