Recently, as part of my travels throughout upstate New York, I stayed for a few evenings at the lovely Abner Adams House near Canandaigua. It has to be one of the nicests B&B experiences in NY state, and I ended up spending a few minutes chatting with owners Bob and Lynda about their marketing.
One idea they’ve been using to a fair degree of success are these little postcards, which encourages guests to review the B&B.
Why These are Great
The reason why I like Lynda and Bob’s postcards so much is for two reasons:
- Simple: These guys have enough to do, so handing one of these out with a punchy “if you enjoyed it, please do tell us here” is all they need to do. Nothing expensive, pushy, or otherwise untoward.
- Call to Action: It is a concrete call to action to ask someone to do something. Not everyone will, but if you ask people to do something, that is far more effective than not doing so.
- It is specific: Notice how it says specific sites for you to go to. Obviously some thought has went into where business comes from and what sites are important in their target market. Bravo.
Results and Tweaks
I asked Lynda and Bob how many people give them a review, and the response was “some but not everyone.” That is to be expected. Having said that, as of this writing, the Abner Adams has twice or three times as many reviews as some of their competitors, so I’d say this strategy is working very well. (And, also no surprise, the reviews are very positive – something that has to come first before the reviews.)
Lynda and I talked briefly about changing the format of these cards so they could actually send them out after a guest has left. I think this might bring an uptick in reviews, so it depends on whether the cost can be justified. It’s not a bad idea though.
Thanks, Lynda & Bob, for sharing your great idea for getting more reviews!
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I recently stayed somewhere that asked people to leave a review at TripAdvisor, and, if visitors did so, they would receive 10% off their next stay. How do you feel about that? Do you think it’s ethical to offer such an incentive?
JoAnna,
While this is a fairly marketing-savvy move, I’m afraid it is technically against the rules of those sites. Thus I couldn’t actively endorse it, but having said that, I’m not aware of any active policing by the major sites, so….
Andy
Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest! Thanks for the tip.
Our Auckland (NZ) tour company really likes review sites.
Tripadvisor seems to be the most known, trusted + used.
It is true that some, but not all, customers will write a review. Of course no one can enforce that they do so. It is horrifying to know that some businesses do though, by offering ‘incentives’ (such as discounts off their next stay!!!). Tripadvisor seems to be placing more weight on the rating of each review (3-star, 4-star, or 5-star), so *ideally* the review needs to be a 5-star! A perfect review should reflect the rating though, (i.e. how can a slight complaint yield a 5-star rating?)
The best thing about review sites is that the rating is current.
The reviews are also [hopefully] done by genuine fellow travelers…
unlike the ‘official’ Quality assessment authority (in New Zealand) that:
a) you have to pay to belong to,
b) informs the business owner when the assessment will be carried out, and
c) who don’t even come on the tour to see how the operator engages with the customer!…(the assessment is done at the office only every 12 – 24 months).
This form of “review” is ridiculous, and as an example; we have recently had dealings with a company that went bankrupt one month after receiving a NZ Quality Endorsement.
This company (now dubiously ‘sold’ on paper) is still eligible to have this Quality Endorsement simply because their assessment is not due to be renewed yet.
Mmm – seems a lot of unfairness going on, eh Donna? A shame really – though thankfully I think many travellers see through the fluff. Doesn’t make the situation you describe go away though