Reviews28 August 20264 min read
How to ask guests for a review without being annoying
Most restaurants never ask guests for reviews, and then wonder why the only people who write are the ones who were angry.
The people who write on their own are not a sample
A guest who had a perfectly good evening almost never writes about it. Good is not a story. The people who write unprompted are the two ends of the room: delighted, or furious. If you never ask anyone, your page is built out of extremes, and the extremes at the bottom are louder.
Asking is not a trick to raise your rating. It is how the ordinary, happy middle of your room gets on the page at all.
Timing beats wording
You can write a beautiful message and send it at the wrong moment and get nothing. The window is small: from the moment they walk out to roughly the next morning.
- Too early, at the table, and you are asking someone to do homework during dinner.
- The evening they leave, or the next morning, is the sweet spot. They still remember the dish.
- A week later they remember that it was nice. Nice does not fill a review.
Ask everyone, not the ones you think will be kind
This is the one that matters. Filtering guests first, asking how the evening was and only sending the Google link to the ones who answer warmly, is called review gating, and it is against Google's policy. It is also the most commonly sold trick in this corner of the market. Do not buy it. A profile can be penalised for it, and the reviews you gathered that way can go with it.
Ask everyone the same way. If your evening was not good, you will hear about that too, which is information you needed anyway.
What to write
Short, specific, one link, nothing offered in return. Do not give a discount, a drink or a raffle ticket in exchange for a review. It is against Google's policy and, more practically, it is obvious in the reviews you get back.
Hi Sanne, thanks for coming last night. If you have a minute, a short review helps other people find us. It really is one minute. Rick, Brasserie Nord
Use the name of the person who served them if you can. Send it from something that looks like a restaurant rather than a marketing platform. Ask once.
How often to chase
Once. If they did not write, they did not want to. A second reminder buys you the occasional review and costs you the goodwill of everyone who ignored the first one on purpose.
Then answer what comes in
There is no point collecting reviews you never reply to. A page full of fresh reviews with no owner underneath them reads as automated, which is exactly the impression you were trying to avoid.