In the restaurant business, reviews are decisive : they testify to the quality of the restaurant and the customer's experience. This is what we call a restaurant's e-reputation.

But they also have other, lesser-known positive impacts , such as improving your Google My Business ratings and even direct revenues for your establishments!

Restaurant owners and franchisors therefore have every interest in collecting a maximum number of positive reviews in a short space of time.

👉 In this exclusive webinar, you can follow the step-by-step recommendations of experts Malou, Mathilde and Florent, to increase your customer reviews and even reach your first 1000 positive reviews!

And for a complete manual on responding to restaurant reviews, check out our article 12 tips for responding to customer reviews.

Online reviews: the new restaurant reputation

We call it "e-reputation".

When potential customers are online, they don't see your storefront. On Google and other referencing platforms (e.g. The Fork), online reviews are a restaurant's digital shop window.

And that's not all: they're also the first thing people see about you!

When you type in your name on the Internet, it's usually your Google My Business (Google Business Profile) that comes up, along with your average rating and reviews. Reviews are the first impression people get of your business.

A few facts and figures :

• 8 out of 10 French people prefer customer opinions to those of food critics;
• 3 out of 10 French people wouldn't set foot in a restaurant with less than 4 stars (*TheFork).

In the restaurant sector, opinions are (rightly) mixed. Is digital an annoyance? Or an opportunity?

After all, 20 years ago, food critics and newspapers also made (and broke) restaurants' reputations.

The difference?

• Online reviews are faster (more frequent than an article) ;
• Online reviews do not come from professionals (so their degree of "trust" is very good);
• Online reviews are easier to check (you can reply to them);
• You can turn an opinion to your advantage...

Explanations below.

Restaurant owners: why manage your online reviews?

Unlike a press article, a review can appear at any time and can be written by anyone.

It's one of the biggest concerns when managing the strategy of one or more restaurants: negative reviews ! In this article this article, we explain how to deal with them, and even mitigate their effects.

Collecting reviews also helps :

👉 Improve your SEO;

👉 Increase your average Google rating;

👉 Get very concrete recommendations and insights(thanks to AI, in particular)

👉 Have a direct positive impact on your sales by increasing your visibility and conversion power.

1 extra star on a review would increase a restaurant's sales by 5 to 9% on Yelp (*Harvard);

So it's very concrete: the more stars you have, the more likely you are to turn a web surfer into a customer.

How can I get more online reviews?

There are several techniques for boosting your reviews. 

With the Malou app, for example, or with QR codes and displays (see the demo in this webinar!).

Another tip: totems or communication campaigns (by e-mail or SMS).

That's all there is to it: enjoy the replay to collect your first 1,000 positive reviews. 

Last but not least, be smart: every positive review increases your average Google rating. We recommend that you calculate the number of reviews you need with our online calculator! You'll get a concrete idea of how many reviews you need to collect to make your strategy a success.

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