Three Simple Steps To Increasing Positive Online Reviews
December 2, 2009
Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media posted a great read today detailing some tips for small businesses to encourage customer reviews. I’m a big fan of Lisa’s; her posts consistently offer up sound online marketing advice with a side of sass and wit. In today’s post, she lists some very good reasons for actively pursuing customer reviews and what I aim to do is put a food-industry spin on her advice.
First and foremost: yes, you really do want to encourage your patrons to leave reviews on Yelp, CitySearch, TripAdvisor, UrbanSpoon, your own website and any other place online that potential customers will research dining options. In general, we in the industry have been conditioned to be fearful of reviews; oftentimes “duck and cover” is the posture adopted by restaurateurs when the subject of user review sites such as Yelp are mentioned. I hear the echoes of your disbelief: “What if I get a negative review?” “What if encouraging visits to <Yelp><CitySearch><TripAdvisor><your least favorite review site> does more harm than good?” “What if I have bad reviews out there that I don’t want others to see?”
Consider this: the only way that any of us can exert any semblance of control over what’s said about our brand is by actively managing our online reputation and what better way to do that than encouraging fans to tell others about us and ensure that those positive reviews are seen by potential customers? Negative reviews are going to happen to the best of businesses; encouraging happy customers to post is not going to change that fact, it’s only the best way to mitigate the effect that disparaging comments have on your establishment’s overall online reputation.
Here, in the order in which they were presented in Lisa’s original post, are three ideas to get satisfied customers to become your best cheerleaders this holiday season:
- Host a Holiday Event – What better way to get fans to show their love than hosting a holiday “thank-you” party for your most loyal clientele. The return your business receives from this investment is the virtually limitless possibilities for great marketing material, both real-time and ongoing. Pictures of people enjoying themselves at your restaurant can be posted on your website, blog, Facebook page, UrbanSpoon, Yelp and TripAdvisor. Video of customers having a great time enjoying the fabulous food and raving about their experience can be shared in many of those same places as well as YouTube and Vimeo. Revelers could use a workstation set up in a high-traffic area to leave comments on review sites during the celebration. The gathering of testimonials could be encouraged by holding a drawing where the entry form prompts a positive response, such as “What I love most about <restaurant name> is ……..” or “My favorite indulgence at <restaurant name> is …….” While you won’t be able to post these offline comments to review sites, it is possible to post the best responses on your own website and a summary of responses in a future blog post or Facebook page updates.
- Offer holiday incentives for customers who have left reviews – this is a delicate tightrope to walk; you don’t want to be seen as “paying” for good reviews. This could take the form of messaging on receipts or checks encouraging diners to offer feedback in a variety of ways: comment cards, review sites and/or your own blog or Facebook page. I like this example from Andy Beal which Lisa cited; a simple “thank you” and a reminder to tell others about their experience can be very effective.
- Ask! This is so simple yet so underutilized! The basic marketing concept of “call-to-action” is that the best way to achieve an outcome is to directly prompt the visitor to perform the desired action. Few restaurants currently use their own website to display links to positive reviews and actively encourage website visitors to communicate their own great experiences to others. TwoTables suggests dedicating a page on your website devoted to listing testimonials you gather offline, embedding great reviews from Yelp and the like and linking directly to each review site utilizing a call to action message.
What tactics has your restaurant utilized to encourage reviews? Were they successful? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment!
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