Fifty years ago, running a successful restaurant meant having great food, reliable employees and a bit of marketing on billboards and in newspapers. With the quick evolution of technology, though, this has changed entirely. Any culinary entrepreneur looking to ensure their restaurant furnishings stay packed must work hard in the digital realm. While this certainly includes email marketing and running social media platforms, it’s also essential to keep tabs on internet reviews. In fact, the benefits of responding to online reviews are numerous.

Increased Revisits = Increased Conversions
Whether a restaurant review is positive or negative, responding to the review will increase revisits to a page. This is because most review sites require people to sign up for an account with their email address. When a restaurateur takes the time to respond to any review, the individual who penned it will typically get an email alerting them of the reply.

This does two things. With positive reviews, it lets people know that the eatery actually listens to its patrons. Along with giving the individual an emailed reminder of how much they enjoyed their trip, this can also help keep the restaurant furnishings packed. Replies to negative reviews, on the other hand, give a restaurateur the chance to publicly make things right.

Increase Purchase Power of Negative Reviews
No restaurant owner can hope to receive only positive reviews. Negative testimonials, some fair, some not, are going to pop up. It seems like this would do real damage, but a study conducted by the company Bazaarvoice found something interesting. They showed study participants the same exact negative reviews, but for half of the respondents, they also showed a company reply.

As it turns out, test subjects who saw certain negative reviews accompanied by a response had much higher purchase intent and product sentiment. When this response contained an offer for a refund or “freebie,” purchase intent jumped 92 percent and sentiment went up 88 percent. Unlike some marketing opinions, these are hard numbers that can be replicated.

Smart restaurateurs will use their brand to do the replicating.

Chances to Increase SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) for restaurants is critical if they hope to bring in new patrons. This typically involves optimizing their own websites and blogs to rank higher on Google, but responding to online reviews can do this as well. First, webpages with recent updates perform better in Google searches, but there are also other ways these reviews can help.

Restaurateurs who respond to online reviews have the opportunity to insert targeted keywords into their responses. A “Baltimore area restaurant” or “best eatery in Jacksonville” can go a long way in helping an establishment’s review page move up the rankings. Even if a culinary entrepreneur’s actual website isn’t great when it comes to SEO, these high-ranking review sites can still drum up business.

Review sites are much more than opportunities for patrons to voice their opinions. In reality, they’re marketing tools that restaurants can utilize to bring in more business. While there are undoubtedly other ways to fill up the restaurant furnishings, focusing on responses to online reviews can go a long way.