Restaurant Ratings and Reviews have been popular for some time now, but the new TripAdvisor iPhone app, LocalPicks makes it easy for diners to post reviews and even include a photo before they even leave the restaurant.
Consumer-generated mobile restaurant reviews will become an important marketing tool for restauranteurs in 2010. Are you ready?
To refresh your memory, I’ve written about handheld review apps with Goodrec back in February, and the free LocalPicks app when it first appeared in the iTunes store in July 2008. I rely on this handy app to find decent places to eat whenever I’m traveling. The user-generated review community at TripAdvisor hasn’t steared me wrong yet (although I’m sure I’ve missed out on some good places that have gotten lousy reviews by Tripadvisor diners).
What’s New and Interesting in LocalPicks by TripAdvisor
The new version of TripAdvisor’s LocalPicks app provides a filter of nearby restaurant suggestions based on user reviews, cuisine style, distance and price so I can suss out the best options for me and my growling tummy.
And of course each restaurant listing features restaurant phone number, so with I click I can dial and make reservations. I can even get directions and use the built-in gps to navigate my way to the maître d’.
The Little Button that Changes Everything
While some applications like Goodrec have given diners the opportunity to make restaurant reviews on their iPhone before now, these apps had little chance to make an impact without dropping the reviews into the well-known, well-populated TripAdvisor database. The “Write a Review” button on the latest version of TripAdvisor’s LocalPicks app feeds handheld user reviews directly into TripAdvisor’s already burgeoning ecosystem of Traveler-generated reviews.
Writing Reviews on LocalPicks is possible right in the Restaurant
Like the TripAdvisor Website, the app gives users a variety of categories to rate restaurants including overall, food, service, value, atmosphere and the opportunity to answer a simple yet vital Yes/No question: Would you recommend this restaurant to a friend?
App users can even upload a photo from the restaurant.
Can you feel the power shifting to the consumer?
Are you excited or anxious now that your restaurant guests have the ability to rate or review your restaurant in the power of their hand?
As a consumer, the new power excites me. As a tourism operator, the new power excites me even more! As a restauranteur, you can choose to be threatened by this new wrinkle in the power of social handheld media or you can rise to the challenge and benefit from it by encouraging reviews by your patrons while they are still in your restaurant.
How your restaurant can benefit from the emergence of handheld ratings and reviews:
- Provide great service, serve great food and deliver value for money. Educate waitstaff and kitchen staff that their job security may truly be in the hands of your patrons.
- Listen to the reviews and stories told by patrons and adjust your products, services when they aren’t up to guest standards.
- Leave a note on your receipts encouraging folks to leave a review. Have your servers be on the lookout for handheld toting guests and offer an invitation to review your restaurant.
- Encourage regulars to take a moment to tell others about your restaurant on TripAdvisor – even if they do it from home, the reviews will show up for others who rely on TripAdvisor for advice.
- Offer bonuses to wait staff who succeed in encouraging their dinner guests to leave reviews.
- Print business cards with links to TripAdvisor or other relevant review sites your clients use.
- Create a community of caring customers by becoming social on sites like Twitter and Facebook.
- Print your Twitter handle on your receipts – and provide special value to your fans.
- If you are a DMO, CVB or other agency that supports tourism in your region, help your restauranteurs to understand the new power of the handheld consumer to influence their business. Get them excited about offering great service.
The opening of Apple’s app store for iPhone is only a little over a year old and it has taken a bit of time for applications to catch up to the promise of the “Here and Now Handheld Web” – now that it’s here, all marketing is social.
What do you think? Will mobile ratings and reviews be as big as I think they will be in 2010?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Will be big and bigger, certainly.
Nowadays everybody is busy writing reviews but how many people are able to compose a meaningful review? It's so bloody easy to give out stars and pass judgement on any business service.
Have you observed that today more commentators on tripadvisor are biased, impolite and ignorant than let's say 2 years ago? Is this the new “confident” consumer armed with a hand-held and ready to spread the good and bad news while still chewing his meal in the restaurant?
There is no of choice for online business. We need to do marketing properly to earn profit. Internet marketing helps to improve your business
Thanks Juergen,
I think confident and empowered consumers is the right way to think
about it. Such empowerment may lead to people feeling braver about
making extreme statements. Still only one review in 6 or 7 is negative
and the volume of reviews will drive revenue.
With nearly 30 years in the business I can tell you that most people will NOT honestly tell you their opinion even if asked. The old standard was that for every person that actually voiced a complaint, there were seven others who left, never said a word, but told all their friends about their “bad” experience. Social media allows owners/managers to find out those critiques and allows him/her the opportunity to correct them. Whereas prior to this, s/he was generally clueless about those word of mouth conversations. These venues provide restaurateurs an opportunity to understand what guests really think rather than what they assume their guest think. Prudent management will act, failing management will react.
Well said. Thank you. In a consumer-review driven economy quality will be
rewarded.
Yes I completely agree with your comments. Customers hardly ever say what they really think. I just had an agreeable evening with friends, we all said thanks to the owners, we all said afterwards the food and wine as poor. I wrote (I hope as I have 50 years in the business) a truthful review as I was not the host it just was not my job to judge the on the night feedback. I hope that the owners use the feedback to modify their business and have another 30 years sucessful business. Instant (or at least recient) feedback, especially for restaurants, is of more value than that of 1, 2 or 3 years ago. Fashion, chefs and staff change and we all get a little stale and need reminding what we don't see.
I think this is the way forward – instant comment. Words of caution though – TripAdvisor will introduce charging for telephone numbers and Web advertising and at that point many will not trust this input leaving the floor for another app.
Please TripAdvisor don't spoil this by starting to charging for advertising for restaurants – it will distroy trust.
It must be said that this very valuable service has some little niggles. I have been monitoring other voting sites. TripAdvisor suffers from not having the same compulsion to comment that Amazon and Ebay have from their purchasers. Their reviews have higher reviewer scoring than TripAdvisor, this system being easier to make should give higher ratings. Ebay and Amazon have very keen suppliers and I don't see the willingness of restauranteurs to engage in the same way.
This is a great oppertunity for truthful feedback and gaining a compedative advantage – restaurants must realise that this the future.
had doubts the other day of usefulness of iphone dining apps you advocate so much as important tools but tonight a guy came in that works 200m away at customs and he came in b/c UrbanSpoon recommended BKB for soups on his iphone. He also said he would add positive review b/c our soup was so good. you are dead on with this one. weird how that happened
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