Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (eWOM) is occurring more and more as consumer’s become more empowered in the digital age (Labrecque et al, 2013). In an age where anyone can be an online critic, and more people are opting to do so, it has never been more important for restaurants to receive good reviews (Doward, 2012). Online reviews are just one aspect of eWOM, but prove to be the most important for restaurants due to the array of platforms out there to review on (TripAdvisor, Top Table, Yelp, Google +, Facebook, etc.). Anderson & Magruder (2012) researched the effects of positive online reviews on Yelp.com (with a star rating system) on 300 restaurants in San Francisco. Their findings suggest that if a restaurant improved its rating by just half a star (on a scale of 1 to 5) then the restaurant was subsequently more likely to be full at peak dining times. To the point where just an extra half star resulted in a restaurant’s 7pm bookings to sell out on from 30% to 49% of the evenings it was open. This research proves how eWOM can impact a restaurants business significantly – for good or bad. A survey by PhoCusWright (with a sample of 12,000 people) found that just over half use TripAdvisor before

TripAdvisor – Profiles for Hotels, Restaurants, and Places of Interest where some very questionable images are uploaded by users.

choosing a restaurant, and that 31% of participants would avoid eating a restaurant that had no reviews (Perkins, 2014). However, it was argued that if management replied to bad reviews then the impact of the review was significantly lessened (Perkins, 2014) – which links to first element of the 3 E’s discussed below.

Whitler (2014) argues that marketers used to focus on the 4 P’s, but due to WOM being even more relevant to today’s consumers in the digital age, then the focus must shift to the 3 E’s: Engage, Equip, Empower. These 3 E’s will be fleshed out with more detail, real life examples of restaurants doing what Whitler (2014) describes as Word-Of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM) Campaigns.

ENGAGE

“Give your fans the gift of you. Engage with them. Listen to what they are telling you. Be part of the conversation about your brand. Be a presence in your fans’ lives.” –Whitler (2014)

Manager of Grace Restaurant, Michael Muser, found that by paying attention to customer feedback, the restaurant has managed to boost reviews mainly consisting of 5-stars on Yelp.com. In the four months since opening Grace, Michael has gone out of his way to reach out to negative reviewers. When a diner wrote a short negative review on her personal blog, he tracked down her work address and delivered gin, along with a set of glasses, to apologise for her bad experience (Diznik, 2013).

EQUIP

“Give them reasons to talk. It can be amazing products, great service, insider knowledge, social elevation, incredible stories, unbelievable facts or even funny disclosures.” – Whitler (2014)

Magnetic Man DJ Artwork posing with the pizza that got delivered to a moving train, I’d look pretty smug too.

Domino’s delivered a pizza to a man on a moving train with great communication and planning by both Domino’s Darlington branch and the passenger on the train. This great service equipped people with something to talk about and discuss – with the video of the pizza being delivered on a platform going viral. (Molloy, 2016)

EMPOWER

“Give consumers different ways to talk and share. Let them know that they are important to you and that sharing their opinions is important to you. Help them find ways to share within their circles and find ways to help move their conversations around.” – Whitler (2014)

The McDonald’s “My Burger” Campaign

By far an excellent example of a business empowering its customers is McDonald’s and the “My Burger” campaign. This campaign allows consumers to put forward suggestions for new burgers – proving that their customer’s opinions are important to them. The winning recipes were ‘The Big Uno’, ‘The Sweet Chilli Fiesta’, ‘The Ultimate Supreme’, ‘The Big Spicy Bacon’ and ‘The McPizza Pepperoni Burger’ – and were sold in 1,200 restaurants across the UK. (Spary, 2014)

Useful Guides on How to Encourage Positive eWOM:

1. McCue (2013) describes the behaviour businesses should have when it comes to negative reviews – and not jumping on the defensive.
2. Diznik (2013) evidences three case studies detailing ethical ways to boost positive reviews online.
3. Grauer (2014) suggests three highly effective word-of-mouth tactics.
4. Restaurant Engine (2016) provide a more general overview of 10 ways to promote your restaurant on social media.

References

Anderson, M. & Magruder, J. (2012) ‘Learning from the Crowd: Regression Discontinuity Estimates of the Effects of an Online Review Database’, The Economic Journal, Vol. 122, No. 563, p957-989

Diznik, A. (2013) ‘3 Ethical Ways to Boost Positive Online Reviews’, Entrepreneur, 10^th April 2013 [Online] <https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226315> [accessed 10 May 2016]

Doward, J. (2012) ‘How online reviews are crucial to a restaurant’s takings’, The Guardian, 2^nd September 2012 [Online] <http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/sep/02/ratings-boost-restaurants> [accessed 10 May 2016]

Grauer, Y. (2014) ‘3 Highly Effective Word-of-Mouth Marketing Tactics’, Vertical Response, 27^th August 2014 [Online] <http://www.verticalresponse.com/blog/3-highly-effective-word-of-mouth-marketing-tactics/> [accessed 10 May 2016]

Labrecque, L.I., vor dem Esche, J., Mathwick, C., Novak, T.P. & Hofacker, C.F. (2013) ‘Consumer Power: Evolution in the Digital Age’, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 27, No. 4, p257-269

McCue, T. (2013) ‘How to get more positive reviews’, Forbes, 13^th December 2013 [Online] <http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2013/12/13/how-to-get-more-positive-reviews/2/#ec0266572ff3> [accessed 10 May 2016]

Molloy, M. (2016) ‘Man gets Domino’s pizza delivered to train with genius move’, The Telegraph, 25^th April 2016 [Online] <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/25/man-gets-dominos-pizza-delivered-to-train-with-genius-move/> [accessed 10 May 2016]

Perkins, C. (2014) ‘TripAdvisor: study gives insight into impact of reviews’, Big Hospitality, 12^th February 2014 [Online] <http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Business/TripAdvisor-study-gives-insight-into-impact-of-reviews> [accessed 10 May 2016]

Whitler, K.A. (2014) ‘Why Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Is the Most Important Social Media’, Forbes, 17^th July 2014 [Online] <http://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2014/07/17/why-word-of-mouth-marketing-is-the-most-important-social-media/#1ca8179d7a77> [accessed 10 May 2016]

Restaurant Engine (2016) ’10 Ways to Promote Your Restaurant on Social Media’, Restaurant Engine, 9^th February 2016 [Online] <http://restaurantengine.com/promote-restaurant-social-media/> [accessed 10 May 2016]

Spary, S. (2014) ‘McDonald’s rolls out ‘crowdsourced’ burgers’, Campaign, 15^th October 2014 [Online] <http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1317052/mcdonalds-rolls-crowdsourced-burgers> [accessed 10 May 2016]