Still today, many restaurant owners ignore the online reviews that have become a leading factor for new prospective customers.
ST. LOUIS, MO (StLouisRestaurantReview) Every day, while visiting restaurant owners, we witness them ignoring online reviews and accusing the customers of wanting something for nothing. Owners/managers need to review each review and check into the comments made before jumping to conclusions. Or maybe they don’t want to face their failures, so they disguise them?
Our experience shows successful restaurants have great customer reviews, while all failing restaurants have poor reviews. This is not coincidental!
When starting this online publication, it was easy to see online reviews as the most influential factor among new customers.
That is why we focus on online reviews rather than writing things that are not true. If a restaurant has bad or declining reviews, it suggests something is seriously wrong. We are not arrogant enough to think that consumers care about our opinions.
We agree that some customers’ expectations are not reasonable. We also agree that some customers use reviews as a method of manipulation, but we see these as exceptions to the rule.
When Google decides which websites to show in search results, Google reviews are part of the ranking metric. When comparing two websites that are restaurants and all things are equal, except one has poor reviews, Google will rank the site with higher ratings before those with poor ratings. If owners/managers ignore these facts, you are earning the problems that have occurred on your watch. I am just stating the facts!
If you have adequately well-trained staff, you will know that you have an unhappy customer before they leave and go home to publish a bad review. That is the process, so you might want to learn from your mistakes and stop looking for consumers to blame.
Declining customer reviews are an early warning sign that needs to be monitored to discover the mistakes and make corrective actions.
We will write studies targeting restaurants with harmful and declining reviews in the future and follow the process.
You can look for this content in the Entertainment Category on STL.News.
