Customers reviews and check-in's at local businesses

Really good service and/or delicious food going beyond expectations.

 

Certainly that is the most likely reason for feedback. However, one cannot discount a yelper's need for a public display of snarkiness.

 

Well for me personally, to go out of my way to write a review, it has to be one of the two extremes. I'd have to be super pissed (bad service, crappy product, etc.) or the wait staff being super awesome (in addition to being hot) or the food being so good that I had to fap fap upon entering my home. Or the product is incredibly cheap for the quality.

Sorry, this probably didn't help though.

 

I would say the most likely reason would be a horrible/well below expectations experience.

 

Sorry, but I generally only get on the internet to b**** about stuff.

Maybe if I had just had a negative followed by an overwhelming positive elsewhere, before I had time to complain about the first one, I might quickly follow up with something positive just as part of the comparison.

 

Yes, that holds true for a lot of people. People tend to want to share their extreme horrible experiences. Most people aren't as likely to share their positive experiences with a product or service unless the experience really resonates with them emotionally. More likely, the person is just like "cool, the product works well" or "the service is fine" or whatever...and then go on about their day without giving said product/service much further thought.

Furthermore, some reviews are trolling or so poorly written that it's silly to take them seriously.

I'm not against online reviews, but it's wise to treat internet reviews and ratings with a grain of salt. I'm more likely to give credence to things with a larger # of reviews, to get a feel for overall trend.

 

I like to leave reviews because I rely on others who have left reviews to base my decision on whether or not I am going to give the establishment my money.

 

I hate these review sites because i have had 3 sparate instances where people threaten to leave us negative feedback unless we did something specific for them. There was one person who wanted 4 extra sauces for her salad. We told her that we normally give two but would give her four this time only. She says that if we dont do it agan for her next time she will leave a bad review on yelp.

Another guy who used to work for the prior owner wanted his employee discount when he ordered something from me. I told him he doesnt work for me so no employee discount. He threatens to leave me a bad review and i still didnt give it to him. So he goes and leaves a bs review about how the food was no good.

Its really blackmail imo. I am also constantly approached by companies who want me to buy good reviews from them. The whole yelp google review thing is so broken. I wouldnt trust half the reviews i read of a specific restaurant.

 

Review sites are terrible. Technically you're not even allowed to offer incentives for reviews, even neutral ones. If Google finds out (they probably won't) they'll penalize you. Not sure Yelp will penalize you but they're against it in a big way. Angie's List is monetized, they'll actually help you create inventive programs.

 

I'd like to answer, but before I do, I'd like to know the following:
Why did you capitalize "POSITIVE"?

 

I assume it's to show that he was screaming when he typed it.

 

My wife's business has had a couple of people like that too.

My philosophy on a company gathering reviews is that you need to make it very easy for the customer to leave a review and to make it plain to reader and reviewer that we encourage honest reviews and do not (and cannot) manipulate them in any way. So, we send an auto-email to customers after an event to ask them to review and provide links to the prominent 3rd party review sites. But, apparently, my philosophy sucks because we've only gotten a handful of reviews.

I know of a web-service that will email customers after an event that will do a quick satisfaction survey. Unsatisfied customers are flagged for possible intervention. Highly satisfied customers (only) are given links to write reviews or discuss on Facebook. Probably not so useful for a straight-up restaurant, since you aren't collecting email addresses at the door.

 

yeah its a little harder for us. A prominent company that has offered their services to me in the past will create, maintain, monitor, and interact my twitter, facebook, google places, yelp, and tripadvisor accounts. They also offered me a package where I could purchase fb likes and good reviews. Everything would cost $400 a month. I was kind of turned off by the fact that they traffic fake likes and reviews so I didnt do business with them. It's sad really.