Miami Florida has become a melting pot of
cultures. How does Miami interact with the community is the question.
Besides going physically to a location, one can simply enter the internet
to find out every kind of information.
Nowadays we can find such following information
on the internet if we are searching for a new restaurant to go to or what type
of activity to do. Websites such as Yelp
and Foursquare are examples of sites in which customers write about their
experiences to the public. Some reviews on these sites have been removed.
Websites like these increase the interactivity of
information between customers and between the individual and
establishment. A comment like the
following is very common to find in these websites - this is a fragment of my personal review:
The best place that I have had dim sum in South Florida is South Garden Restaurant located on Sunset Drive and 108. The following dishes are what I totally love having at this place.
- Steamed Beef Balls - Although you might need to order them since they are not in the carts, it’s worth the wait. The beef is so soft, you wouldn’t believe it’s beef! Typically served with some soy bean piece of paper on the bottom so the beef does not get attached to the dish when steamed.
- Egg Custard Tart - Tart is just perfectly flaky, that when you bite and combine it with the egg custard it’s just heavenly delightful!
- Sponge Cake- This soft cake brings me childhood memories, soft, yellow and sweet
- Beef Tripe- Yep, it’s tripe, i.e. honeycomb, it’s great with the scallions and ginger; if you like the gummy texture, you will love it!
- Har Gow (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings) – This is a must try, definitely a staple for Dim Sum
- Siu Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumplings) – another staple in Dim Sum!
- Chicken Feet – yep, chicken feet!! Who would have thought that chicken feet would be so meaty and tasty? They are gummy and feels like eating cartlidge. Like you have never eaten cartlidge in your life…. Ahem…. In the Chicken! This is my personal favorite, the flavor is incredibly good! Now the question is posed, how do you eat them? Many people find it to be a lot of work because of the bones. Just take a bite, start working into the meat, and take sure you don’t eat the bones! Take the bones out one by one and transfer them with your chopsticks to the plate and your done! You have experienced eating Chicken Feet!
Information is available everywhere, it all falls
into how credible the source is, do you know that person? Have you read other
pieces of information from that person?
What do these websites are trying to do with interactivity marketing? They are trying to promote these restaurants/businesses
as to how good/bad they are informing customers what these establishments
provide. And it takes the reader into a
new level in thinking, would I be willing to try this because of this person’s
experience? It is also a much unbiased
way to view the business. And to a
certain point, I believe it is free advice.
But the question is till what point?
As a business owner how much would you listen to the public? Are these
valid complaints? What are the effects of these complaints for the business?
It’s an unbiased way to promote to the customers to come in and try their food. One of the problems of interaction is a bad interaction. According to Miyazaki, when interactions are not positive there is an opportunity to reply in an attempt to resolve the complaint. Establishments interested in fixing a problem or trying to keep that particular customer will work on it to a certain point. If it’s a bad interaction and stay as a negative interaction the image of the restaurant will be damaged.
For every interaction there is a positive or
negative outcome that may damage or improve a business image.
But how have these websites have become such a powerful resources? They obtain information that recollects the interactions between customers and businesses. Probably even the establishment will never know who wrote a particular review about their place.
Have these websites become insensible in publicly showing all information there is? Until what point are these websites sharing the information? what are their rules to remove or leave a customer review for the business?
Claudia, thanks for the suggestions! Dim Sum sounds like a great way to try a large variety of foods at one sitting. I have to say that most of your post had my mouth watering. I think I'll be checking out the South Garden Restaurant this weekend. Thanks again for the tip.
ReplyDeleteRay
http://telecomm-n-sense.blogspot.com/
Claudia, you bring up interesting points. As a business or customer, how do you identify comments who come from legitimate or bogus sources? This is important because both businesses and customers rely on these comments. That is, businesses hope these comments make it easier for customers to decide to go to the restaurant. Customers use this information to predict the experience they are likely to have. Both impact the business's bottom line. Identifying whether these comments come from competitors or the business itself is key for both ends of the exchange relationship.
ReplyDeleteRating websites such as Yelp and Angie's list try to resolve this issue by boasting "non-anonymous" comments. However, people could always circumvent this by creating bogus accounts or identities. Another company (http://www.epinions.com/?sb=1)offers "unbiased reviews by real people" by promising cash for quality reviews. However, I don't question that they have real people; I question whether these people have real (honest) intentions.
My solution (though imperfect): consider creating a website where the only way to make a comment is by entering a code the restaurant gives you when you go to the restaurant. Competitors would find it hard to make comments as the only way to get to do so is by having a meal at the restaurant they are trying to sabotage. Customers would benefit by knowing that every comment was made by people who experienced the service itself.
Businesses might also benefit from commenting on both negative and positive comments. Thank them for both, be proactive on resolving negative issues. If negative comments are bogus, develop a message that shows appreciation for the comments and clarify the misconception. A fine balance to strike however.
This is not an easy subject, but who said interactivity was easy?! My blog speaks about the same issue but from a recruitment perspective. Check it out: http://evolvingworkplace.com/
Hi Claudia, I'm very exciting that read your blog, I've heard of Yelp but never used it before. I think it just like an app in China----Dianping, and I really like this app. Every time I hang out with my friends or have lunch with family, I definitely use it to search which restaurant should go, which food we must have a taste, and I found lot of what I never know if I didn't use this app.
ReplyDeleteAnd as you said, negative influence also exist. I would never go to the restaurant has some bad comments even though maybe I would like it. As long as I use it, I found that "former customer" try something in random, feel good, write comments, then almost all customers only choose this one and ignore others maybe also delicious just cause these dishes don't have"good comments".
It's really good for developing the restaurant and customers' food taste?
As you said, Yelp, as well as other sites such as Groupon, have helped me a lot when it comes to finding new places to go, specially restaurants. The fact that these websites have mobile apps available eases the way in which we as customers can find the right place to go.
ReplyDeleteUntil now, I really can't complain about any of the places that I've found. Looking at the ratings and reading some of the comments have been more than enough for me. But as you mentioned, there's always the possibility of finding biased or false comments.
As a solution, what Aleister said seems like a good plan, but I think that instead of being the restaurant the one that gives the code to customers, it should be the app the one that generates the code. For example, when a customer buys an offer with Yelp, he/she gets a code that its redeemed by the restaurant whenever the client goes and uses it. So, once the code is redeemed, the customer would have the ability to comment about his/her experience. In that way you can guarantee that the comment is made by someone that really went to the restaurant.