It is not always right to say that all publicity is good publicity. Most brands say that their products and services are the best.  But recommendations from someone we know give us a personal understanding of the products and services thus, influencing our buying habits tremendously. And with all that power, comes a dark side to word-of-mouth. A bad word-of-mouth promotion spreads more rapidly than a wildfire. Therefore, I mentioned this in my earlier blog to be cautious while promoting or advertising through “Word-of-mouth” as it involves some risks and can lead to Negative WOM or NWOM. Like other businesses, restaurants can too, either flourish or suffer from word-of-mouth marketing.

Image building or breaking…

Think of some of your favorite restaurants. How many of those were recommended to you by someone – was it a family member, a friend, a co-worker or maybe someone on the internet who told you it was a great place to eat? Now, think about a time when someone told you to avoid a certain restaurant because of its food or service. Did you listen to them and avoid that restaurant? Maybe you even told others that it was bad, or given a 01-star rating on social media, even though you have never been there. Richins (1983) observed this tendency of engaging in negative WOM which was positively related to the level of dissatisfaction and negatively related to the consumer’s perception of the retailer’s responsiveness to complaints.

Source: https://www.boredpanda.com/negative-feedback-restaurant-comebacks/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

If someone had a bad experience with the product, service or business; there is a possibility that they will not recommend to their friends and family and even tell others to avoid that restaurant. Or maybe you yourself will not recommend it to your own network. Hence, when it comes to the Hospitality industry or Restaurant business, reputation and brand value are most important, and eWOM marketing can either hurt or grow your business.

This video from the CNN business explains how Instagram can make or break a restaurant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCurS6wYW10&list=LLxFsGOUjZNnDuV9voZ-bXbg&index=2&t=0s

Another BBC video shows both the Good and Bad of eWOM and how Trip Advisor can make or break a hotel business. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJuzdLXYirc

So what is this powerful tool that can influence our perspectives and make or break a business or a restaurant? If on one hand, eWom is considered to be the strongest marketing tool leading to positive results like increased sales, better customer engagement, positive reviews, enlarged brand awareness, and reputation; NWOM has an equal amount of ability to tarnish that brand image which results in irreparable damage. Edward Malthouse (Research Director of Spiegel Digital & Database Research Centre) talks in his video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v05c4Fh_hNc about how negative comments and reviews affect the buyer behavior and that it should be addressed on a serious note.

Misuse of Social media

Because a consumer may not understand a restaurant fully before consumption, he/she might seek WOM information from an experienced source (Zhang et al., 2010). These experienced sources could be your closed ones (family and friends) or even the distant ones from social media links (influencers, reviewers, recommenders) for reviews. But are they genuine and true?

Reviews or comments by an expert or known personality or someone close to you has more value and credibility rather than any other reviews. It is likely that positive editor reviews will help attract the attention of consumers, as they represent a credible confirmation of a product’s quality (Zhang et al., 2010). On the other hand, the review system can be manipulated by other users/competitors who want to harm the image of a particular brand. For instance, to break through advertising clutter, a firm can sponsor online discussions without identifying the commercial nature of the source. Such covert actions decrease consumers’ trust in eWOM (King, 2014).

Source: https://www.boredpanda.com/negative-feedback-restaurant-comebacks/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Can the consumers then trust these social media reviews? Studies have revealed that customers in close-knit communities like Facebook, Instagram, etc. are more likely to have a strong impact on each other and thus they talk more negatively about products or services, based on their experiences, just to protect their closed ones.  Other factors that appear to be correlated with consumers’ tendency to engage in negative WOM include the level of inconvenience that resulted from some problems (Mangold, 1999). Conversely, sharing a negative consumption experience through the publication of online comments can help the consumer to reduce the discontent associated with his or her negative emotions (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004). It has also been observed by Mangold (1999) through a study conducted by the US Office of Consumer Affairs that on average, one dissatisfied customer can be expected to tell nine other people about the experiences that resulted in dissatisfaction; whereas satisfied people share their stories to averagely five people.

But when the same customers communicate through broad and diverse social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc; they are more positive in sharing their comments just to elevate their social position and boost their presence. These people could be food influencers or bloggers who are more concerned about promoting a product and making own business rather than giving a credible review to the product. This may eventually lead to misuse of “Word-of-mouth” as a marketing tool which can make the target audience “Unfriend” or “Unfollow” you or your restaurant on social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHPoTt7l-MY This video posted by CGTN on YouTube is an excellent example of how fake a food influencer can be.

Dealing with NWOM

The good news is that you can use word-of-mouth marketing to your advantage and make it your friend, not your enemy. Besides providing amazing products and services, also focus on your customers’ experiences. Keep on top with what people are saying about your products, services, and business – is what they are saying good or bad; are there any improvements you can make to your products, services and/or business that will elevate your WOM. Use your promoters/influencers effectively to diffuse the impact of NWOM. A nice video by the digital expert, Dave Chaffey, explains the best approach to handle negative online reviews.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBLE_vRpneI.

The only mantra is to keep your customers happy and hopefully, in return, they will recommend you to their friends and family and those friends and family will come to you and recommend you to the people they know and so on and so forth, growing your business and reputation.

References

Hennig-Thurau, T., Gwinner, K. P., Walsh, G. & Gremler, D. D. (2004) ‘Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the internet?’. Journal of interactive marketing. Vol 18, No 1, pp38-52.

King, R. A., Racherla, P. & Bush, V. D. (2014) ‘What we know and don’t know about online word-of-mouth: A review and synthesis of the literature’. Journal of interactive marketing. Vol 28, No 3, pp167-183.

Mangold, W. G., Miller, F. & Brockway, G. R. (1999) ‘Word‐of‐mouth communication in the service marketplace’. Journal of services Marketing.

Richins, M. L. (1983) ‘Negative word-of-mouth by dissatisfied consumers: A pilot study’. Journal of marketing. Vol 47, No 1, pp68-78.

Zhang, Z., Ye, Q., Law, R. & Li, Y. (2010) ‘The impact of e-word-of-mouth on the online popularity of restaurants: A comparison of consumer reviews and editor reviews’. International Journal of Hospitality Management. Vol 29, No 4, pp694-700.