Why You Mustn’t Rely Solely on Online Review Management Platforms for Feedback

Using online reviews for feedback is important and inexpensive but relying only on this data (because it is cheaper than mystery shopping) will not alert you to everything you need to know.   

 

 

The nail bar I go to, took on a new trainee six months ago. She was terrible!  And, despite much training from her colleagues, which was painful to watch, she didn’t improve. Luckily for me she wasn’t trusted to do anything more than toes and basic nail colour, so I was safe, but when I mentioned this to a few random girlfriends, I was surprised how many of them went to the same place. They all exclaimed at just how poor she was at her job, and that they were going somewhere else now.

There were no Google Reviews to alert the owners about their unhappy customers since regular customers don’t like to leave negative reviews. It was impossible to feedback, discreetly, to the owner because this trainee was always there. And because she also had access to the booking platform and emails, that wasn’t an option either.

Last week I went back, and the trainee wasn’t there. When I asked after her, the co-owner said that they had finally let her go because they had realised that she was losing them business. Indeed, I was the only client there when I could see the nail bar across the road had at least half a dozen customers. She had already cost them thousands of pounds and now it will take time to recover their reputation.

 

 

Silent Customer has a very clever online review management platform that collects and measures the sentiment from them. It also solicits private feedback and is invaluable in finding out what your customers love about you, as well as what they like about your competitors! BUT, if you want to find out the whole, unbiased truth, of what your customers are really experiencing, but are not telling you, you need to enlist help of mystery shoppers too! If you think mystery shopping is expensive then try calculating the cost of the lost.   

Contact us today to find out more about our online review management platform and mystery shopping solutions, and how we can help your business to succeed.

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Reputation Management

Mystery Visits

Phone & Online Audits

Free Training Tools

Free Training Tools

Intercepting Complaints

Check-backs and complaint handling go hand in hand. Intercepting a problem before a customer tells you, or Google, not only prevents negative word-of-mouth but can increase revenue through loyalty and positive PR.

Use our fun PEP talk sheets to support your front-line teams in learning how to avoid complaints.

Engaging Conversations

Building a natural and genuine rapport with guests can be the most positive and memorable part of their dining experience. Whilst the food and the environment can be remarkable by itself, making a customer feel that they are more than just a table number, has a far wider reach in terms of spreading positive word-of-mouth.

Use our fun PEP talk sheet to support your front-line teams in learning how to have engaging conversations.

Positive Body Language

Being able to communicate positivity, and with enthusiasm, encourages customers to reciprocate in the same manner. However, most of us are unaware of how we are perceived by others and, whilst we may think we are coming across as welcoming and friendly, our body language could be telling a different story.

Use our fun PEP talk sheet to support your front-line teams in understand the importance of self-awareness.

Relevant Recommendations

Team members need good product knowledge to be able to describe and enthuse, but often don’t know what many of the dishes taste like. A lack of upselling is also often due to a lack of confidence in knowing where to start a conversation that leads to a recommendation.

Use our fun PEP talk sheet to support your front-line teams in learning how to upsell.