Today’s post comes from Derrek J. Hull, voice of the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show and International Wine Spirits & Beer Event (IWSB) blog Floored!, as well as its Twitter and Facebook profiles.
Restaurants need a response plan that includes social media elements to cope with the fact that customers can leave negative comments almost instantaneously. Having a plan in place before a situation occurs lets everyone on your team know who the point person is for the response, along with the chain of command and the plan for monitoring the conversation.
Everyone gets a good or bad review at some point. Embrace it — and in the case of a bad review, don’t sweat it. Look at every comment as an opportunity to have a conversation.
“If people are taking the time to give you feedback — even if it’s negative — that’s an opportunity for you to re-frame the conversation with them and hopefully turn the situation into a positive,” said Spike Jones, of word of mouth and identity firm Brains on Fire.
Nobody is perfect. A couple of bad reviews alongside highly positive reviews actually makes potential customers more likely to take you seriously, because they realize your page isn’t full of shills posting fake positive reviews. In the case of Yelp, business owners have an option to respond privately and publicly to reviews — this free feature can be unlocked by visiting biz.yelp.com.
Assume a tone that embraces the old saying “the customer is always right,” even if you think the customer is actually in error. The best review responses typically start out with something like, “Thank you very much for your feedback. We take it very seriously and we deeply regret you didn’t have a 5-star experience at our restaurant … ”
Responding promptly and diplomatically to reviews gives you the ability to fix problems and make people happy. However, if you begin to receive multiple negative reviews with recognizable patterns — stale bread, rude server, etc. — it may be worth examining your operation and identifying ways to improve.
Likewise, if guests are taking the time to talk about your establishment in a positive way, you can listen and learn from those conversations to possibly generate ideas for new programs. Who better to tell you what they want to see in your restaurant than your passionate fans? You can learn a lot by taking the time to listen to them and implement their feedback into your operations. Make sure you’re also looking for opportunities to connect with those fans offline as well. Connecting the dots between the two amplifies and intensifies that bond.
Yelp’s Luther Lowe discourages a company from attaching tangible “rewards” in response to good reviews. For example, if someone writes an unsolicited 5-star review about your business, it can rub some people the wrong way to get a “thank you” note from a business owner saying, “Thank you for your review of our restaurant. We would like to offer you a complimentary dinner for two.”
Last but not least, take the advice of word of mouth expert, Gaspedal CEO (and SmartBrief on Social Media Editor At Large) Andy Sernovitz: “People are already talking. Your only option is to join the conversation.”
Image credit, GVision, via iStock
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by sbosm: Tips for responding to social media criticism from Derrek Hull of @nrashow2010: http://ow.ly/17ueX...
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You'd think addressing negative reviews online would be common sense. Apparently not. Take Hooters for example…HUGE negative response rate on Twitter and Facebook regarding the Undercover Boss episode. All I hear is *crickets*. No response. Only a promo for $5.99 burgers from @Hooters_Rest. Really?
[...] Responding to the good, the bad and the ugly Published: February 15, 2010 Source: SmartBlog On Social Media Today’s post comes from Derrek J. Hull, voice of the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show and International Wine Spirits Beer Event (IWSB) blog Floored!, as well as its Twitter a… [...]
This really is common sense and conventional customer service wisdom, and it's too bad that some restaurant owners actually need this kind of advice. And it's not necessarily the ones you would expect, either. Some small mom & pops do it right, and some large chains do it all wrong. Size doesn't make you smart.
Is it any wonder then that Hooter's is for sale?
Thanks for this article. It might sound like common sense to many, but there are still a lot of hotels & restaurants out there that seem to be unsure how to handle TripAdvisor reviews, so articles like this can only be a good thing.
This article will definitely help to encourage restaurants or hotels to respond to customer's advice. But before having negative comments on the web, there must have been a lack of communication at the restautant/hotel. My advice: start conversation at your place and you will not get comment surprises on the web.
[...] your products and services? It is something that restaurants are having to deal with. Interesting piece here about how restaurants can turn a negative into a positive, which is relevant to other sectors [...]
Social media is changing the very nature of marketing. Contingency plans, like the one above, are now a critical part of any marketing teams' message. Skip the plan and lose the messaging high ground at your own peril.
http://pivotpointsolutions.net/
You definitely need to respond to customer complaints and reviews but need to have a strategy to do so and do it on a consistent basis. I really like when you said, “You can learn a lot by taking the time to listen to them and implement their feedback into your operations.” That is the most important and best thing you can do.
Mark K.
This is good stuff. Many in my business are scared to death of bad reviews and act as if they should never happen. But that's just not reality. If we have a customer who has taken the time to voice their discontent, it's a great opportunity to better ourselves.
[...] was this post on the Smart Blog that really got me thinking about the importance of the process. Derrick [...]
[...] Turn negative reviews into positive buzz [...]
[...] Turn negative reviews into positive buzz Social media allows diners to instantly review a meal, but it also allows restaurateurs to respond quickly and diplomatically, writes Derrek J. Hull. Experts recommend using negative comments as an opportunity to start a conversation with customers that can ultimately leave them with a positive impression. Hull also notes that businesses should use negative comments to find ways the business can improve. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media (2/15) [...]
[...] to more critical feedback. The travel industry stands to gain from these reviews in the same way restaurants benefit from negative customer feedback, as Derrek J. Hull, voice of the National Restaurant Association, writes in his blog post. Hull [...]
[...] Turn negative reviews into positive buzz Social media allows diners to instantly review a meal, but it also allows restaurateurs to respond quickly and diplomatically, writes Derrek J. Hull. Experts recommend using negative comments as an opportunity to start a conversation with customers that can ultimately leave them with a positive impression. Hull also notes that businesses should use negative comments to find ways the business can improve. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media [...]
[...] Responding to the good, the bad and the ugly (February, 2010) [...]
[...] Responding to the good, the bad and the ugly (February, 2010) [...]
[...] in the best of restaurants, patrons can easily contact the owner/manager directly. They are often grateful for the feedback. It enables them to address an issue they may be unaware of; and gives them an opportunity to [...]
I believe that if more restaurants got feedback they would grow faster. Today's society has made it so much easier to share your experience with others who might be interested in a particular type of food and which restaurant serves it best. I like places that offer something healthy for my kids and a filling meal. http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.childhoodo…