How Real Customer Reviews Can Boost Your Sales

Anyone who has ever bought anything online knows the power of positive customer reviews, and what goes for online shopping goes double for online restaurants and cafes.

Dozens of studies have been done on the impact of real customer reviews and how they affect sales. In America, for instance, 94% of people ordering food online say they are directly influenced by the quality of reviews, with that number comparable in every other developed country.

Consumers are interested in learning about the experiences and problems customers have had, how you’ve responded to complaints, consensus on whether or not the product or service lived up to your claims and so on. Consider this statistic too: According to data by Fan & Fuel, 92% of consumers hesitate to make a purchase when there are no customer reviews.

Put simply, reviews are your lifeblood. A positive review will have a positive impact on how much people are willing to spend on their orders. This is why you should pay close attention to what people are saying about your establishment online.

Keeping a watch on your ratings, replying to reviews as soon as possible, and encouraging people to leave more comments will help you take control of how your product is perceived. Not only that, but it will quite simply boost your sales.

According to professors Michael Anderson and Jeremy Magruder at the University of California, Berkeley, a restaurant whose rating improved by half a star can increase its bookings at peak hours from 30% to 49%.

The economists also ensured that there weren’t any changes in the quality of the food, its price, or the service, which means that the only reason the bookings increased was the online reviews.

Keep It Real

If reviews are so important, why not just make them up? Or get friends and family to produce friendly reviews?

The fact is consumers see through any attempts by restaurant owners to ‘fake it. Fake reviews stand out a mile and are usually overly complimentary and effusive. Some studies show that these ‘sock puppet’ reviews — in which businesses use fake identities to post positive comments — can hurt sales.

So stick to your principles: put out the best product you can, then watch closely the reaction your customers have to it. Did it arrive in a presentable fashion? Was the order correct? Are there ingredients that just don’t travel well? All these considerations help you to refine your service to your customer and improve your ranking against your competitors.

Social Proof Marketing

The truth of it is online reviews are an excellent marketing tool. Potential customers will always trust other customers over the brand itself, as they have no vested interest in your business. In the trade, this is called ‘social proof marketing’, which differs from your own promotional and advertising efforts in that it is an objective and independent assessment. This is the kind of advertising that money cannot buy.

Of course, your ‘real’ reviews may not always be positive. Yet if you look at each interaction as an opportunity to improve your product, engage with new customers and affect their opinion of your business, then you will soon build a network of loyal customers. These less than positive reviews offer you an excellent opportunity to get it right next time.

It’s better to be loved, of course, and a positive review should be treated like gold. Collect the best together and use them on your website and social media. Offer a monthly prize to the best reviewer. Clearly post a link that invites feedback. Listen to that feedback. Seeing positive reviews will motivate others to give your food a shot.

Building Trust

Quite simply, reviews are an important deciding factor for a lot of customers buying online. Reviews help build trust between the customer and the business. A large number of reviews combined with great feedback help build immediate trust that will ultimately convert casual online visitors to actual paying customers.

The importance of online reviews for restaurants can’t be contested — reviews are the lifeblood of the restaurant industry. They make your restaurant stand out from the competition, raise engagement, and ultimately increase profits.

Doing your best to gather positive restaurant reviews as examples of your stellar service should be a priority for you as a restaurant owner. It’s how customers choose the places where they’ll extend their patronage.

We invite you to try the Places App where you can see all the places around, contact them directly and leave reviews about them.