Published: Mar 5, 2021
Would you eat at a restaurant with a three (out of five) star rating or below? How much do the online reviews and ratings of an establishment impact your decision-making process when choosing somewhere to dine?
Highly-ranked restaurants with glowing reviews are naturally more appealing to customers. Not only that, but online rating systems provide a quick and easy way for restaurant-goers to compare venues, significantly influencing customer behaviour.
A study by Berkeley University found that restaurants are 30-49% more likely to fill up during peak hours after improving their rating by half a star on Yelp.
Similarly, according to a study conducted by Harvard Business School, restaurants that are able to increase their Yelp rating by one star will see an increase of up to 9% in revenue.
This proves that higher star ratings positively impact restaurants’ footfall and revenue. Positive customer feedback therefore plays a vital role in the success of a restaurant and should never be overlooked. In order to thrive as a business and garner a good online reputation, restaurants need to work hard to make sure their customers are not only satisfied, but compelled to rate them highly on sites such as Yelp, Tripadvisor, Google and Facebook.
First things first, customers should be encouraged to leave a review. Restaurants can reach out to their customer base by handing out review request forms, conducting surveys and sending email reminders. Research shows that restaurant-goers are more likely to rate and review after being prompted by the business.
Here at Sentiment Search, we provide restaurants with the ability to quantify their feedback. Our algorithms read every sentence in every review on every website and generate a host of decision-powering insights to help restaurants achieve operational excellence.
How exactly can restaurants improve their ratings with our help?
Pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses by analysing every aspect for every dish (e.g. Burger - Taste/Temperature/Portion/Cost)
Identify why certain venues are underperforming and what changes need to be made to improve ratings.
Identify trending dishes across your city and optimise menus.
Identify which staff members are mentioned in reviews and tighten accountability accordingly.
Identify how you rank against similar restaurants across your city.
Replying to reviews is key in building a desirable online reputation, especially when the response shows a willingness to improve. Sentiment Search makes this easy by allowing restaurants to respond to reviews from all major platforms from just one dashboard.
Want extra support for your business? Sentiment Search specialises in review insights for restaurants and cloud kitchens.
Get in touch: https://www.sentimentsearch.com or email us at: contact@sentimentsearch.com