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As noted in Make Your Customers Happy: Keep Customers Coming Back, make sure your Customers make your restaurant their go-to spot by understanding (and eliminating) the cost of replacing lost Customers and recruiting new ones. In the next business tip Get Customers to Come Back: Seek Customer Feedback, we look next to how restaurant owners can gather and use customer feedback.

People like when we ask for their opinion and restaurant owners need the information to grow. Owners can also discover what they are doing well, generate new ideas based on customer comments, and identify weaknesses or room for improvement. Essentially, customer feedback, whether in the form of comments on your website and/or Facebook page or delivered in person/telephone or via email in response to surveys, is a valuable and necessary perspective every restaurant owner should experience.

In this Business Tip, we will look at the types of customer feedback restaurant owners can expect to receive, its value, and the differences between unsolicited feedback of the sort left for you online and how to conduct your own surveys and focus groups.

Thanks to the rise in social media and businesses using it, owners have more opportunity than ever to learn what their customers want. In fact, your restaurant's online persona has likely widened your customer demographic and increased sales as more new customers visit and once regular diners re-discover your presence on the Web. On Facebook, restaurant owners can respond quickly to complaints and/or feedback on their fan page. Customers (now fans) are now part of the decision-making process. Customers online serve as focus group, temperature gauge, brand ambassadors and relationships.

As you read through the comments and user reviews online, you’ll notice that some are clearly complaints (“I had a horrible time and I’ll never come again!”) and compliments (“Loved my evening. Thanks again for the birthday candle in my cannoli!”) while others are simple questions (“We enjoyed the Cote du Rhone you served last night. What was its name and where I can get some?”). The last type is the suggestion and it’s great because suggestions are a mark of true customer engagement. (“We visit often and would love it if you could add whole wheat baguettes to your bread basket.”).

All unsolicited feedback should be answered as quickly as possible, ideally within 24 to 48 hours. A simple thank-you note and a return compliment can be delivered quickly and sincerely (and with a follow-up question to keep this conversation going) but complaints should be handled with an eye to restoring the failed relationship. You may need to do some investigating. In the example above, the complaint is given but there are no specifics. It's up to you to discover the trouble so that you can solve it.

Questions offer a great opportunity for expanding a conversation on a specific topic. In the example above, the owner could simply give the name of the wine and the vintner's website, or she can turn the topic into a forum about Cote du Rhone, which local retailers are carrying it, what her beverage rep has to say about it (getting him in on the conversation) and what other wines are like it. She could respond with an ad hoc question of her own about wine tastings.

Suggestions and ideas come from loyal fans, people who frequently refer others to you. You know these people because they visit frequently and like talking to you. They are your most valuable customers and should be treated as such. The tricky part will be to respond to their suggestions in a way that will continue to make them feel their value to you, even if the suggestions are inappropriate. In the example mentioned above, a simple three-part response might sound like this: “I’ve been intrigued with the idea of a whole-wheat baguette and have mentioned it to our baker. I’ll be sure to let you know what happens next.”

Adding a feedback application to your website is relatively inexpensive and easy installation; such apps can offer analytics that analyze feedback data, organize all feedback into one inbox, and categorize feedback by type (complaints, questions, suggestions) Automatic replies are also available but you'll want to decide carefully how to use this feature. Replies need to be customized, even personal and should include an acknowledgement of the issue, a reason (as opposed to an excuse) for the problem and a promised action. A small gift (coupon for free appetizer or dessert) is also appropriate. If you use an automated response, let the message indicate when a personal response will follow.

In addition to unsolicited feedback, restaurant owners can survey their customers in a variety of ways that include online survey applications, comment cards and with focus groups made up of regular diners.

Set up an online survey with a free plug-in application from Survey Monkey, Constant Contact or Zoomerang. Provide customers with a card and the link or check your marketing software for an existing survey option and use it to email your data base.

Add the survey link to your website and the comment cards in the restaurant. (Use comment cards to capture contact information, including email addresses.)

Consider conducting more but shorter surveys. Respect customers' time by keeping the survey simple. Pick one key issue to focus on and ask 5-10 questions about it. You will have an easier time quantifying your results if you ask customers to rate on a scale of 1-5.

Finally, make it worth their while. Even with a form, more customers will complete it if you offer them something of value. Entering everyone who takes the survey in a contest or drawing for a free product or prize is a good way to encourage participation.

Surveys seek specific information that can be analyzed and trended over time. This allows you to know which business changes have impacted customer satisfaction. Comment cards, on the other hand, may only provide broad opinions, which while valid cannot be used to trend changes in customer opinion. Still, they are a simple and direct way to solicit comments while the diner is still in your restaurant (and still in the experience). Keep your cards simple but remember to ask for names, email addresses, phone numbers and addresses. Ask as well for birthdays and anniversaries and then rewards these respondents with discount coupons to use during their birthday month. Keep the information in your reservations software and surprise guests with champagne when they celebrate their anniversaries with you.

Tip: You can include your online website address so customers have the option of completing and returning the hard copy comment card or submitting their responses online.

Whether you conduct an online survey or rely on comment cards, be sure to follow up with customers by phone. Schedule calls to customers one day, one week or one month after the customer visits your restaurant. Go through the comment card questions and obtain answers to specific questions from customers via telephone.

Informal focus groups don't need to be conducted by expensive research companies. Simply taking a customer to lunch and asking for feedback can provide you with valuable information, as long as you choose someone whose opinion you trust. Alternatively, set up ongoing sessions with some of your regular customers. Keep these meetings truly focused on the subjects you need to hear about.

“What would you like to see on the menu that we don’t serve?”

“Which trends are you interested in following?”

“How can we improve our service?”

Notice these questions are crafted to elicit detailed answers. Avoid asking yes or no questions.

When you have completed your research, take the time to read it carefully and tabulate the results. Read through the comments at least twice and create categories into which most of the comments would fit. Typically, these include food, speed, courtesy, pricing, parking, usefulness of the website, etc.

Create separate list for positive and negative comments, including the same categories in each. Review the comments again, this time mark the appropriate category for each comment. Because people often comment about more than one thing, consider breaking each comment into parts and marking each part of a comment. For example, “I had to wait too long for my food to be served and the waiter was rude,” would be coded in both the speed and courtesy categories of your negative comments list.

Look for patterns. If you see many of the same things identified as issues in the quantitative portion of the survey report (if you have a quantitative section), cross check with the comments as these may provide you with more specific information about how to fix problems.

If you see a lot of references to particular employees, consider including employee names in both the positive and negative comment coding sheets and then mark in the appropriate column each positive or negative mention of an employee. Be sure to mark in the appropriate issues category as well.

Chances are you'll see a number of expected responses, which should serve as a reminder that you do know what needs to be addressed, but be prepared as well for some surprises. Feedback and surveying customers should be an ongoing process in your quest for continuous improvement. That said, once this portion of the project is complete, share and celebrate your findings with your staff. As the people with the most power to affect change in the restaurant, they should also share in your new perspective.

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To Conclude: Take time to create short, easy-to-complete surveys with free online survey software, then give Customers a reason to submit them.

Next Tip: Get Customers to Come Back: Loyalty counts.

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1-888-700-8181

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