The Best Review Is A Repeat Customer
I don't really have a place for customers to leave reviews anymore.
When I shut down the retail shop, I had to change the Google status to “permanently closed” so that the new tenant of the building could claim the address. The plan was to change it to a different status once I got set up at the markets, but then I thought “why?”
I don’t care much about online reviews on review sites. I care if someone finds me and shows up for a second time. I care if someone posted a TikTok and told everyone to go get some baked goods (except I never check TikTok and I didn’t know- sorry!). I care if they order a birthday cake from me every year, and then a baby shower cake, and then a birthday cake for their kids. Those are the best relationships to have with customers.
Google reviews, Yelp reviews, Facebook reviews...it doesn’t matter. Most people who write on review sites do it because they are mad. Some of our old reviews crack me up when I read them now. People will really defend their terrible behavior in reviews - and some of them never even happened.
I remember the first year of the bakery, someone wrote a review that said something like “the owner recoiled in horror when an (obviously) poor person came into the bakery. Don’t go here- they don’t like poor people.” First of all, the first year of the bakery I WAS THE POOR PEOPLE. Second, I “recoiled in horror….” fantastic writing. Third, the writer of the review absolutely judged the person that he thought was poor, which made me laugh.
I never really responded to these reviews because I was told that word of mouth is what matters most.
Now, word of mouth is difficult to wait for.
It takes months, and years for people to try your product, like it, tell people about it, and then those people finally come in. One person never made it to the bakery though; she told me when I wrote the Facebook closing post after THIRTEEN years- “Oh that’s terrible! I was never able to make it in to try it.” Two years, maybe three years, that’s on me for the short stint. But you couldn’t get here in THIRTEEN years? That’s on you- but thanks for letting me know.
Online reviews can be helpful, I get it. “The music is really loud in here.” “This place isn’t great with food allergies.” “All of my food arrived cold 45 minutes after we ordered.” “The chef came out and talked to me about my food allergies and made sure I was taken care of.”
They can also capture people at one extreme or the other. People who absolutely loved something often tell their friends. People who had a bad experience are much more likely to sit down and write a review. “She was the worst AND she hates poor people!”
My favorite in person reviews are when people eat the product on the way back to their car and come back to tell me they need more.
Or, the opposite, a lady purchased a pumpkin mini Bundt once, came back three weeks later and said this, “Can I just tell you that it was the WORST baked good I’ve ever had? Do people tell you that a lot?” Um, no they don’t but thanks for letting me know, to my FACE. Hey, at least she didn’t write it down on the internet?
The review I care about is much quieter. It's the customer who comes back every Saturday. The one who walks straight to the cookies because they already know what they're buying. The one whose order I can almost predict before they say a word.
That's a review.
Every business owner hopes someone goes home and says, "You have to try this place." That's worth more than five stars because it comes with trust. I love when customers become regulars. I know what they order, what they don't like, what allergies they have, and sometimes where they went on vacation the week before. Those are the people who built this bakery. Anyone can stop by once because they saw a five-star review online, but businesses are built by the people who come back and tell everyone else. Those are my Anniemayniacs, and that's the only review I've ever really wanted.
