Ugh! A bad review again! What do I do?

For a business owner, every negative review online is like the sky is crashing down. You just want to crawl into a hole and disappear but that will not solve anything. What would you do?

In 90% of the cases where a restaurant receives an online review, a diner has had either an outstanding or a horrible dining experience. And the reviews that come out of diners immediately after a meal are filled with deep emotional perceptiveness.

No doubt, the negative reviews are much heavier than the pleasing ones. Every review in the eyes of a prospective consumer is information and people have started adopting information like never before. Restaurants are now doing everything possible in the struggle to send the right information across.

People love checking out a restaurant’s social media platforms for engagement and reading reviews when choosing a local restaurant. 90% of diners have felt a restaurant’s online presence in one way or the other before he is actually at the restaurant. Sites like Yelp and Trip Advisor are here on the internet to thrive too. Therefore it is very crucial for restaurant owners to realize how local review sites can have an impact on their bottom line.
This sounds scary but honing up a few skills to maintain your position wouldn’t hurt. To maintain a good reputation online, every restaurateur should:

  • Respond to every review: A negative review on whatever website online without a reply looks like the restaurateur doesn’t care what their guests have to say. Remember, when you respond to a reviewer, it’s the hundreds of thousands of future readers you are responding to and not just the reviewer.
  • Tackle the matters right away: If two or more people come up with the same issue, it’s time to take matters at hand… There might be some reality to the problem, even if the reviewers seem to have made an overstatement.
  • Remain calm and professional: Thank reviewers for their feedback and share any modifications that have been made in your restaurant as a result. Customers see your reaction to negative review as the business valuing the customer’s experience and wanting to engage with consumers on a personal level.

And here are a few No-Nos.

  • Certainly do not ignore a comment, negative or positive.
  • Never forget to thank the reviewers for their feedback.
  • Never get into an argument.
  • Never use abusive language or criticize them back.
  • Never ask the reviewer to remove their review.

In the end, it’s hard to say hug your haters, but these reviewers are actually showing a business how they can improve and it’s only by means of a winner attitude one can better his restaurant and ride the horns of the success bull.