As I mentioned in an earlier post, I only just returned from a short combined overseas and interstate holiday. Well combined with the Easter break it turned out to be a 5-week holiday so not so short haha. It was the first real holiday since COVID hit back in 2020.
We revisited New Zealand then went to Tasmania and then, why not, we decided to extend this and sailed up the eastern coast of Australia all the way from Melbourne at the bottom to places including Eden, Sydney, Airlie Beach in the Witsundays, and all the way up to Cairns and then Port Douglas and back. We’re back at work now and I have to say, I already can’t wait for the next holiday LOL.
Of course I took lots of photos and added reviews along the way and now, after a week back, I’m starting to get Thank you for posting a review on Google emails regarding responses from some of the owners of the places that we visited. I don’t know about you but I think it’s a nice way to round off a holiday!
What do you think? Do you love it when you see that your review has inspired an owner to acknowledge and thank you for taking the time to write a review of their business?
I completely agree with you on rounding off a holiday. Its a nice way to rejuvenate ourselves. I call it as Servicing of our Brain and Heart.
Happy for you that you could afford 5-week long (short ) holiday. It must be enriching for you.
Hearing back from the owner on our review/s is fulfilling and ensures the continuity. This shows the value system we are creating around the society.
Keeping this value system in mind I have started the series of Posts on Voice of Owner and through which I share Thank You and/or the comments received from the Owner on my review.
Thank you @Kumaarsantosh even the shortest holidays can, to use your words, service our brain and heart and I’m pleased to hear and see from your Voice of Owner posts that you also find owner responses fulfilling.
Hello @AdamGT , Yes, It’s a great feeling to see our reviews make a positive impact. As mentioned in your post about sharing such experiences, I received a similar kind of reply from an owner on February 29th, 2024.
@AdamGT I love seeing replies, it makes it easy to tell the difference between a business that understands customer service and a business that does nothing to deserve our hard earned money. A reply to a positive review is always nice, but a constructive reply to a lower rating review gives me hope that the business might listen. A negative or abusive reply tells me the business owner does not deserve my money.
@ShailendraOjha in that second example it appears you’ve accidentally contributed the same image twice, be careful of this as the duplicate images will get marked private. When that happens the associated review will also get marked private. You might like to go to your account and remove the duplication.
That’s great to hear that you have many responses from business owners @ShailendraOjha . Also, a nice touch using emojis I see in your reply Shailendra. Well done you. I also note @PaulPavlinovich 's mention of that duplicate image. Make sure to act on that advice
It’s great that you also receive and enjoy responses from business owners @PrasadVR .
In the example you cited, I love the fact that this business owner no doubt realizing that you didn’t give a perfect rating, called out to you for help in understanding what they could have done better. Now that’s a smart business owner.
A small suggestion Prasad, when leaving reviews when possible try to make them more detailed as when you exceed 200 characters you get 10 bonus points Of course, this doesn’t mean that we just word stuff our reviews but we could think about other things that can add value to the feedback provided to the business owner and also of course to help other consumers who might read our review.
Oh I love this @PaulPavlinovich and couldn’t agree with you more. Reviews indeed make “it easy to tell the difference between a business that understands customer service and a business that does nothing to deserve our hard earned money. A reply to a positive review is always nice, but a constructive reply to a lower rating review gives me hope that the business might listen” Precisely the point I made in response to the review cited by @PrasadVR above. Sadly, I’ve had some, but fortunately not many, sad or plain ole defensive replies from business owners to lower rating reviews. Just not willing to listen to constructive feedback!
Good catch and good advice regarding @ShailendraOjha 's second example.
Yes it’s nice to let businesses know when they are doing it right like for example when providing a great customer experience or great value for money @ShailendraOjha but by the same token and along the lines of the point made by @PaulPavlinovichhere, and as cited in the example here by @PrasadVR , it’s important that we help businesses and also provide constructive feedback when things are not right.
I’m so glad to hear that you had a great break. All I have to say that one of the pains of coming back from a long holiday as a local guide is a backlog of photos that can take weeks to upload.
At least that process serves as a refresher to the holiday as you revisit the locations and retract your visit routes…
As for responding business owners, yes I love those. Especially from the small businesses.
Large locations that care for the brand value, have a PR manager that owns the social media front and usually response fast (especially on poor reviews).
The smaller locations response is more rewarding as you can sense the importance of our reviews to their business.
Especially when the review was deeper and shows you took the time to evaluate your experience.
Maybe we can have a post about some of the best and worst responses LGs ever got…
I do really appreciate when I received a replay to my reviews. I also can add that this happen really often.
I’m not used to post tons of pictures of the same place as well as I do not write reviews just to say “Good food” “Nice location” .
I post really few review explaining why I do loved that place / atmosphere / food or service. Kindly explain if IMHO there is something to fix and this create a link between me and the owner; as said very often I got a replay.
I love to believe that this create a mutual respect.
One day in a restaurant, when i used my cc to pay the owner look at the name as recognised me (you see that I use my really full name) and offered me a good discount ! Wow.
) holiday. It must be enriching for you.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that we just word stuff our reviews but we could think about other things that can add value to the feedback provided to the business owner and also of course to help other consumers who might read our review.