Cafe or Restaurant reviews – how to get more of them?

As a cafe or restaurant owner, you know how important customer reviews are. In fact, customer reviews (especially online ones), can have a huge impact on whether future, potential customers visit your restaurant or café.

Feedback from customers is a critical part of business growth and business success. The reviews people leave matter, so it is important to learn how to encourage reviews for your business.

With an increased focus on online sales and marketing, online hospitality reviews are essential. Not only do reviews help your customers make informed decisions, but they help your business and your online presence. Without reviews, you won’t rank as well online, which means that you won’t be seen my as many people.

But how do you get your customers to leave reviews? Well, truth be told, it can be trick. Not many people actually leave reviews so, as a business owner, you need to learn how to increase the percentage of people reviewing your business.

Develop Your Online Presence

Before you can start hoping for online review, make sure that you have a strong online presence. Do you have a website and a business page on Google?

Are you set up on review sites and listing pages? You need to make sure that you’ve done this groundwork (and done it well), before you start asking for reviews.

Having a strong online presence, including social media, gives your customers the platforms to review your business.

Educate and Ask

Most customers don’t realize how important a review is to your business. They might eat at your restaurant and café, enjoy it and tell their friends, but completely forget to actually leave an online review!

How do you solve this problem? You ask! Leave a note on the receipt, with a note telling them where to go to leave a review. If you have an online ordering app, use it to your advantage by immediately sending an email or notification asking for feedback, while it is still fresh in their minds.

Offer an Incentive

You need to be careful with this one- it’s absolutely fine to offer an incentive for leaving a review, as long as it is not conditional on a positive review.

That said, this is a fantastic way to boost your business and have more people engaging with your brand online. Consider offering a reward for a review, such as a coupon, or a free coffee. It doesn’t have to set your business back in a major financial way, and the benefits of online cafe and restaurant reviews are absolutely priceless in the long-term success of your business.

Always Respond to Cafe or Restaurant reviews

This is an often-overlooked part of the process, but it will do wonders for your business if you remember. Make sure that you respond to all of the reviews that you get online. If it is a negative review, do your best to publicly rectify the situation. If it is a positive review, make sure that you remember to thank your customer! It’s a little thing, but it goes a long way and shouldn’t be underestimated.

Remember, an online review goes a long way to supporting and growing your business, especially in the long run. It is important to pay attention to your online presence, even as a brick and mortar restaurant or café. With the age of the internet in full swing, every business can benefit!

If you’re looking for more guidance on getting reviews for your hospitality business, increasing profits and decreasing costs, then don’t hesitate to book your free consultation with us today – please click here to get in touch!