How to Avoid the Cost of Incorrect Opening Hours for Your Restaurant: A Guide to Keeping Your Business Listings Up-to-Date

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As a restaurant owner, ensuring that your business information, including your opening hours, is accurate and up-to-date across all your online listings is essential. This information helps potential customers plan their visit to your restaurant and can also influence their decision to choose your restaurant over your competitors.

However, incorrect opening hours in your business listings can have severe consequences for your restaurant, leading to lost revenue, negative customer experiences, and even damage your business reputation. In this article, we will explore the cost of incorrect opening hours in your business listings and the consequences that can arise from this issue.

Lost Revenue

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One of the highest costs of incorrect opening hours is lost revenue. If your business listing shows that you are open during a specific time but you are closed, you will miss out on potential customers who were planning to visit your restaurant. This can be particularly damaging during peak hours or on holidays, when customers may be specifically seeking out your restaurant or diner.

For example, imagine a family planning a Valentine's Day dinner at your restaurant for weeks, only to find out upon arrival that you are closed for the evening. Not only will this result in lost revenue from that specific group, but it may also lead to negative reviews and a tarnished reputation.

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Read the case study: 1.5 Million Views Per Month: How Managing Your Business Listings Can Boost Your Restaurant's Revenue

Negative Customer Experiences

Incorrect opening hours can also lead to negative customer experiences. If a customer arrives at your restaurant when your business listing says you should be open, only to find that you are closed, this can lead to frustration and disappointment. This negative experience can lead to negative reviews, loss of repeat business, and word-of-mouth marketing that can discourage potential customers from choosing your restaurant.

In addition, if your restaurant is only open during certain hours, it is essential to accurately reflect those hours on Google search and maps, Apple apps, and your website to avoid creating unrealistic expectations for your customers. For example, if your restaurant closes at 10 pm, but your business listing says you are open until midnight, customers may arrive at your restaurant expecting to be able to order a full meal, only to find that the kitchen is closed.

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Damage to Your Business Reputation

Incorrect opening hours in your business listings can damage your restaurant's reputation. In today's digital age, customers rely heavily on online reviews and ratings when deciding where to eat. If customers consistently experience negative experiences due to incorrect opening hours, this can lead to negative reviews and low ratings on review sites like Yelp and Google.

Negative reviews can be particularly damaging for restaurants, as they can deter potential customers from choosing your establishment. In addition, negative reviews can also impact your restaurant's search engine optimization (SEO) and online visibility, making it harder for potential customers to find your business online.

Learn how to use your restaurant reviews to improve your restaurants' sales in our article "How to use Google reviews to improve restaurant sales"

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How to Avoid Incorrect Opening Hours

To avoid the negative consequences of incorrect opening hours, ensuring that your business information is accurate and up-to-date across all your online listings is essential. This includes updating your hours of operation on your website, social media profiles, and review sites.

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It is also essential to be transparent with your customers about changes to your business hours. For example, if you are closing early for a holiday or renovation, update your business listings in advance and post signs in your restaurant to inform customers of the change.

In addition, it can be helpful to regularly monitor your online listings to ensure that your business information is accurate and up-to-date. This can involve setting up alerts for any changes to your business information on review sites and regularly checking your business profiles for accuracy.

Our latest article teaches how to update your opening hours on Apple Maps and Google Maps.

To do this across multiple channels and profiles is highly time-consuming. Mobal makes it easy to update your restaurant's opening hours and other business information on your online profiles. This platform makes it easy to manage all your online listings from one place, saving you time and ensuring consistency across all your profiles. With Mobal, you can create automatic updates, bulk edit, and monitor reviews, helping you stay on top of your online presence and avoid the consequences of incorrect information.

Other software solutions that can help update opening hours include Yext, Moz Local, and BrightLocal. By utilizing software, you can streamline the process of updating your restaurant's opening hours and other business information, making it easier to ensure the accuracy of your online profiles and avoid any negative consequences.

Conclusion

In conclusion, incorrect opening hours in your business listings can have severe repercussions for your restaurant. It is crucial to ensure that your business information is accurate and up-to-date to avoid lost revenue, negative customer experiences, and damage to your business reputation.

Regularly monitoring and updating your business listings is a small but significant step that can make a huge difference in your business's success.

As a restaurant owner, it's essential to prioritize the accuracy of your opening hours and other business information on your online profiles.Managing all of your online profiles and monitoring for updates can be time-consuming. However, the cost of incorrect opening hours and other inaccuracies can be far greater than the time and effort it takes to ensure that your information is up-to-date.

Don't overlook the importance of accurate and up-to-date opening hours in your online business listings. By prioritizing this small but significant aspect of your business, you can help ensure your restaurant's success and avoid the negative consequences of lost revenue, negative customer experiences, and damage to your business reputation.

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