What is the first thing a customer does before trying a new restaurant? How does a customer find a new restaurant? YELP! Yelp is one of the most important and one of the most dominant social review platforms in this internet age. It used to be that you would just ask a friend or family member for a restaurant recommendation. Today, the first instinct for this generation is to open up Yelp. And this has a MAJOR impact on your long term sales. Let’s see why…
It’s an all-too-familiar situation: You’re in the car with your friends trying to decide where to eat. (Everyone is always indecisive!) You’re most likely going to open up Yelp and search for “sushi restaurant” cause you’re in the mood for sushi, or maybe even a generic search for “food” cause you don’t even know what you want. What’s next? You’re first going to look at the star ratings! You’re not going to click on anything less than 4 stars.
If you have any negative reviews, it will bring down your entire business’s star rating. Why does this matter? As we saw in the scenario above, a customer is highly likely to not even click on your business if your overall star rating is low. Your star rating is the first thing customers see about your business; think of your business as a book and your star rating as the cover. And unfortunately in this case, people will judge your book by its cover.
Okay back to the car--you found a restaurant with an overall 4-star rating. You click on the restaurant and start reading the reviews. You mindlessly scroll past a few 5-star and 4-star reviews but then your thumb reaches a 1-star review and you immediately stop. You tap the review and start reading.
Raving 5-star reviews are super important for businesses but negative reviews have a much bigger impact. A customer will see your amazing 5-star reviews but will most likely always stop to read your poor 1-star reviews while they’re scrolling through your reviews. It’s also common for a customer to sort by review ratings, low to high. Customers tend to go straight to the bad reviews, so too many low reviews will be a severe deterrent for your business.
Remember when we said it used to be that you would just ask a friend or family member for a restaurant recommendation? Well this is actually still true. With this generation, Yelp reviews definitely take precedence for restaurant reputation, but it doesn’t completely rule out word of mouth. If you have a favorite restaurant, you will probably recommend it to a friend or family member. Same goes for if you had a bad experience at a restaurant--you will probably rant about the experience to your friends and family and they will avoid the restaurant too. Word of mouth is important! Your reputation does not stop at one negative review. Behind that negative review is a customer who will share their bad experience with their circle. Negative reviews affect your long-term reputation, and in turn, your long term sales! Negative people are more likely to complain and write a review, so you want to give your customers the best experience possible.