Best Practice for Online Reviews in Restaurant Marketing

Reputation Management and its role in Restaurant Marketing

All restaurants get them and it’s a big part of restaurant marketing: online reviews. Whether it is on TripAdvisor or Google, reviews are placed on a daily basis. But what is the best way to handle reviews? Here are our thoughts:

To start with, respond to all negative reviews, it’s really important to engage with your customers. If someone complained in the restaurant, you’d deal with it there and then, the same should be true online. Be polite when doing so and apologise. Read the complaint carefully and try to come up with a solution. Responding to positive and negative reviews is very important in restaurant marketing. It makes customers come back when they like it, or give you a second chance when you give a good solution.

Never create fake reviews. In the past businesses might seemed successful in writing their own reviews or hiring someone. Nowadays, it’s getting more obvious. And the downside of writing your own reviews is the fact that, if people find out, the damage to your reputation is much bigger.

A good way to prevent negative reviews from harming your reputation is… growing positive reviews! Online reputation tends to snowball. Sometimes for the good sometimes for the bad. When you have a positive review score, you can encourage more positive reviews! By linking to previous positive reviews on your website, for example, people tend to write a positive review themselves. Another good way to get reviews is by integrating your review in e-mail marketing. By sending them an e-mail after the visit of the customer, the number of reviews is more likely to grow. Also, don’t be afraid to ask people to write you a review when they enjoyed your time or when they are regular visitors.

This is how you handle reviews in restaurant marketing best. If you have any questions, please contact us!