Gone are the old days when marketing was limited to word of mouth and print media. The Internet age and online platforms are here with us and are here to stay. With this new territory comes the need for a catering business to get as many positive online reviews as possible. Customers looking for a new culinary experience log into the online space to sample, at least visually, what your catering business has to offer and what former clients had to say about your services.
How Important are Positive Online Reviews?
Research has shown that online reviews have an impact, good or bad, on businesses. They influence consumer preference and their decision-making process. This indicates that not only are they important to businesses, but that they are also important to customers, too. After all, who contributes to these reviews if not customers?
- Impact on purchase decision
Consumers have admitted that online reviews have contributed to whether they made a purchase or not. They have gone online to find out how satisfied other customers were with the services of the business in question. Is their food good? How is their customer service? Did their services live up to expectations? All these and more. The more positive reviews a catering business received, the more likely you are as a potential customer to consider enlisting the services a particular service provider.
- Impact on trust and amount spent
In this day and age, most consumers read online reviews before visiting most businesses. They trust online reviews as much as word of mouth recommendations. As a potential client, you cannot afford not to trust what you see online. If the reviews are negative, chances are you will get poor services. If others can’t trust the given catering service to deliver, or with their money, why should you? After all, who wants to waste money? An online review will give insight into the catering business’ reliability, professionalism and even expertise, saving you a lot of unnecessary trouble.
- Impact on time taken in decision-making
Online reviews direct your line of thought and save you time in decision making. Chances are, if a catering business has many negative reviews, you will not bother to check out their website. This saves the time you would have taken visiting the business’ website, maybe even calling or visiting their premises only to find out they cannot provide you with what you need. On the other hand, if a business has many positive reviews, chances are you will trust them to meet your needs. This shortens the amount of time you will take to settle on a particular catering service provider.
Why bother to get online reviews anyway?
Positive online reviews can largely contribute to getting your next catering service provider. They can boost and uphold the good image and confidence you already had in a given caterer. They will let you know how much the catering service provider can be trusted and whether they deliver what they say they are offering. They will impact how fast you make up your mind on whether to enlist the services of the catering business or not. Negative reviews, on the other hand, mean bad business. No one wants to waste time on a service provider who is not known to deliver. No one wants their event ruined, and their image tarnished thanks to poor catering services. In conclusion, get as many positive online reviews as you possibly can. Knowledge is power, and it’s at your fingertips.
Written by bleu events, one of the top caterers Columbia, MO has to offer.