YELP ME!

If there's one thing you need to know, it's that my boyfriend and I are big eaters; we take food so seriously, it's actually pretty hilarious.   

Notice our excitement over these meals: 




(Left: Ariana smells her in-n-out burger in excitement; Right: Eli awkwardly/ angrily smiles while being forced to take a picture with his breakfast)

Anyway, one day while we were looking for a place to eat over the summer, we had to pull the car over just so we could find a good restaurant in the area. 

Which took us a total of 45 minutes.

Any guesses to how we found a good restaurant? 

We Yelped it.

For those who don’t know what Yelp is, it’s a forum where people can give local businesses, whether it be restaurants, shopping centers, barber shops, etc. stars based on their satisfaction and can write reviews. 

A business can score up to a total of five stars, which is a pretty tough score to get, considering that most people who are inclined to write reviews are those who have had not so good experiences with the business being reviewed. 

Which, side note, essentially proves  the customer satisfaction studies that a satisfied customer tells three people, but a dissatisfied customer tells nine. 

Which brings me to my topic for today: the information search of the Consumer Purchase Decision Process as it pertains to finding a place to eat. 

So yesterday during my shift at Bath & Body Works (cheers to smelling Japanese Cherry Blossom for eight consecutive hours!), I faced a treacherous decision of finding a place to eat at during my lunch break.  I’m a huge sushi lover and haven’t had my baked-lobster-roll-fix in a while, so I was definitely in the market for some delicious sushi yesterday. The only problem is that I’m extremely selective when it comes to sushi restaurants and wanted to make sure I got my money and time’s worth (big shout out to thirty minute lunch breaks for sounding so much longer than they actually are). 

After completely exhausting my internal sushi-sources (I only know of like two places in the area that are completely out of the way), I tapped into some of my immediate external sources, or personal resources to be exact. I asked some of my coworkers if they knew of any good sushi restaurants not too far from Church Street, and was instantly referred to Asiana Noodle Shop right around the corner.

I then proceeded to Yelp the restaurant to see what kind of reviews it got. 

Anyways, I spent at least twenty minutes reading reviews about their service, recommendations on specialty rolls, and price listings and during this, I found that I was more receptive and swayed by the negative reviews that I read; a bad review had so much more impact and influence over my buying decision than a good one.

Coincidentally, and maybe even by fate, one of my good friends happened to come into the store for some body spray's while I was reading reviews for Asiana Noodle Shop and told me that she was heading over to a small sandwich place on Church Street called Red Onion. She swore that the chips they sold there were the most delicious chips she had ever eaten and highly recommended it. 

So guess where I ended up going for lunch? 

Red Onion. 

That brings me to the conclusion that word of mouth, the influencing of people during conversations, is indeed the most powerful source for consumers and that the more trusted your personal sources are, the more impactful they are on your buying decision. 

Which, by the way, worked out perfectly because the sandwich that I ordered, The Red Onion, was sooooo good, that I’m probably going to take my boyfriend there when he comes to visit again. 

So thanks, Manny, for the lovely recommendation!

$$$$$

Ariana