Please let us know if your questions is not answered below.
Q: What is Guest Pulse?
Our job is to make sure that you immediately know whenever your restaurant is mentioned online. This is called Reputation Management and in the new world of social media, it is critical to monitor the chatter about your restaurant. This means when a blog, local newspaper, user on Yelp, or a mention on Twitter occurs, we’ll catch it and let you know. Call it insurance, protecting your brand reputation, monitoring your PR efforts and overall buzz online, or better customer service, information is power.
Q: Why should I use Guest Pulse?
Guest Pulse is an unparalleled Reputation and Social Media Monitoring Solution built exclusively for the Hospitality and Restaurant industries. This groundbreaking service will irreversibly change the way operators engage, attract, and listen to guests.
Q: What is the purpose of our service?
When a guests and critics talk about your restaurant, we let you know right away. This is the core service or “insurance” that we offer. Managing your brand reputation online is time consuming and almost futile. Leave the monitoring to us and focus on what you do best!
Q: How Can Guest Pulse help my business?
We created Guest Pulse to help restaurants monitor what is being said about them online. When users have a good experience they Yelp, blog, and tweet. When they leave unhappy, they also Yelp, blog, and tweet. We enable restaurants to focus on what they do best and escape the time and stress associated with monitoring the media and social web.
Q: How is Guest Pulse different than Google Alerts?
Google Alerts is a good tool but it is not customized specifically for restaurants. We have a laser focus on the needs of restaurants and do not stop once we find a mention. Our service not only monitors the online conversations of your restaurant(s) but we also organize the mentions found and provide reports that help you gain valuable insights.
Q: Is there a free version?
Yes. If you decide not to continue with your premium Guest Pulse account after your 30 day free trial is complete, you will have access to a free version. This version provides key information and is quite useful however it is missing several powerful features from our premium version.
Q: Do you offer training?
Absolutely, although we doubt you will need it. The Guest Pulse user interface is simple and requires no specialized knowledge.
Q: What other training do you offer?
We are committed to helping you succeed and manage your Online Reputation. We offer daily Live Webinar training classes that cover everything from program demonstration to guest engagement. There is no cost for these webinars.
To view webinar schedule click here
Q: Does my business have to be on Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, etc? to use the service?
Absolutely not. Even though you aren’t using social media that doesn’t mean your guests aren’t talking about you.
Q. Can you help us develop a Social Media presence for our business?
Absolutely. Please contact us and let’s talk.
Q: Why does Guest Pulse cost $39 per location?
We have priced Guest Pulse to be one of the most competitively priced applications on the market today for the value that is included.
Q: What is a mention?
Any time the media, a critic, a customer, a blog, an email newsletter, or a tweet mentions your restaurant, we find it and let you know. We keep you posted every time you are mentioned online. These mentions are deposited into your account in a running list. You can search or filter your mentions in many ways to pinpoint those that might be interesting to you. We also provide reports that analyze all your mentions and offer useful ways to understand your online buzz.
Q: What types of mentions do you track?
We track everything restaurant related online. This includes, user reviews, critic reviews, blogs, local guides, local and general media, twitter, email newsletters, forums, and comments from millions of websites.
Q: How many sources do you monitor?
We monitor millions of social networking sites, user review sites, blogs, forums and everything in-between.
Q. What do we do with this data once we receive it?
This is another area where we are unparalleled. Collecting online data is only 50% of groundbreaking service Guest Pulse offers. Once the data is collected, it must to be translated and understood so action can be taken. To accomplish this, Guest Pulse has included select features in each of our service offerings. They include such services as: Immediate notification of any crisis in brand or location; one-on-one coaching on social media presence; competitive monitoring; guest loyalty programs; email & promotional campaigns; integrated marketing strategy and so much more.
Also included in each account is a monthly result analysis, review & coaching call by your dedicated Online Reputation Genius ™
Q: What happens when my free trial is over?
If you are satisfied and see how Guest Pulse can help you manage your reputation online, alert you immediately when you have a mention and save you time by bringing all your mentions under one roof, then you should CONTINUE with our premium version.
Q: Who is Guest Pulse for?
Guest Pulse is built exclusively for the Hospitality Industry. Our service is designed for every facet of the sector, from restaurants and food service purveyors to hotels, resorts and bed & breakfasts to cruise lines, airlines, travel companies and associations, and everything in between. You can create multiple logins for anyone on your team and groups can easily manage multiple restaurants from one account.
Q: Does Registration/Signup take long?
Signing up for Guest Pulse is quick and painless. We ask for some basic business information so that we can immediately begin scanning the most important sources on the web for mentions of your restaurant. You’ll see results in less than a minute.
Registration accommodates only one restaurant sign up at a time HOWEVER we do have a powerful group version. It allows one account (restaurant group or PR firm) to contain many restaurants. Contact us if you want to learn more about our group version.
Q: Can I create additional logins for others?
Yes. If you click “Settings”, you will see an option called “Logins”. From there, you can provide access to anyone within your inner circle. Chef, owner, manager, PR firm, you decide and control who can see your mentions.
Q: How do Email Alerts work?
Our job is to constantly be on the lookout for mentions about your restaurant and let you know right away. We keep you posted by sending our daily, weekly, and monthly updates. You can select which type of email works best for your needs.
Guest Pulse also finds timely new mentions and also creates an archive of older mentions for your restaurant. For this reason, we break out the mentions in your daily email update by “New Mentions Added” and “Old Mentions Added”.
Hopefully this lets you hone in on what is timely and most important but also gives you a record or archive to look back on.
Q: Can I include other key people to receive email updates?
Yes. Once again, we give you the control to decide. You can add additional email addresses by following these steps:
- Click “Settings”
- Click “Options”
- Locate the first option labeled “Alerts”
- Enter email addresses separated by a comma & “Submit”
- Everyone gets email alerts
Q: How do I add my LOGO and personalize my account?
There are 2 easy ways to quickly add your logo and spice up your accounts look.
- Roll over your business name in the upper right
- Notice the pencil icon appear… now click anywhere in logo space
- The “Account” option in “Settings” will load up
- Click the browse button directly below the title “Logo” along the right
- Find your logo file on your desktop and add
- Click Update
You can always access your personal settings by clicking “Settings” up top as well. When adding your logo, click “Settings” and you’ll see your “Account” information. Find the “Logo” header to the right and click browse to add your logo.
Q: What is the purpose of the scorecard?
The scorecard is based on a simple analogy, the daily sports box score. We wanted to give you just enough useful information to understand how things are going and how active your buzz is online. The “New” column represents the number of mentions we have found since the last time you logged in. This could include older mentions found along with the timely mentions that you need to know about. We currently count mentions from several types of sources such as:
- Users Reviews
- Blogs
- Media
- Critic Reviews
- Email Newsletters
Q: Is there a place to view my Ratings from top sites like Yelp?
Yes. You can quickly see your total ratings from sites like Yelp, Open Table, Citysearch, and more. Look for this “widget” along the right side of the mentions page.
What other information at glance would be useful to you? Let us know what you want, be creative!
Q: Can I respond directly to a user review?
Not yet. This process still has to happen directly on the site of the mention. If a mention is from Yelp, you have to send a private message through them. We do have some very useful and innovative features in the pipeline that will help make this process more efficient and painless.
Q: How do I suggest a source that is does not seem to be tracking?
Please let us know if you find a mention about your restaurant that we missed. Every time we are made aware of these, we improve the comprehensives and accuracy of Guest Pulse for everyone.
Q: How do I give feedback? What do I do if I have a question, problem, or idea?
We expect issues and do not mind hearing about problems because we like to immediately fix so no one else experiences them! We also love hearing about your thoughts and feature ideas to consider for future versions. There is a small contact us link at the bottom footer of every page which can be used to contact us. We also have a Live Chat support option that is staffed 24/7.
Q: Does Guest Pulse monitor other variations of my business name? What should I do if my guests refer to our restaurant with several versions of our name?
We use your restaurant name to monitor the web for mentions but we can search for more than one version of your name. You can enter other names by clicking “Settings” and then clicking “Options”. Look for the “Other Names” title and then enter away. Here are some tips and examples for using this valuable feature.
Examples
- Otto Enoteca Pizzeria – Their official name
- Otto – Most frequently used name
- Otto Pizzeria – Sometimes called this as well
By adding “Otto” and “Otto Pizzeria”, our monitoring will catch even more mentions!
More Examples…
- Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is also known as, Dinosaur BBQ, Dinosaur Barbecue, & Dinosaur
- Bond St is also known as Bond Street
- Schiller’s Liquor Bar is sometimes spelled Schillers as well
- Eleven Madison Park is also know as 11 Madison Park
Q: Do People Often Misspell Your Restaurant?
The recently shuttered Elettaria was commonly misspelled as Ellettaria & Elletaria. If this happens to your restaurant, you can add your misspellings so that we catch these mentions too.
Q: How does Guest Pulse define a “New” mention?
Everytime you login, we label and present mentions as “New” that have been added since your last login.
Q: Can I Search my Mentions for key phrases or issues?
Yes, you can search across your mentions. This enables you to quickly filter your mentions by any topic or term. You’ll quickly realize how useful and powerful this is once you try it.
Here are some ideas to search for – ambiance, good or bad service, salmon or pork bun (track a new or signature dish), brunch, and waiter (you’d be surprised what comes up with this one).
What details do you want to know or should you be checking up on? Try it out.
Q: Why are some mentions missing a date?
We do our best to match an accurate date to each mention found. We currently deliver the publish date of a mention 96% of the time.
Q: Why filter my mentions?
Having your mentions in one place is a good thing but having the power to organize them in many different ways gives you added insight and intelligence. Filter by Who, What, or When…
- Who represents the sources who have mentioned your restaurant
- What contains all the types of mentions you have ranging from user reviews to tweets
- When allows you to filter by time and view mentions ranging from the last 48 hours, last month, or last year
Q: What should I do if I find an incorrectly matched mention?
We try really hard to be perfect however sometimes a bad match will find its way into your mentions. When this happens, click “Delete” below the mention to remove it. To help us, we are alerted every time this happens so that we can learn how it got through and correct it for the future. If you feel you are getting more than a rare mis-match every now and then, please contact us so we can investigate right away. Thanks!
Q: Can I share a positive mention found?
We use a special sharing widget to help you share a mention any way you like from email to facebook or twitter. Look for the “Share” link under any mention and click to see your options.
Q: What are the happy and sad faces all about?
Currently this is an option for users who want to measure customer satisfaction. It only takes one simple click and in time, you have a powerful way to look at your brand reputation online. After you read a mention, click the happy face if they were a happy customer and the sad face if they went home unhappy. If you find yourself wanting a third face for indifference, let us know
Q: What is the best way to take advantage of reports?
Filters are set to display information based on mentions published “This Month”. You can sort by many options such as “Alltime” or “This Week”. Here are some tips on each report offered:
Blog Buzz Report
How are you doing with food blogs and media blogs? Did you generate any blog buzz with your PR efforts last week? What blog posts focused on you most? All of these questions have easy answers when you have this report to analyze your blog buzz. Armed with new information that you never had before, gain valuable insights on your own or share with your PR firm. Also, measure the buzz or viral effect after a blog mention or PR event.
User Reviews Report
Everyone’s a critic for good or for bad! Are you getting positive reviews? Are you covered on the top guides? Are you aware of constructive or negative user feedback? We give you the entire conversation about your restaurant online in one collective and easy to understand report.
Top Sources Report
Where do the majority of your mentions comes from? Is it from blogs, user reviews, or the media? What does your online footprint look like? Do you have the top sources covered? Where can you do better? Who raves about you or simply is talking about your restaurant?
Media Coverage Report
Does the local media know you exist? What do the critics think of you? Do they pick up your events or promotions? Use this report to easily keep track of your business in the media and which mentions are focused on you the most (relevance).
Twitter Activity Report
Demystify this new marketing option. We provide a way to finally keep tabs on when you are mentioned and who is doing the talking. Following those who positively spread the word are good candidates to follow.