Reviews are a real game changer as a business or an app with hundreds of positive reviews will quickly gain the customer’s trust as compared to the one where reviews are not only poor but seem shady too. Turns out that not just reviews but the number of reviews are important too. There are numberless ways to promote your company, from social media marketing to SEO to proper advertisement. However, as recent studies have shown, reviews are the most effective way to boost your visibility and conversion rate.
Reviews execute the power of social proof perfectly. A restaurant or food delivery liked by one customer is extremly likely to fetch more customers. At the same time, bad reviews can negatively impact your business too by influencing the consumers’ buying decisions. Unhappy customers are the least likely to recommend your business to others and will discourage other potential consumers. So, to retain your customers and generate new ones, it is principle to increase the ratings and quantity of reviews.
Reviews In Business
First off, let’s understand the categories reviews fall in before we get to see how powerful they are. Reviews are usually segmented into four or five categories, often denoted by stars.
Consumer-based reviews have four primary sub-categories as positive, neutral, negative, and highly damaging reviews. Positive reviews are good and signifies that the reviewer liked the service and may reference super fast delivery and hot food and would be the people who are most likely to recommend your restaurant to his friends. On the other hand, there are the negative reviews which means that the reviewer’s experience with your business was not good. In this category, the customer experienced something that was inconvenient or angered them.
The third type of review is a mixed one. This means that the reviewer liked some aspects such as timely delivery but wasn’t satisfied with others as food quality such as the food being cold. Finally, the fourth type which is truly a nightmare for any business. It is the often denoted by 1 start, and is highly critical of the product or service. This means the reviewer would not recommend it to anyone and would not even want to use it again.
What Are The Benefits Of Having Good Reviews?
Your business will fly high if it is backed by great positive reviews. For food delivery, it becomes all the more important to have some solid good reviews as customers solely rely on them.
Let’s have a detailed look at why positive reviews are so important and how can they boost your business.
● More Visitors and Revenue
Firstly, good reviews about your food delivery services will fetch new customers. It is proven that businesses with high ratings are more likely to be visited than businesses with low ratings. There is an app called Yelp which reviews businesses, and a recent study has found that for every Yelp star, you can expect a 9% increase in your business revenue.
Likewise, a study by Forbes suggests that positive reviews can increase a business’s average revenue by 79% as people reading good reviews take them as personal recommendations.
So, when your customer narrates his side of the story, he is going to gain trust of other customers and will get them to purchase food at your restaurant. A real customer’s word about a restaurant holds tremendous value and is extremely beneficial for your business.
● Helps in Creating Brand Name and Trust
Moreover, good reviews can help your business build brand reputation. Businesses use reviews as a way to differentiate from their competitors and can also be used as a way to promote their brand and attract new customers.
People trust businesses with good reviews, so revenue and overall profits are likely to increase. A survey was conducted from 2014-2018 to see if people trust online reviews. With a staggering 78%, a majority of people do. From those results, it is pretty clear that people rely on them heavily.
● Better Customer Retention Ratio
Not only do good reviews signify customer satisfaction, but they also improve customer retention and loyalty.
Customers will be more willing to revisit a business with excellent reviews. You simply get a loyal fan following who will always choose you over any of your competitors. There are multiple ways in which you can gain your customer’s loyalty. The most notable being providing excellent customer support and solving all complaints.
● Respectful and Dominating Reputation
Finally, having positive reviews will help boost a business’s reputation and help it stand strong among businesses in the same industry. For a restaurant, good reviews are comparable to oxygen due to the necessity as it will help build a reputation that’s almost undefeatable.
Good reviews will garner a loyal customer base that is often willing to recommend it to others
How Can Bad Reviews Hurt Your Business?
No doubt, reviews will boost your business but don’t forget that bad reviews are equally hurting. Often bad reviews will be the first thing people will think of when they hear about a business.
● Losing Customers
If someone has had a bad food delivery experience, they may not want to call you ever again. They also make sure to tell everyone they know that they should avoid this restaurant. And once a bad review is posted, there will always be more people validating and reviewing that bad opinion.
According to a study, Google’s share of online reviewers increased to 71%. So, if you get negative reviews online, you could lose potential customers before they even make a purchase.
● Bad Reputation
If your restaurant has established a good reputation for themselves, bad reviews can crack it. In severe cases, reviews can even lead to angry customers boycotting your business.
It’s important to remember that bad reviews represent holes in your customer support and hospitality index, and it is crucial that you mitigate it. Furthermore, the best way to solve a problem is to prevent it. You must look inward in order to figure out that best course of action to avert the problem from happening again.
● Fewer Sales
They can dent your customer’s trust, making them less likely to return or recommend you to others. Finally, bad reviews can lead to fewer sales, as potential customers decide not to use your services because of the negative reviews. They can make it difficult for potential customers to find you online, leading to lost sales.
Responding to Negative Reviews
Don’t let the negative review make you feel like things are getting out of hand. Although it’s natural to feel upset when you receive negative feedback, but try to stay calm and work for a more strategic solution to avoid them in the future.
If someone posts a bad review, don’t wait until later to respond. That’s not fair to the person who posted the review, and if you have any way to contact the reviewer, do it right away.
You must solve that issue as soon as possible by being upfront and honest with the reviewer. Tell them exactly what happened, and apologize for whatever went wrong. This will show that you’re interested in resolving the issue.
Importance of Contacting a Negative Reviewer
Negative reviews are bad but getting in touch with a negative reviewer is really crucial. It will make them feel heard and most likely, will sort out any confusion.
- Negative reviews serve a positive purpose as they let you know where you are lacking and where it should improve.
- By contacting the reviewer, you can show that you appreciate their feedback and that you are willing to work to improve the quality of your services.
- Additionally, if the reviewer is a vocal critic of your food delivery, contacting them can help to change their opinion ultimately.
- You don’t need to contact your customer to get them to remove the review or resolve any wrongs that may have been committed. There is a deeper and higher purpose and that’s to build relationships with potential customers and ensure that they are aware of the quality of the business.
- If a restaurant is receiving negative reviews about its delivery, it should plan and work on its food delivery solutions to enhance its customer’s experience. This can be done with a takeout delivery solution with a Deliver Warm warming patch on the food containers to ensure that the food is delivered hot and fresh.
Tips for Managing Reviews
Managing reviews can be a tricky process, but here are a few tips to make things easier.
- Ensure that all reviews are approved before posting. This way, your team can be sure that all reviews are genuine and not artificially generated.
- Your team has to see all reviews written for your business. This will help ensure that customers write relevant reviews and not review the business based on their personal preferences.
- Many other businesses and individuals would rate or review your business unfairly for their benefit, such as your competitors. So have a plan to deal with this to prevent any unwanted consequences.
- Always take the time to read your reviews before you respond. In any case, you need to understand the review and what the reviewer is asking for.
Conclusion
All in all, reviews are essential. They will affect your sales, customer satisfaction, and even your reputation. Businesses taking them too lightly are to bear consequences sooner or later.
Over time, reviews have only become more and more significant. No wonder, consumers trust reviews more than they trust any other form of advertising. So, place an order at Deliver Warm today and increase your reputation on the digital marketplace.
