Customer reviews: how to collect more for your restaurant and limit the negative ones with Malou

90% of Internet users say they consult customer reviews and 46% choose their restaurant on the basis of customer reviews.

That's why restaurateurs can't ignore customer reviews, which are crucial to their e-reputation.

Your restaurant's customer reviews have an impact not only on web users' decisions, but also on your average, your local referencing and the loyalty process. But how do they do this? Why do they carry so much weight? How can you take the time to respond to them strategically? Why do we need to collect as many as possible, and how do we go about it? What to do with negative reviews? And fake reviews? Answers to all these questions in this article!

We asked our customers Big Mamma, Kozy Kanopé and Breathe how they manage to collect so many customer reviews, and how they manage them afterwards without getting overwhelmed. Their answers? +800 reviews in 1 month for Kozy Kanopé, 160 reviews in 1 week for Breathe... Discover their results and how to achieve them in this video 👇 It's never been easier for them, so they shared their experience with you!

Read the testimonials!

To help you, restaurant owners, we've developed all the functions in our Malou solution to help you manage your restaurant's customer reviews on a daily basis. Consult and respond to all customer reviews, receive a summary every morning, launch satisfaction campaigns on your tables to collect reviews, limit negative reviews: everything can be done from Malou. But we've gone even further: we've created a magical object that lets you collect even more reviews!

1. Why are Google customer reviews important for your restaurant?

Your restaurant's customer reviews have a powerful impact on its reputation. They bear witness to past experiences, both positive and negative. These reviews influence the decisions of future customers. And the more reviews you have, the more customers are attracted to your restaurant. Your reviews therefore reflect the satisfaction and popularity of your restaurant, which is why it's so important to have them.

You need to respond to all your customer reviews. Whether positive or negative, responding to them is essential to show your appreciation, understand past experience, and reflect a positive image of your establishment. After all, 93% of Internet users who are interested in reviews consult the responses. You'll also improve your local referencing. Responding to all reviews sends positive signals to the Google algorithm. It sees you as an active establishment, moves you up in the search results and reduces the weighting of bad ratings in your average for responding to them! Your responses to customer reviews are also a strategic place to include your keywords.

Keywords refer to the terms used by Internet users to formulate their needs. For you, these words define your offer and location. Identifying the keywords your potential customers will use is therefore a major challenge. Once identified, you need to deploy a content strategy to give yourself a chance of rising to the top of the results on these keywords. In particular, by using them in your responses to reviews.

And did you know that with every response, the reviewer receives an e-mail notification? An excellent opportunity to create a new point of contact with the customer, and take advantage of this to inform them of new products, current offers, etc. An exchange that builds customer loyalty and makes them want to come back.

Customer reviews are a great way to thank your customers, increase your average rating, improve your local referencing and create a new point of contact. The more reviews you have, the better. But only if you limit the negative ones.

2. How can I get more positive customer reviews?

Invite your live customers to share their experience online. How can you do this? A number of incentives can be put in place. QR codes prominently displayed on tables or on the bill, but also on delivery bags... You can also educate the front-of-house team to engage in discussion with customers they feel are satisfied. A few sentences are all it takes to gently ask them to leave a review, and show them the procedure. It's important not to appear insistent.

How do I generate a QR code to link directly to the "Leave a review" page from Google? Log on to your restaurant's Google My Business page, copy and paste your link HERE and print out your Customer Reviews QR code! (Warning: click on download and wait, without creating an account)

But a QR code still requires the customer to : 1. scan the QR code with their phone 2. click on the link 3. write the review 4. send. What if he could reduce the 4 steps to 2? It's possible with Malou! We've created a magical object for restaurateurs: a little wooden tablet where you simply place your phone on top and the reviews page is automatically displayed thanks to contactless technology.

But many customers may miss out on your on-site incentives. So increase your chances by contacting them after their visit. A personalized email message is a great way to get their attention. But sending an e-mail to each customer one by one takes a lot of time.

No need to panic! Because we've integrated Malou solution to collect more reviews. Upload your customer data directly to our Malou interface. There are several ways of doing this: manually or by importing your customer files from your reservation software, delivery software, cash register software or other platforms. Zenchef and TheFork, in particular, make customer information available directly from their sites. You can also add customers manually. To do this, enter their general information from Malou, but you can also specify the date of their last visit, and other additional info. How do you collect this data? If you've set up a loyalty system, through reservations...

Once you've enriched your database on Malou, you can build campaigns very quickly and send them out in just one click from the interface!

a. Set up the campaign

First, choose the campaign name and the platform on which you'd like to collect more customer reviews: Google, Tripadvisor or Foursquare?

b. Configure the audience

Import the customer files you wish to address and filter them according to the range of their last visit date. Also apply the minimum number of days since you last solicited them, if this is the case. Otherwise check "never".

c. Write your message

This is certainly the most important point, as it's vital to capture the recipient's attention. And to do this, you need to personalize the message to each individual. Malou lets you address the message to the customer's name automatically, without having to do it one by one. Then personalize your message. The e-mail you send contains several stars to encourage customers to leave a review of their experience. If the customer chooses between 4 and 5 stars, Malou redirects them to your selected directory page.

3. How to combat negative or obsolete reviews?

Negative customer reviews have a significant impact on your restaurant's average. To compensate for one bad review, you need several positive ones. But you can lessen the impact they have on your average by responding to them. So take the time to respond. The Malou solution helps you to avoid missing any. It centralizes ALL the customer reviews left on the various platforms on which your restaurant is listed: Google, Tripadvisor, The Fork, Zenchef, Foursquare, Ubereats, Facebook... And guides you through the responses thanks to the various templates.

In this article, we give you 12 tips on how to respond to your restaurant's customer reviews as effectively as possible!

To make sure you don't miss a single review by 200%, Malou now lets you receive a daily e-mail alert with all the reviews received from the previous day. This way, you're always up to date with the reviews you receive, and you can respond quickly to boost your referencing!

With email campaigns launched from Malou, not only do you receive new positive reviews, but you also take care of your customer relations by limiting negative feedback. How do you do this? If a customer responds to your email with a 1, 2 or 3 star rating, they are redirected to a form to complete. Through this form, they indicate the elements of their negative experience to help you improve. But the rating will not be published on platforms such as Google, Tripadvisor...

When it comes to fake reviews, why is it important to track them down? How can we identify them? Delete them? How to manage them? Our expert friends at Lightspeed explain step by step in this article.

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