A team can contribute to improving the customer experience without turning online reviews into a competition. It’s important to make this distinction: a focus on service quality is centered on the establishment’s work, while a reward tied to a rating or number of reviews aims to influence public feedback.

Choose goals that the team understands and can achieve.

Build your challenges around observable behaviors: respond thoughtfully to a complaint, identify allergens, verify an order, or resolve a booking issue. Employees can take action on these behaviors. They do not decide on the publication of a review or the rating chosen by the customer.

For two weeks, the team documented the causes of extended delays and tested a new service organization. The evaluation focuses on the problems resolved and the feedback received, not on a quota of five-star reviews.

Distinguishing between internal recognition and public opinion.

Avoid incentive-based ratings, solicitation quotas, and rankings that encourage a specific type of review. Google’s policies specifically address requests that require a certain number of reviews or a particular type of content within the comments. Simply including an individual QR code does not automatically make a campaign compliant.

Do not offer discounts, gifts, or access to a roulette in exchange for a review, even if all reviews are accepted. Any loyalty program must remain independent of the deposit, modification, or deletion of a review.

Inviting without applying pressure

Offer all clients equal access to the review section, without prioritizing them based on their satisfaction. A neutral invitation is sufficient: “If you wish, you can share your experience on Google.” The client should be free to choose when, how, and what to say – and they must be able to decline without any repercussions.

Measuring what truly helps the restaurant.

Follow the recurring themes, the processing time for complaints, and the corrective actions taken. Compare similar periods of usage. The number of reviews remains a descriptive indicator; it does not, on its own, demonstrate an improvement in service or an increase in revenue.

MyFrank can help centralize the tracking of feedback and teams. However, the selection of goals and rewards must be verified in accordance with the rules of the platforms being used. No mechanism guarantees more published reviews or a better position in Google.