FSR January 2023

YourTake

STEPHEN GOULD

ADOBE STOCK / STEPHEN GOULD

THROUGH STERLING SERVICE, RESATURANTS CAN AMASS MORE POSITIVE REVIEWS.

delivered at just the right, exact moment: when the person is there, in your restaurant, having a favorite burger. e customer then clicks the link which leads straight to the ability to leave a

An innovative approach to reviews Imagine this scenario: A loyal, repeat customer walks into your restaurant and accesses the freeWi-Fi on her smart phone. While enjoying her meal, she receives a text message asking about her experience and providing a link to the restaurant’s Facebook account where she can leave the review. e odds of her not only writing a review, but also a positive one, are high since she’s a loyal, repeat customer. is is accomplished through integrated Wi-Fi marketing. Wi-Fi marketing is when a restaurant collects customer data in exchange for access to a freeWi-Fi hotspot connection. e integration piece is when the data is then utilized to segment and target customers to send personalized emails or SMS (text messages). e hyper-seg mentation capability via owned data enables a restaurant to pinpoint their loyal, repeat customers versus one-tim ers. It can also define when customers visit and what they typically order. In essence, it provides a look into the cus tomer’s preferences and behavior. Once the customer has logged onto the Wi-Fi the first time and provided his or her information, the hotspot will recognize that device, and also that customer, each time the person walks through the door and is automatically connected to the Wi-Fi. At that point, a text message requesting a review can be

getting kicked off a review site. In addi tion, NBC reported that the Federal Trade Commission views fake reviews as misleading and can carry with them fines up to $46,517 for each fake review. Instead, increasing the number of positive reviews is better achieved the following ways: • Provide a pleasant, enjoyable experi ence for customers with a clean res taurant, quality food, and good cus tomer service. • Place a window sign informing cus tomers that your business uses Yelp and appreciates reviews. • Hand out cards or print a link on receipts to where customers can leave a review. • Incentivize reviews by entering customers into a drawing when they leave a review. • Utilize digital display signage with a QR code and a call to action to leave a review. • Respond to customers who leave neg ative reviews and offer to remedy the situation; sometimes this motivates them to amend their earlier review. The above best practices provide a more traditional approach to generat ing positive reviews, but in this day and age, technology is in restaurants’ favor. Thankful ly, securing more positive reviews—and pushing down the nega tive ones—is more easily accomplished.

review on Facebook. Not only does your restaurant receive a positive review, but that review shows up on the customer’s profile under their “about” section. e integration aspect of integrated WiFi marketing is the utilization of Wi-Fi, SMS (or email), and social media to achieve the end result. By adding a technologically advanced and robust system to prompt reviews, restaurants can greatly improve their overall review average. Uncovering pat terns that may result in negative reviews also helps businesses address necessary operational improvements. Beyond the metrics, it’s important to show custom ers that the businesses they’re interact ing with and buying from care about their experience. Ultimately, this boosts the brand’s reputation. Stephen Gould is a restaurant mar keting technology expert and CEO of CogoBuzz. He is an entrepreneur with a successful history providing guest engagement software solutions for the hospitality industry. Before transition ing to technologies within the hospital ity industry, Gould worked in govern ment contracting and internet security for 18 years. He led research programs, authored development methodologies, and built and delivered software prod ucts across the globe.

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FSRMAGAZINE .COM

JANUARY 2023