One of the most important features of a restaurant actually has little to do with the menu, and may often go overlooked to the detriment of the business’s success. Restaurant patrons notice the restrooms, and their opinion of the facilities affects their perception of the restaurant as a whole.
A recent Harris Interactive poll found that 88% of people feel that a dirty bathroom reflects poorly on the cleanliness of the overall establishment, and 29% of these people said they would not return to a restaurant with a filthy bathroom. Even if the kitchen and dining areas are spotless, customers will question the overall management and hygiene of a restaurant if its restrooms are subpar. A dirty, neglected bathroom can sour an otherwise tasty meal, ruining the overall dining experience. With at least 29% of your customers at stake, restroom upkeep is a must.
Restrooms should be comfortable and hospitable to patrons. After a mid-meal bathroom break, your patrons should return to their seat and their meal with a positive feeling. First and foremost, it is vital that the facilities are as clean and orderly as possible, with all materials well-stocked and hardware fully functioning. Don’t settle for the bare necessities, however; add a special touch by offering free toiletries, mints, perfume, or fresh hand towels. Put in the extra effort to show your customers that you really care about their comfort.
You might also consider going the extra mile to make your restroom facilities memorable – in a good way. Bathrooms don’t need to be boring; a little creativity can go a long way to create a lasting impression. Interesting and memorable décor will add a talking point that can help set your restaurant apart from competitors and create buzz. Decorate the restrooms with a theme to match the mood of the restaurant, whether it is beautiful and elegant or quirky and unusual.
Regardless of how you choose to arrange or decorate your restaurant’s restrooms, keep in mind your patrons’ opinions. Their perception of your facilities matters: it will affect their overall opinion of your restaurant and, in turn, the success of your business. Be aware of how well (or poorly) customers perceive the facilities, and respond accordingly.
Filed under: Restaurants | Tags: instant surveys, mobile surveys, survey app
When was the last time you heard a friend or colleague complain about service at a business? How often do you find yourself listing off what you disliked about your last hotel stay or lunch meeting? What many businesses don’t realize is that an unhappy customer is more than just one bad experience. Statistics show that 91% of dissatisfied customers will never again purchase goods or services from your business.
According to studies, news travels fast and far. The average unhappy customer will tell between 8 and 16 people about his or her negative experience at your business. Your existing customers may forgive a little bad news about your business, but don’t expect to attract new customers with complaints flying around town. Even the smallest customer can impact your bottom line when he or she starts talking.
Sharing negative experiences is quick and painless in the online age, where language travels beyond your personal social circle. From message boards to review sites, Twitter accounts to facebook pages, anyone with an Internet connection and an opinion can bring your business to its knees before millions of readers. While unhappy customers are likely to tell their story to friends and family, they may never mention it to you unless there is an easy way to do it. This puts an added burden on you to maintain the highest level of service and also to continue to encourage customer feedback.
So think about it. If your average customer visits your business once a month and spends $40, you lose $480/year in revenue. If you have a loyal customer base where you keep customers for several years – say 5 years on average, this has now cost you $2400 in revenue. And finally, if they tell 10 friends who never have a chance to become loyal customers, it has cost you and additional $24,000 in revenue. That’s a lot to pay for a single bad experience that you might have been able to avoid.
The Bottom Line: Each customer you lose or fail to attract will take a toll on your business’s success. Each unhappy customer may mean a domino effect of failed potential new customers. With each person who hears a bad review, you risk losing one sale – or more. With businesses spending considerable money on advertising and marketing, it would be a waste to allow negative word-of-mouth to undercut all paid efforts.
There are dozens of ways to lose business – don’t allow dissatisfaction to be a cause for lost customers, both existing and potential.
Filed under: Restaurants, Running a better business | Tags: customer feedback, online restaurant marketing, restaurant social media, Restaurants
You have a venue and a menu, waiters and waitresses, customers and critic’s approval, but do you have an online presence? Putting your restaurant on the map is no longer just about good food and ambiance; it is crucial to build a relationship with your customers after they have paid their bills and gone home.
Make it easy for your clients to find you online. Customers want to know if you have reservations available, what your hours are, what is on your current menu, if you deliver, if orders can be placed online, and what tonight’s specials are. Having the right terms on your website may make it easier for this information to be found quickly through a search engine. This can include search-engine optimized (SEO) site content as well as paid ads through products like Google AdWords. Beyond your restaurant name, make sure your menu, promotions, and specialties are easily searchable online as well, to ensure that diners seeking something particular find you first.
Ever find yourself miles from home and craving good pizza? If you’re not in your own neighborhood, you might not know where the nearest or tastiest pizzeria can be found. These days, your first move is probably to whip out your smartphone and start searching for the area’s best pizza shop. But what if the area’s best pizzeria has a website that you can’t open on your mobile device? You are left without store hours, delivery options, or menu access. Instead of taking a risk, you might decide to check out another nearby shop, and the first pizzeria loses a customer.
Why let your own business suffer the same fate? Your next client is very likely to be a mobile device user and may be looking up your restaurant right now on a smartphone. Optimizing your website to satisfy your mobile users may require changes from your regular site, but it can make a world of difference to your business when they can easily search your location, menu, and hours on their smartphone.
What about customers right in your neighborhood? Many mobile searches target a particular geographic location; specifically, a one mile radius. Allowing customers to use their mobile devices as a GPS tool makes it easier for your diners to find you quickly.
Trying to get closer to your customers? You can be right in their phone every day. Social media isn’t new to most restaurant owners, but it is often an underutilized tool in the quest for building a stronger relationship with your customers. You don’t have to force your way into a customer’s home via email to let them know the story behind your brand.
Reviews and Feedback Your reputation lies in the hands of your reviewers online. Why not show your customers that you care by giving them the opportunity to give you feedback? Using mobile surveys, you can easily create a positive experience by allowing customers to comment on their experience and share a good experience with their friends. Giving mobile surveys is also a great way to easily collect email addresses and build your email marketing list of opt-in customers.
Tools like Facebook let you share what’s special about your brand on a daily basis, not just the special you’re offering this weekend. Whether it is the fact that you’ve been family-run for three generations, your world-class macaroni and cheese, or your Friday night jazz ensemble, social media tools share information, not simply ‘news.’ It is also easy for your customers to express their love of your business and share it with friends!
If you’re sharing links and information over email or social media or even if you are relying on search terms to direct customers to your site, you will want to know what works. Trend-spotting is key for developing a successful online marketing strategy.
This doesn’t mean that you need to start crunching numbers at the end of a hard workday; tools like link shrinkers and Google Analytics allow you to measure activity and see how your customers choose to interact with your brand online. Are you appearing in searches but not connecting with customers? Do most of your online orders happen after you send your weekly email? Check the trends to see where your visits increase and decrease and what online activity is associated with those changes.
Filed under: Email Marketing, Restaurants, Running a better business | Tags: customer service surveys, email list building, Email Marketing, mobile surveys
What’s more valuable than being able to reach your customers at any hour of the day? Sharing the right information in the most effective manner. Your business has ample opportunity to contact customers thanks to the prevalence of email marketing, but misuse of this tool can be fatal for your customers’ interest in your product.
Before you send out your next marketing email, be sure to read these tips on optimizing your email marketing to boost your business’ sales.
Give your clients what they want. While you might think new restaurant flatware or a recently replaced carpet is interesting stuff, your customers want to know about what’s in it for them. Customers want to hear about events, discounts, promotions and specials.
Be personal and relevant. When you collect email addresses, ask for other information as well. You will delight your customers with birthday greetings and rewards. The email promotions you send should be available at the locations most convenient to the client. Don’t pester your customers with promotions they likely won’t be able to use! Similarly, keep your promotions timely. Send seasonal specials as the season kicks off, when your customers have the time of year in mind.
Make an impression. Email boxes fill up quickly with company promotions. Make your email marketing stand out! Use a stimulating headline to ensure your message doesn’t go straight to the recycle bin. Highlight the purpose of the email, be it a sale, a promotion, or a new product, right in the headline. Of course, getting a customer to open the email isn’t the end of the battle. A well-written paragraph or two may adequately share your message, but only if the client bothers to read it. Consider adding design elements like photography and art to share your message efficiently and effectively. Of course, keep it short! Customers care about what’s in it for them.
Don’t be a pest. No one wants to hear from you daily. The more emails you send, the more your customers will find themselves deleting your messages as ‘spam.’ Determine what works best for your business, but set a regular interval. Maybe you have a weekly special that is worthy of highlighting; in that case, a weekly email may be perfect. Setting a seasonal menu? Bi-monthly emails will let your customers know what to expect as the menu changes. Try to be consistent with your frequency so customers know when to expect to hear from you. There aren’t any consistent published guidelines regarding email frequency, however one good rule of thumb is to base it on how frequently your customer makes a buying decision in your type of industry. It is important to keep an eye on your unsubscribe list. If your rate of unsubscribes goes up, you may be emailing too frequently.
Diversify and integrate. Email is effective, but many clients are proficient in and active on social media channels. Encourage customers to sign up for your Facebook page or to be a Twitter follower. This allows customers to become more connected to your brand and your business. Speak mobile fluently. With mobile device and smartphone use growing by the day, it becomes more necessary that your emails translate fully to mobile screens. This includes your text, images, and links.
Let them forward. Never forget to include an ‘share’ link in every email. This allows your customers to share their love of your product with friends. Word of mouth in the digital age extends to email forwarding!
Segmented Lists segmenting addresses based on interests or demographics can help your emails be more relevant, especially when promoting events or specials.
Filed under: Restaurants, Running a better business, Survey Feedback | Tags: customer experience, customer feedback, customer service surveys, feedback follow up, guest-services
A great example of what NOT to do.
No matter how hard you work at making your business run well, there will be customer complaints. Some customers will keep their complaints to themselves. Others, though, will express their concerns to you through your Guest Satisfaction Surveys. If your customers are willing to be honest with you and share their issues with your business, they likely expect two things: problem resolution and personal follow-up.
Today, let’s focus on the latter. Many customer surveys ask for contact information for businesses to get in touch with guests after guests lodge complaints. Failing to follow up with a dissatisfied guest may result in a lost customer and a bad reputation. Handling customer complaints is best done with simple courtesy:
1. Listen: Read their comments fully and closely. If speaking in person, do not interrupt. They have something to tell you, you need to hear it.
2. Say Thank You: Always, always, always say thank you! Follow up with any customer complaints. Respond to them in whatever medium they provide you contact information; the more direct the better. If they give their phone number, call them. Let them know you care.
3. Apologize: If you care about your customers’ experience, you need to apologize. Do not rest on rationalizations and excuses; apologize for your customers’ subpar experience with your company. Make the apology sincere.
4. Show Respect: Consider the customers’ feelings and opinions when seeking a resolution. Work together to find the answer. Ask what the customer would like to have happen – the customer may expect less than you think.
5. Send a Note: Follow up with your customer and thank them for their input. Let them know how you made appropriate changes. Customers will often respond positively to your focus on making them part of the solution.
Your customers will appreciate your good manners and strong follow-up. Moreover, they will share that good experience with others. Just as an unhappy customer can keep potential customers away, a satisfied customer will relate that experience with others. Prompt, sincere follow-up is critical to address guest issues.
Filed under: Restaurants, Running a better business | Tags: customer experience, customer feedback, negative customer feedback, Training employees
As the old saying goes, the customer is always right. It may make perfect sense to you as a business owner, but how can you explain that concept to your employees when sharing negative feedback? Further, how can you translate that into an appropriate response by your employees?
First, being able to obtain candid, prompt feedback from your clients is only as valuable as your ability to respond. Of course, expressing clients’ complaints with staff can be the hardest task. Failing to share the feedback will hamper change but addressing the issue can offend your staff members. Tact and respect are the keys to bringing sensitive issues to the table. When addressing customers’ complaints with your staff:
- Consider: about whom or what was the complaint lodged? Your customer could be upset with one employee or disappointed with a product or service handled by several members of your team. Meet with solo offenders individually, but don’t be afraid to gather a full group to address larger scale issues.
- Check with your front line of defense: your employees. Do they recognize the problem being raised by the customer? Were they aware of the issue?
- Listen to your employees’ responses. After all, you hired them because you believe they are skilled at what they do! Their opinions count. Do they think the complaints are reasonable? Your employees’ response is vital. While a good employee is concerned about customer appreciation, they may be able to offer a fuller picture of the customer’s experience.
If your employee agrees with the customer’s complaint, it’s time to discuss strategies to make a change. What does the employee recommend? What do you recommend? Are there examples of similar problem resolution strategies in your company? In your industry? Ask your employee what staff can do differently in the future to prevent this from happening again.
If your employee doesn’t recognize the validity of the complaint, consider who is right – platitudes aside – your employee or your customer? If you believe your employee is right, stand up for him or her with the customer. If you stand by the customer, explain why to your employee. In a one-on-one setting, make it clear what you see about the employee’s performance that is an issue. Again, consider potential solutions to work with your employee to resolve the situation so your employee knows you care about his or her contributions.
Remember to use tact and respect when working with your employees. From entry level to senior management, a business is only as strong as its staff. Making everyone feel like part of the team is crucial to having employees buy in to your mission and meet your company’s standard of service.
Filed under: Restaurants, Surveys | Tags: clean restrooms, cleanliness, customer feedback, customer service surveys, QSR Magazine
Want a one-word answer to ensure customer satisfaction?
Hygiene.
A recent survey by Cintas Corporation in QSR Magazine showed that customers do not simply expect clean restrooms, they require them: a survey polling 1,000 U.S. residents ages 18 and older found that 94 percent of U.S. adults would avoid patronizing a business at which they experienced a dirty restroom. A single unhappy customer doesn’t just take his business elsewhere: word of mouth (and Twitter) spreads quickly and can cost many future visits by existing and potential customers. As a result, an unclean restroom gone unnoticed could turn off multiple customers in one day. While some will inform a member of the staff, not all customers feel comfortable directly reporting uncleanliness in a restaurant, retail outlet, or business. Meanwhile, although clean restrooms are a priority for most businesses, it is difficult — if not impossible — to set aside staff for hyper-frequent bathroom checkups.
Think that just because you aren’t operating a restaurant, this doesn’t apply to your company? Not so. The same survey asked respondents what specific types of businesses they would avoid due to dirty restrooms. Leading the list and tied for first are restaurants and hotels: 79 percent of respondents would avoid these business because of the state of their facilities. Similarly, 77 percent of respondents would be turned off by unclean restrooms in healthcare facilities. Also on the list were supermarkets (50 percent of respondents), retail stores (45 percent of respondents), gas stations (45 percent of respondents), and even car dealerships (39 percent of respondents).
Of course, this doesn’t mean every business in America needs to hire an around-the-clock restroom attendant. Instead, make it more convenient and less awkward for customers to report cleanliness complaints or comments to management. Real-time satisfaction surveys can provide you with customer feedback about cleanliness and other service issues instantly. You might even consider a survey kiosk to get the most timely and accurate responses.
Faster than the old-fashioned pencil and comment card, internet-connected surveys can even send alerts to management to inform about particular cleanliness issues. Historically, you would have to wait til the end of a guest’s hotel stay or visit to your business site to be informed of their unhappiness. With immediate notification, you can be on the move to ameliorate the situation in an instant. If there is a larger issue, you can get respond promptly to customers to let them know you’re working to fix the situation.
Providing customers with an anonymous, instant opportunity to share their opinions, issues, and concerns about your restrooms and public areas sends the message that your business is concerned about their input. Furthermore, knowing their voices will be heard encourages the customers to provide that input.
While a survey won’t mop the floors, it can let you know when you may need to bring out the bucket. Responding promptly to customer complaints about cleanliness can be the difference between a one-time guest and a regular client.
