How do you react if there is a negative customer comment about your food service posted on social media or a feedback website?
The chances are some of you will shrug it off and put it down to being one dissatisfied diner among many happy ones.
But the individual who received poor service has the capacity to influence their friends, if they post on Facebook or Twitter, and potential future customers, if the criticism appears on a website such as TripAdvisor.
Customer experience analysis company HowYa has just released an ‘at table’ restaurant rating app, which is free for single outlet operators and charged at a premium rate for chains and multiples.
Diners can give their feedback on the meal while they await the bill and trials across 30 restaurants have shown that 92 per cent of customers offered the opportunity to give feedback via the HowYa app did so.
Of course, this kind of information can also be a positive since approval ratings will also be flagged up and provide useful intelligence which can help shape the future direction of aspects of a business.
Customer experience courses and social media courses for hospitality businesses are offered by abv Training and here are three top tips on how pubs, restaurants and hotels should manage their response to customer feedback:
Monitor feedback
Make sure you know exactly what customers are saying about the food you serve them.
Keep an eye on feedback websites and relevant social media feeds and consider using a customer experience app for real time responses.
Always ask diners if they were happy with their experience and it doesn’t hurt to occasionally ask them if you could have done anything better.
Respond quickly to negative feedback
If you spot a critical comment on a real time app like HowYa make sure you bring it up with the customer before they leave.
Showing you are listening to the diner and concerned about improving their experience could make the difference in ensuring they return and potentially could dissuade them from posting a damaging comment on social media or a feedback site.
If you see criticism of your establishment on Twitter or Facebook make sure you respond politely and try to take the conversation offline so you can address their concerns out of the full glare of public scrutiny.
Train staff
The way you treat your customers is key to the success of any hospitality business. You can pass on guidance as a manager or owner, of course, but nothing focuses the mind like a day’s training at a different venue.
If time is tight then e-learning customer service courses are valuable in ensuring that staff treat those they are serving with respect and making their visit as pleasurable as possible.
It’s also well worth staff or management taking a course instructing them on how best to harness the power of social media to make sure they listen to customers and react when they are unhappy with the service.
Let us know if you have any top tips on customer service you would like to share by commenting on this blog
The post 3 Top Tips on how to respond to negative customer service feedback appeared first on Ben's Blog.
