Getting reviews

Seems pricey for what's basically a sign with a QR code, and an invitation for negative feedback. People aren't going to stop and post a review if they're having a good time, but I bet you they'll use this in a heated moment when there's an issue with someone or something at your venue, even if it's not related to the venue itself. Food sucked? Leave a negative review. Drinks too expensive and watered down? Leave a negative review. Your date dumped you earlier that day? Leave a negative review because the whole place sucks now.

You get the idea.

rickryan.com said:

I ordered one of these last night and planning to put it at the bar. Hopefully, it will get more action from the folks who are drinking and, presumably, in a good mood and enjoying themselves.

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It's tacky to see that at a private event though, and kind of presumptuous. I'm not sure I'd want to read the reviews from people who are drinking at an event, written while they're still at that event. "Bartender is rude". "This party is lame". Nobody's going to write a paragraph about your landscaping, decor or enhancement options.

Weddingwire was an easy tool so as to get reviews.
Not suggesting you use weddingwire.
No longer use myself but my reviews are still on the web.
Most DJ's in capital city area pay for web rankings.
How has your open house worked out Rick?

I am going to go out on a limb and say that the whole Reviews "Hype" on the Internet was a FAD, and has calmed down A LOT. You use to have people who got into writing reviews of every place they patronize on Yelp, Google and other review sites. I think that has calmed down a lot in recent years.

Having reviews is good, but I don't think that having a whole ton of reviews is nearly as big of a deal as it was 5-10 years ago. People are getting back to the basic, and I also believe that GEN Z isn't going to go out of their way to go and write reviews either. It was a big Gen X and Millennial Fad to go and write reviews online. It was hand in hand with the whole "blogging" melt up we saw years back too. Both have calmed down a lot.

Ricky , you are starting to sound like an old man?!

I feel reviews are more vital now than they were years ago. Couples now hear about a vendor... first thing they do... check social media... next, find reviews... and then do they actually reach out. Millennials and Generation z rely on online reviews before going to restaurants and booking everything.

djtaso said:

I feel reviews are more vital now than they were years ago. Couples now hear about a vendor... first thing they do... check social media... next, find reviews... and then do they actually reach out. Millennials and Generation z rely on online reviews before going to restaurants and booking everything.

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If you go to sites like Wedding Wire, Yelp, any restaurant review site, Even Google. You will notice that there is LESS Frequency of Online Reviews occurring in recent years compared to 5 years ago. Not as many reviews are being submitted online on an annual basis in 2022/2023 vs 5 years ago.

This is what I found from a study that was done:

Study Findings:​

• 44% of consumers say they trust online reviews about the same as they did five years ago.
• 38.5% say they trust online reviews less than they did five years ago.
• 9.9% say they trust online reviews more than they did five years ago.
• 7.6% say they weren’t sure or didn’t have a strong opinion.
• A trend of deteriorating trust is likely accelerating, with 60% of respondents saying they think the quality of online reviews is decreasing.
• In 2017, 84% of U.S. consumers reported trusting online reviews. Comparing this to the above research, it’s obvious a large decline in trust is occurring.

After reading results of that study that took place in 2021, from what I have been noticing, I completely agree with the study findings.

We are on roughly a 23 year trend cycle so far for online reviews as it started with Epinions.com way back right before Y2K then Google 2003, and Yelp came along in 2004. If you ask me, Online Reviews peaked at max popularity around 2015/2016, and has been declining since. If you think of it like a graph on a chart, we are on the downward slope and continuing to trend down off of the Peak Popularity Point for Online Reviews, and the mass population's frequency of participating in reviews. Just my opinion.

That doesn’t change the reality that reviews are still part of the researching process. Even if they aren’t the end all be all in picking a vendor. I mean what else does one have to go by outside of personal referrals.

Point in case. There is a new venue around here that has been advertising and booking cheap weddings. However, reviews are starting to stack up, and they’re not pretty. Now, it seems brides are taking note and there’s an high number of them who are looking to sell off their dates or are cancelling and losing their payments altogether. People may not be leaving as many reviews as they used to, but they’re noticing them.

Jeff Romard said:

I feel if you are dependent on new clients all the time reviews may be helpful. I think with people like you and I who are primarily referral it's of very little importance

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I'm just as busy as previous years, and I have not asked for reviews from anyone since probably 2017/2018 at this point. I stopped chasing them. I did an awesome wedding reception on October 21st, and at the end of the night when I was all loaded into my car, the bride and groom were out there and said I did an Amazing job, and there was way more dancing than they thought there would be. Since it was a client from The Bash, I simply mentioned to feel free to leave me a stellar 5.0 review on there! The bride said that she definitely will, but then said it has probably been years since she has reviewed anything online. They did read my reviews on the site before they chose to talk with me and book me though. Bride is 32 years old. I am still waiting for that review to come in LOL.

I was talking with my nephew last summer about something and we got into talking about online reviews. He told me he has NEVER reviewed anything online. He does read reviews on things BRIEFLY before choosing to buy something though. He just does not have any interest in participating in writing reviews about things. He is Gen Z...25 yrs old now.

Let me suggest that you have a way for clients you have done work for to say something about what they thought of the service you provided for their event. Why spend money to get reviews. Let your former clients help you with this venture. Most clients won't mind helping you out. Especially if you did a great job for their event. If did it as the venue owner or Dj, or both. You did say money is tight. So why spend money you can't afford to spend?

Jeff Romard said:

I feel if you are dependent on new clients all the time reviews may be helpful. I think with people like you and I who are primarily referral it's of very little importance

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While 3/4 or more of my clients are people that have seen me first hand or heard of me someway somehow... unless it is someone who has actually used me in the past... young people naturally still research someone in someway. Often times people see the end results, but want to hear directly from others about the overall expereince. Even clients who have seen me at events tell me during our consultations how they love how my reviews say I'm responsive, or that I was detailed oriented and that that is really appreciated by them. Sometimes they just simply go to see that there are no red flags. Also, nowadays couples search all over for reviews... some do weddingwire, most do google, some do facebook. So it is good to make sure clients know all the ways they can review you.

For example... The guy that I used to replaster my pool and take care of some other related items last summer was recommended to me by a neighbor who always uses him. I didn't doubt they had a good experience, but I still went online to see his reviews. Contractors are known to have a mixed bag of reviews, but when I saw he had nothing but 5 stars, I was actually even more excited to have him take on the large project. I think that's why I value reviews so much... if anything they excite people even more to want to work with me.

Almost all my reviews are curated naturally, as in I don't ask for them. If I go a long period of time where no reviews come in naturally, I may reach out to my last 5 couples to see if any want to do so. Or for example... I just listed on zola... an upcoming review site similar to weddingwire, but becoming more popular since many couples use zola for invitations and website creation. To build my presence there, I reached out to past couples.