Best practices for getting 5-star reviews

The importance of 5 star reviews

Ratings are crucial to quickly earn trust from potential customers. Having more and better ratings than your competitors also guarantees that you will attract more guests. They are also a great indicator on whether or not you are providing a valuable service and product.

Incentivising your customers to frequently leave good reviews depends on many factors. Although you may not think it is possible for you to influence the amount of 5 star reviews, the opposite is actually true.

Let’s explore some of the best practices which can help ensure you receive more and higher rating reviews.

Only receive reviews from customers who have actually eaten at your restaurant

In the digital age it is very easy to leave fake or anonymous reviews. It’s happened to everyone! One morning you wake up, look through your google reviews and read something that doesn’t match the description of your business. The dreaded has happened. Someone might have confused your business with another or has left a fake review. Whatever the case it doesn’t matter, the damage has been done. This review will now be viewed by thousands and you better believe that it will influence their opinion.

It is a tedious task taking down and proving that a review has been faked or submitted to the wrong business. The best solution, like with many other cases, is prevention. The best way to avoid these kinds of complications is to use a system which only gathers reviews from verified users and those that have actually visited your business.

This doesn't only guarantee that you don’t damage your rating with erroneous reviews. Reviews from real users are more informative, honest and give a better impression to hungry diners trying to decide on where to eat.

Prompt customers to leave a review at the end of a meal

Customers who are still engaged with your business and meal are more likely to leave a review. What better time is there to remind you to leave one while they are still at your restaurant? After all, it’s much less likely that they will remember when they get home.

Your customer has to be reminded to leave a review. Asking for one however is no easy task. When doing so it can’t come across as needy as you risk causing a negative interaction. This can lead to a bad rating.

Currently, most restaurants rely on their waiters to ask for reviews. But do you really want to distract them from the service? Having a waiter come and ask to leave a review can often come across as pushy and be an unpleasant experience for the customer. After all waiters are there to look after guests, not to ask for favours!

Listen to customer feedback

It isn’t enough to just have a system which gathers customer reviews. Listen to their feedback and find ways to improve upon their suggestions in a way that also benefits the bar.

Each time your customers go to your business, they are experiencing it with a fresh set of eyes. This can provide valuable insights on current consumer trends which can be leveraged to improve your venue and in turn receive more 5 star reviews.

Finding the time to read, come up with solutions and then implementing them can be hard. Especially if you are lacking employees. It’s crucial that you have the time to connect with your customers and understand what it is that they like. Otherwise you risk falling out of fashion to the newer and more modern venue down the road.

Conclusion

There are few solutions which can get you 5 star verified reviews from customers. After your staff provides a fantastic experience, you need the right processes and tools in place to help correctly convert this enthusiasm into reviews.

Tools don't always have to come in the form of more personnel. There are a number of cloud based and easy to use solutions, like the ones Pick & Pay offers, available for the fraction of the price a salary is.

Digital solutions help you standardise processes, saving you time. Having staff down-time will no longer worry you as you have the necessary tools to comfortably keep the business running while you look to hire.

It all starts with a QR menu

A great way of ensuring that your guests are reminded to leave a review at the end of their meal is by using a digital menu or a table ordering and payment system. With these options you are able to automatically and consistently ask all your guests to leave a review.

They also encourage users to spend more through the use of images and cross-selling. Digital menus can also be updated in real-time offering you flexibility with pricing and last minute specials you want to push.

Each time you take a step towards digitalisation you are deciding to streamline your business. This will save you countless hours of manually handling administrative tasks.

Get in touch with Pick & Pay today for a free 30 minute consultation on how you are able to start digitising your business.