What drives word‐of‐mouth in Restaurants !

Word of mouth is a kind of marketing strategy reflected by the dialogue of the consumers when they are interested or satisfied by the product or service of a particular company. It is one kind of free advertising strategy by consumer experiences. It has a significant influence on the ability of an organization to attract a huge customer base.

‘Word of Mouthing’ may be Positive and Negative. ‘Positive Word of Mouthing’ helps the consumers to encourage the brand choice, while ‘Negative Word of Mouthing’ intensifies the discouragement towards a brand. So all the business organizations should focus on promoting positive word of mouth by minimizing the factors that create a negative impression on customers’ minds. The factors that help in predicting word-of-mouth behavior of customers are -

1. Quality of product/service offered by the company.
2. Quality of service provided by the company.
3. Customer loyalty.
4. Customer satisfaction.
5. Customer relationship management of the company.
6. Pricing strategy of the company.
7. After-sale service offered by the company etc.

Restaurant, a kind of hospitality service plays an important role in our social life. It is the best place for discussion of several important things with friends, family members, business partners, colleagues, etc. People always discuss their experience of the service after visiting the restaurant. This is actually the ‘word of mouth’ kind of marketing strategy.

The quality of a restaurant depends on some factors:-

1. Location of the restaurant.

2. Quality of food.

3. Food taste

4. Quality of service.

5. Employee behavior

6. Environment.

7. Price of the food.

8. Availability of food etc

The quality of food offered by the restaurant is the most important attribute of the dining experience of a customer. It is the major factor for customer satisfaction. If the quality of food is good along with the taste of it, then there is a huge chance of customer retention for that particular restaurant.

The ambiance of the restaurant helps in getting customer attention which affects the after dining experience. The environment of the restaurant can influence the consumer to visit the restaurant frequently.

Service quality in terms of the behavior of the employee, serving time availability of dishes, etc have a powerful influence over building customers’ perception. The behavior of the employee makes the consumer loyal towards the restaurant. Consumers feel comfortable and relaxed if the employee behaves with them in a proper ethical way.

A customer always wants high-quality food along with the value for money. If the price is high, then the consumer expects high-quality food and vice versa. The price of the food may be high, moderate, or low according to the perception of the customer towards the other major factors. These factors are actually reviewed most by a customer.

In the era of the internet, ‘Electronic word-of-mouth’ has created a huge impact on positive or negative kinds of promotions. There are several review websites, the most accessible and prevalent virtual place for word-of-mouthing is social media.

There are several factors that actually affect the ‘word of mouth’ strategy, such as customer satisfaction, loyalty, trust, perception, etc. The impact on these factors can cause positive as well as negative word of mouth. As an example, a restaurant offering quality food along with a complementary desert will help to create positive word of mouth while a restaurant offering poor quality service by delaying food serving can create a negative word of mouth. Negative word of mouth has more impact than positive word of mouth.

With the help of ‘word of mouth’, consumers actually talk about their personal experience. That might not be absolutely correct always. Qualitative research methods can be used to analyze the data to judge the experience of a particular experience. Restaurant management should conduct a survey on a regular basis according to the electronic word of mouth to improve their service quality. ‘Decision Making’ plays an important role in the analysis. It is defined as the process of developing and deciding among alternative ways of resolving a problem or choosing from among alternative opportunities.

Steps in decision making:

1. Identify and define the problem.

2. Determine the criteria that will be used to evaluate alternative solutions.

3. Determine the set of alternative solutions.

4. Evaluate alternative solutions.

5. Choose the best possible solution method.

It is difficult for the management of the restaurant to look at all the factors at a time those influence the word of mouth. Using this qualitative research method and by analyzing the customer’s feedback the restaurant can fill their gaps and improve service quality to serve better in the future.