Soliciting & Addressing Customer Feedback
When it comes to trying new restaurants, customers aren’t just looking for businesses with a high overall rating — they’re also looking for restaurants with a high number of reviews. That’s why it’s essential to actively review and, when appropriate, respond to customer feedback.
We recommend reviewing feedback from a range of sources, including the DoorDash Merchant Portal, Yelp, and Google.
Feedback via the DoorDash Merchant Portal
With every order, DoorDash asks customers to provide separate feedback for the items they ordered and their delivery experience, so that you have specific feedback that can help you improve your business. You can use the Merchant Portal to:
See two different types of customer feedback. If customers experience an issue with the menu during the ordering process — such as inaccurate photos or descriptions or the inability to customize — they can leave menu feedback. After customers have received their orders, DoorDash prompts them to leave food quality feedback.
Identify feedback trends. Each piece of feedback is tagged in one of multiple categories — Overcooked, for example — so you can quickly identify what feedback you’re receiving more often.
Respond directly to customers. Customizing one of our response templates is an easy way to send a personal response to a customer.
A step-by-step guide to accessing and responding to feedback in the DoorDash Merchant Portal is available here.
Responding to Negative Feedback
An occasional negative review is unavoidable — one visitor to the Grand Canyon left a one-star Trip Advisor review titled “Meh.” But whether or not the review is in response to a genuine mistake or something entirely out of your control, how you respond can make a difference. Customers who receive a response to their feedback within a week are five times more likely to order again from a restaurant.
Private Responses
The Merchant Portal allows you to send private, personalized messages to customers who provided negative feedback. You can choose and customize a template or type a message yourself.
When sending private messages, be sure to:
Politely acknowledge the customer’s experience
Apologize for the inconvenience
Offer a discount on a future order, if appropriate
Use a professional but friendly tone
Keep the note short
Check your spelling before sending
Public Responses
In general, it’s a good idea to carefully and thoughtfully respond to negative reviews on a public forum like Yelp or Google. A study from Harvard Business School found that responding to positive and negative reviews led to an improvement in ratings.
That said, it’s easy to get defensive in response to a critical review. But because as many as 89% of customers will see your response, it’s important to make the most of your response with a polite, carefully worded response.
Your response should:
Acknowledge and apologize for the customer’s experience
Be short and sweet
Give the customer a way to get in touch with you directly to discuss further
Use a professional but friendly tone
Use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar
Your response should not:
Include a long or detailed explanation, which can come off as overly defensive
Insult the reviewer
Ways to Go Above & Beyond
There are simple, affordable ways to go above and beyond in giving your customers an incredible experience. Some of our favorites include:
Using packaging that ensures the food or item travels well
Adding a note that thanks the customer for their support
Including instructions for reheating
Dropping in a small gift or treat, like a chocolate or piece of candy
Packaging certain elements separately, like ice or sauces
