Baking Up Business

After checking out the latest post on my fellow classmate Amelia Lak’s blog, I’ve hit a few conclusions on her topic of choice – whining – of my own.

She makes a strong point: “To save the reputation of your product once it has wronged a consumer, marketers need to contain the whining. More whining leads you to noticing even more negative aspects about the good, whether conceived or actual, who knows – it doesn’t matter. When you pass it on through word of mouth, it progressively becomes more exaggerated and far worse than what it first started off with.”

This could not be any truer. At the Bakery, we hear our fair share of whining from our customers, from our “stay-away-from-the-diet-buster” never-will-be customers, from other employees, from cranky children nearby, from their fed-up parents also nearby – you get the idea.

The most damaging form of whining, however, comes from our customers. Or more specifically, the customers we have lost. Picture this: a customer, after paying an exorbitant price for a small slice of diet-busting cake, eagerly tucks into the baked delight, expecting the advertised “moist, tender, buttery crumb” and the irresistible “zesty lime and refreshing coconut” flavour to bring intense satisfaction to her afternoon. Instead, she bites into a dry, stale, crumbly cake with no pronounced lime or coconut flavour to speak of. Enraged at this realization, she does what many modern consumers today do: rant online.

Bakeries, restaurants, cafés, and the like all face a similar problem in that online reviews could make or break their business. There are a ton of websites solely dedicated to reviewing food (and oftentimes service and location) and a ton of people who read them. Since the Bakery’s products are pricey and are often considered a shopping good, many consumers choose to read online reviews before coming out to make a purchase.

There are admittedly perhaps more negative reviews online of the Bakery’s goods than positive, but there is a possibility that customers who were satisfied with the Bakery’s products never felt motivated enough to share their experience. But what can be done to address all the negative reviews? How can this kind of word of mouth be contained?

It is my view that word of mouth online cannot be contained. Nothing can be done about that – people have unlimited access to the Internet and the right to express their opinion. However, I believe that one of the best ways to address negative reviews is to reply to them. It always impresses me when the owner or manager of a restaurant or business takes the time to go to these websites and thank customers for their review and respond to the concerns or issues that they had by posting comments of their own.

This shows exemplary, albeit a new form, of customer service, and can help reduce post-purchase dissonance and customer dissatisfaction. And what business couldn’t do with a little less whining?