Today, ensuring your pub maintains a good reputation online is critical for thriving business. According to BrightLocal’s consumer review survey, 86% of consumers said they read reviews for local businesses (including a huge 95% of people aged 18-34). Even more interestingly, 57% of consumers will only use a business if it has 4+ stars.
Despite this, some local businesses still fail to see the value in encouraging customers to leave reviews online, and some are fearful of opening themselves up to criticism. But those who embrace customer reviews online are reaping the benefits customer feedback brings. So, why should your pub be encouraging customers to leave reviews?
The Benefits of Asking Customers to Leave Reviews
1) Shows you value your customers’ opinion
Asking for feedback shows you genuinely care about what your customers have to say. Even more so if you actively take suggestions on board and make changes where feasible. However, it’s just as important to take the time to respond to those who have had a negative experience, as ignoring/not bothering to reply to a negative review appears unprofessional. See further below for how to respond to criticism online.
2) Helps you stand out from the competition
It’s a given, but having more positive reviews than your competitors will give you the competitive advantage over other local pubs. More stars = better reputation.
3) Improves your average star rating
Even if you don’t encourage reviews, you’re likely to find people will leave reviews anyway. This is why it’s a good idea to encourage those customers who’ve been particularly positive to review their experience. The more good reviews you have, the more they will counteract the not so good reviews, bumping up your average star rating over time.
4) Increases your pub’s visibility in search engines
Customer sentiment and opinions can have an impact towards how visible your local pub is in search engines. Search engines like Google listen to what customers have to say about businesses online, and can ascertain if these comments are positive or negative. In essence, the more people talk about your pub, the more inclined Google is to serve is highly in search.
How to Respond to Reviews Online
Negative reviews
No-one likes negative reviews. But the good news is, you can make them positive.
“45 percent of consumers say that they’re more likely to visit a business if it responds to negative reviews.” – Review Trackers
One of the worst things you can do with a negative review is ignore it (or take some people’s approach of trying to delete it).
The best thing to do with a negative review is publicly respond in a professional, reasonable manner. Most importantly, you don’t want to let emotions get involved, even if the review is unreasonable, hurtful or rude. Here’s an example of how to respond to a negative review – severity dependant – with a breakdown of each part:
“Hello [NAME],
We appreciate you taking the time to leave feedback.
We’re very sorry to hear your experience did not meet your expectations. This does not reflect our high standards and we’ll endeavour to ensure this does not happen again. Please send a message to [EMAIL] with any further comments or concerns and we will try to make this right.”
Addressing the reviewer by name makes your response more personable, rather than a generic ‘Dear Customer’. In the same way, it’s important that every response you give is unique, and not a copy and paste job.
You want to always thank the person reviewing, which shows you appreciate all forms of feedback. It also sets a polite tone from the start of your response. Once you’ve thanked them for their comments, you next need to apologise. Even if you feel (or know) you aren’t the ones at fault, saying ‘we apologise/we’re very sorry your experience didn’t satisfy your expectations) is enough to show you aren’t afraid to say sorry.
Accepting responsibility is key. By acknowledging an experience, a customer had shouldn’t have happened, it shows you can hold your hands up and provide reassurance.
Lastly, you should offer some kind of resolution, or try to make things right. Whether that be through escalating the matter further or simply asking the customer to accept your sincerest apologies.
It’s also important to try and take the conversation offline if more details are required to resolve a complaint. As long as an initial response is there, it shows other customers you have responded and are resolving the matter.
Positive Reviews
A simple thank you goes a long way! Whilst positive reviews may not require as much attention, they still deserve a response. So be polite, and thank your customers for taking the time out of their day to respond.
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