How to Deal With Mean or Unfair Restaurant Reviews

I don't call up I've ever spoken to a eating house possessor who actually liked online reviews. Non surprising, given how anyone with a reckoner and internet access tin can get onto Yelp and drag a restaurant'south entire star rating downwards all because they had one mediocre feel one fourth dimension and pretended like everything was but fine in the restaurant and didn't say annihilation when they absolutely could have –

Sorry.

I'thou bitter.

I admit to never having been a restaurant possessor, but I worked in the food-service industry for almost a decade and am now working for an online reputation company. Then just know I've seen some doozies.

• 1-star because their car got broken into while they were eating
• 1-star because a fellow customer cut them in line
• one-star because they didn't like the uniforms

So just know that I get it. I exercise.

But just like paying the bills or firing incompetent workers; responding to negative reviews is an ugly simply necessary function of running your business. Take a deep breath though, I'm here to help yous respond to those negative reviews like the pro-restaurateur you lot are!

Let's get into it.

Footstep i: Don't Respond Right Abroad
You ever hear that tip to count to 10 when yous're angry so you lot don't say something y'all regret? Well, information technology'due south the same for responding to negative reviews. Except instead of counting to ten yous should count to something higher – Similar ten,000 (I'm only slightly exaggerating). You bust your butt every day to ensure your restaurant is running every bit good as it can exist; and then reading a negative review about your eatery tin can be like watching your kid getting bullied on a playground.

Then when it comes to negative reviews – do not respond right away! I know your first instinct might exist to defend your business and/or yous feel the need to answer to reviews immediately merely trust me. You need time to cool off before you respond and honestly, the reviewer might demand time to cool off besides. Yelp recommends replying to negative reviews within three days; that'southward plenty of time for you and the reviewer to get yourselves together. But even if you beginning come beyond the review iii days after it's posted, nevertheless have the fourth dimension. It's better to take another hour or two and respond professionally than respond immediately and let your anger get the better of you. Take a walk, beverage some tea, spend fourth dimension with your family unit. The review will still be there when you lot get back, but this fourth dimension you lot volition be better emotionally equipped to handle it.

Pro-tip: When you read the review, practise so in a apartment, emotionless vocalisation. I'chiliad guilty of assigning pompous inflections to negative reviews; it gets me nowhere and puts me in a bad mood. Read it like Siri or Alexa would.

Step 2: Shift Your Perspective
Call up of a time y'all went to a restaurant and had a negative feel. What did y'all recollect the trouble was? Did yous say anything to a manager?

An of import thing to recall when someone leaves a negative review is that they never see behind the curtain. They don't know that you had 3 employees call in sick or had an oven break downward. They don't know that you and your managers are friendly and open to feedback. And while it's certainly unfair of them to assume your staff are bumbling fools or you lot are a prideful grump; sometimes all they need is a few more pieces to the puzzle to truly empathise and be far more than sympathetic.

It is also worth noting that y'all may not know what all is going on in their life. Peradventure they're trying to quit smoking or their kid just got suspended from schoolhouse. A footling empathy goes a long manner in human-to-human misunderstandings. Try and arrive this mindset before you lot spring in to respond.

Step 3: Become to the Heart of The Outcome
When people are mad, they tend to go off on a tangent and potentially mention lilliputian things on top of their master source of anger. That doesn't mean all of these perceived offenses carry the same weight or fifty-fifty demand to be addressed.

If a reviewer goes off for 2 paragraphs about their rude server and then ends with, "The decor was old and musty too," yous don't need to worry about that concluding bit. The principal issue was clearly the service, the rest of the comments were likely added in anger and really mean nothing.

Before responding, re-read the review a couple of times to really make certain you sympathise what their main source of disappointment was. Sometimes there are 2 or 3 points, just generally no more than that. The more than you do this the better you get at sifting through the odds and ends to actually single out the core of their bad experience.

Step four: The Response
I'm going to share with y'all the basic response structure we use at Social High Rise. It'south super helpful in getting started (sometimes that'south the hardest office) earlier going back in and making certain information technology'south what you desire. You lot know that Mark Twain quote, "Write drunk, edit sober"? It'due south like that – though I would advise against replying to negative reviews drunkard, as tempting as that might be! This response structure helps me and my colleagues to get a reply down apace (writing "boozer") before looking dorsum through information technology to make whatever necessary changes (edit sober).

Response Structure:

• Intro
• Address Feedback
• Action/Instruction
• Farewell

Simple, but constructive.

Intros are simple. Greet them, thank them for the feedback or allow them know why you're reaching out to them. "Hullo Susan, thank you for taking the fourth dimension to exit this candid feedback" or "We wanted to personally accomplish out to you afterwards reading most your experience."

Addressing feedback is taking the points they made in their review and clearly and concisely repeating information technology back to them. This not only shows that you're paying attending, merely helps ready the hope of action/education. "While nosotros're thrilled to hear you loved your server, we are distressing if our cuisine did not live up to our reputation." Or, "We are known for our refreshing cocktails and excellent service and nosotros are sorry if this is not what you received."

The promise of activity is probably the most complicated because it depends and so heavily on the review. If their complaint was something minor that could accept been easily stock-still in-house, you lot can put the need of action in their hands. "Delight know we will happily remake or replace anything you're not satisfied with, simply let our friendly staff know." If it is something more troubling that appears to be the mistake of the staff, promise the reviewer that their comments will exist addressed. "I clinch you, this is not in line with the expectations I accept ready for my staff and I will be looking into this myself." This can be paired with, "Could you delight tell me the verbal date/time of your visit so I know whom to address?" Sometimes all people want is to know their experiences are valid and beingness acknowledged.

Teaching is for special circumstances or procedures that customers were virtually-likely unaware of, such equally an oven breaking downwards or a unique constabulary your eating house must follow. It's totally possible to explain this without sounding like you're trying to make excuses. And, equally I stated above, customers can exist very empathetic and understanding if given the take chances. "Our old oven gave out concluding dark and I'1000 afraid it completely threw u.s. off-grade." or "By Utah state police, we are not immune to serve beers stronger than 4% ABV subsequently midnight, though I will follow upwards with my team to ensure they are communicating this in a clear and friendly way." (P.S. – This is a real constabulary in Utah and this is why I do not live in Utah).

Farewells are not simply for goodbyes, yous can invite them back or reaffirm your hope of action. "Should you be willing to give us another chance, we would love the opportunity to win you over in the hereafter!" or "Thank you again for sharing your feel and for bringing this incident to my attention. We wish you all the best." In the event of an extremely difficult reviewer who you know would non come back (or that you don't want back), you can always go for the professional person, "I capeesh y'all taking the time to read my response. Take care."

Getting the basic response out can exist the hardest office merely just getting something down can make all the difference. One time yous've done that, go back in and make whatsoever necessary modifications to make the response more unique. Easy peasy.

Step 5: Reflect on Feedback
Taking feedback is difficult for anyone in any position, but acknowledging weaknesses and dealing with them is the all-time way to grow. While y'all may want to brush off any and all negative reviews as the reviewer simply existence a wiggle, the fact is that most negative reviews (even the rude ones) do take some legitimacy in their complaints. This is particularly important considering most people do not get out reviews at all, they will merely non come back. So for every one person to actually go out a negative review about a tough steak they had, there's a decent take a chance there were several more than who didn't say annihilation in-person or online.

Or, maybe not. Maybe that tough steak the person was complaining about really was a i-off thing, but that's why these negative reviews can be valuable. They point out something that is worthy of investigation.

Had a reviewer complain about overripe bananas in their crepe? Ask the kitchen director to bank check on the bananas. A reviewer had a bad experience with a hostess on Friday night? Tell your head server to find out who was hosting that night and have a quick chat with them on friendliness. I'one thousand not proverb to y'all have to drib everything and accost it then and at that place, but jot it downwards then you can accost it in your next coming together or delegate it out every bit you can.

Another thing to note is to keep tabs on repeat complaints. If 3 different people on iii different occasions complain about soggy salad, it might be time to reconsider how you wash and store your lettuce. If you go along getting complaints about a rude director, it may be time to rethink who's on your squad.

Flagging:
Something non enough restaurant owners accept reward of is the flagging option. All sites with reviews have the option to flag a review, though, some sites are improve at taking them down than others. In our experience, Yelp and TripAdvisor are pretty good at actually considering flag petitions and removing reviews. Facebook and Google Business are absolutely terrible at removing reviews and I would not concord your breath.
Yelp and TripAdvisor each have guidelines that they inquire their reviewers to follow and it's actually not super rare for reviewers to violate those guidelines. For example, Yelp requires a person to write about their ain experience and non anybody else's. I know that seems obvious, but I've come beyond a decent corporeality of "My wife and her sister went hither last night and…" or "I saw in another review that some guy had…" in my day. You bet they were flagged and removed!

However, Yelp and TripAdvisor do not get involved in factual disputes. If it'south a "their word confronting mine" type state of affairs your flag will nigh likely be rejected. The best process for those types of factual disputes or miscommunications is to just respond.

I heartily advise familiarizing yourself with Yelp and TripAdvisor'south guidelines and don't be agape to give flagging a attempt. The worst matter that tin can happen is they turn down your flag petition. Two things to note here, even so.

• You tin submit a second flag in another attempt to become the review removed. This puts more scrutiny on the review and has been successful for us in the past. But, two shots is all you lot get then be sure to construct your argument advisedly!
• Don't go crazy on flagging. I know it'due south tempting to try and get every negative review removed but y'all are not going to do yourself or your business whatsoever favors. Yelp/TripAdvisor will go to know you as the abiding flagger and any genuine flag attempts won't be taken as seriously. Also, if yous're getting consistent negative reviews, that's a adept sign something isn't working in your business. Redirect the free energy yous would use to flag reviews into improving your eatery.

To epitomize:

• Don't respond right away
• Put yourself in the client's shoes
• Get to the heart of the issue
• Write drunk, edit sober
• Flagging is an choice, but i that should exist used sparingly

And hey, if you're notwithstanding feeling overwhelmed by the thought of responding to reviews, the crew Social High Rising is here to help!

Recommended Reading: "Hug Your Haters" by Jay Baer.

Did you know?

We've been managing social media accounts for restaurants since 2012. For almost a decade, nosotros've partnered with restauranteurs who are serious about using social media to generate business. Whether you're a good fit for our service or not, let'due south schedule a call and nosotros'll requite you free personalized advice on how to improve your social media presence. Either way, you'll walk away from the telephone call more confident about your ability to promote yourself online - completely for free.

Schedule your gratis social media coaching session →

davidwrin1973.blogspot.com

Source: https://socialhighrise.com/responding-to-negative-reviews/

Share this post