User Review Management:

It’s amazing to me that so many restaurant owners get crazy mad at user reviews online yet do so little about them.

I can understand.  Restaurant owners (and all local business owners) work so hard, day in and day out, on so many aspects of their business.  One thing they do know is food and to hear some ‘guy’ talk about their restaurant who clearly doesn’t know what they are talking about is frustrating.  Worse yet, when you see insanely off base reviews with a one star rating, what else are you going to think than “competitor”?  It’s a tough field of play – publicly displayed user reviews that is.

But to not pay attention and manage and address these reviews is insane.  Some people writing reviews about your business may be idiots, but actually most of these people are sincere.  Most of the reviews are 3+ out of 5 stars i.e. positive.  And most aren’t written by competitors or recently ‘released’ employees.

Here are some tips on managing your user reviews online:

1.  Respond.  Pure and simple.  There are a ton of ways to respond, but overall be authentic, have a backbone and set the record straight when necessary, apologize if necessary, own it if you came up short or don’t know exactly what happened, and overall, just be professional.  Have some fun.  Have a bit of a sense of humor and just reach out a bit – make a connection.  These people just want to be heard and recognized for the most part.  You have no idea how many people will change their horrendous reviews or give you another chance.  You’ll be amazed.  And if not “amazed” at least pleasantly surprised.

2.  Say thanks!  So many people miss the importance of responding to 4 and 5 star user reviews.  They figure they’ll just get back to the 1 and 2 star reviews.  If you had to choose, and you don’t (respond to all), respond to your fans.  This takes someone from a fan to an ambassador of your brand and restaurant offline.  This gets  the word of mouth from the ephemeral “online” world to the offline, very real, on the street word of mouth world we all so love and understand.  This translates into conversations that happen all the time:  “so and so got back to me at such and such restaurant and was so nice to me about writing a great review.  It was great – I’ll definitely be going back – it is a great restaurant.”  See, they had a great experience in the first place – make it an even better experience with a nice follow up reply and they’ll talk about you – that is for certain!

3.  Rate the positive reviews about your business as helpful “yes” on Google Maps or “funny” or “useful” on Yelp.  This helps ascend your good reviews into various searches.  It’s online PR.  It can only help and it takes close to no time.  Yes, it’s a bit “schilly” but you know, if it’s helpful, it’s helpful and if it’s not, it’s not.  Who knows better than you?

4.  Read the user review guidelines on Yelp, Citysearch, Trip Advisor, Zagat, Google Local Maps, Live MSN and Yahoo.  If your reviews tend to be close, or clearly break these guidelines, stick up for yourself and send an email to these properties requeseting a review of the user review.  Most of them will take these considerations very seriously.  You not agreeing with the review does not suffice.  It has to infringe on the rules set forth by these sites (racial comments, language, pesonal attacks, etc).

5.  Start your own blog and respond to these user reviews on your blog.

These are just a few suggestions.  What have you done to manage your user reviews?  What success stories can you share?

User Reviews

It amazes me how many restaurant and retail business owners don’t actively engage with responding to user reviews online.  “Don’t have time” or are otherwise not engaged.  This is one of the single most effective ways to not only reach out to the “online community” but to make an impression about your business, one that says you care, you’re engaged and that you’re passionate about what you do, your business, your product and your service. Stick up for yourself, say thank you and make it personal: from you! It makes a huge impression online.

Unbelievable how many people miss the boat on this!

Work it!

The enclosed article from the San Francisco Chronicle reveals the danger of schilling on Yelp!  Yelp, in order to create the impression that their reviewers and reviews are legitimate (both a very real concern and a PR move) are removing entire accounts associated with what they deem ‘fake’ reviews:  reviews written to artificially inflate the public record and discourse on the business of record.

The comments section in this article is more interesting and pertinent than the actual article itself.  It provides insight into the public impression of Yelp and it’s users.

So what do you do as someone who owns or operates a retail business or is involved in “social media”?  Does one get better and more ‘sneaky’ and ‘authentic sounding’ when it comes to writing reviews for your friends or family, or your own business on Yelp or City Search?

The question misses the point entirely as I see it.  The way  to create a great reputation online is to be open, sincere and relevant.  Rather than “game” the system, “work” the system.  Engage users.  Write them back.  Respond.  Get involved in the discussions on Yelp as the business owner you are.  Use the tools available to you on Yelp.  Very few business owners do this for many good reasons, namely time and inclination.  Who has time to do this?   But at the end of the day, spending just 5 minutes a day not on your profile, but on your competitors profiles, on the “Talk” section of Yelp, in the “Events” section of Yelp, etc…the more time you spend on Yelp / online and get to know your customers there, the better you’ll do.

User Reviews: The Five Stages of Denial

User reviews of your business are a roller coaster – glory and defeat for all to see!  And you hate this.  It’s not fair!  You might be the victim of miscommunication, of an ex employee’s grudge or an over zealous competitor.  It’s an irritation to no end, and understandably so.  What if people constantly wrote reviews about you online, about your personality?   Can you imagine?  This “graffiti and heresy about you and your business” just isn’t right.  Hence there are always excuses:  That review just isn’t true!  My competitor wrote that review.  “Oh, I remember that guy, here’s the situation with that…I can’t believe he wrote that…it wasn’t our fault”.  Or there is just the perennial rolling of the eyes, a mutual sign of grievance and disgust.  Hands in the air:  I give up!

For the most part the small business world is at stage 2 of their denial cycle:  Anger!

The Five Stages of Denial

Denial: (these reviews don’t matter to my business…those aren’t my customers…the internet doesn’t matter..who are these people?  Who has the time?  These people are losers…they aren’t my clientele, my “base”)

Anger: (Why me?  I HATE user reviews.  That is total bull…I’m going to post a sticker:  NO YELPERS ALLOWED)

Bargaining: (if I could only delete the review…or maybe I’ll sue them…)

Depression: (I don’t care anymore…I’m going to just ignore the whole thing…forget about it…)

Acceptance: (I’m ready for whatever comes – I’m ready to deal with this – let’s go…let’s engage this beast…)

Go to the beach, do yoga, get some extra sessions with your therapist in and vent until it hurts…beat up some pillows, cry.  Get a good long cry out.  Let it alllll out!

And then accept it!  Embrace it.  Start to engage user reviews, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and everywhere and wherever.  Be open.  Be passionate.  Be real and be honest.  But most importantly:  be there!