A Singapore casual dining group operating 6 outlets across the island — ranging from a hawker court stall to a full-service restaurant in a shopping mall — came to Epicware with a straightforward problem: their Google reviews were inconsistent, their Maps rank was poor, and nobody on the team had time to manage it.
The group's most-reviewed outlet had 45 reviews. Their main competitor in the same category had 280. The review gap was visible to every potential customer who searched their category on Google Maps.
The Challenge
Six outlets across Singapore meant six GBP profiles, each needing monitoring, response, and optimisation. The group's marketing manager was the sole person responsible for all digital presence — and was spending 6–8 hours per week manually checking profiles, writing review responses, and trying to keep information up to date.
Despite this time investment, reviews were arriving slowly. There was no systematic ask process. Staff at each outlet occasionally mentioned Google reviews to customers who seemed particularly happy — but "occasionally" and "seemed happy" are not a system.
The result: the group's profiles averaged 45 reviews each, with ratings between 4.0 and 4.4. Maps rank for their main keyword sat at positions 5–8 across most of their locations.
Attempted Solutions Before Epicware
Before approaching Epicware, the group had tried two approaches:
- Printed table cards with QR codes linking to Google reviews. Conversion was low — customers rarely scanned them unprompted, and the cards needed regular replacement.
- Staff verbal reminders at checkout. Inconsistent across outlets and staff — some staff asked frequently, others never did.
Neither approach generated consistent velocity. Some months saw 5–8 new reviews across all outlets. Other months, 1–2.
What Epicware Did
Epicware connected to the group's reservation system and POS across all 6 outlets. When a table was cleared or an order completed, EpicReview automatically sent a personalised WhatsApp message to the customer's phone number — 30 minutes after service completion, with their name, a reference to their visit, and a direct link to the relevant outlet's Google review form.
No staff action required. No manual sending. The system ran automatically at every outlet from day one.
Simultaneously, Epicware conducted a 19-point GBP audit across all 6 profiles. Four outlets had incorrect secondary categories. Three had incomplete service lists. Two had outdated photos. All were missing weekly GBP posts. These were fixed in the first week.
EpicResponse was configured to draft and post AI review responses across all outlets — ensuring every new review received a reply within 24 hours regardless of which outlet it appeared on.
Results at 60 Days
- Review count: Average reviews per outlet grew from 45 to 120 in 60 days. By day 90, the average reached 200+.
- Review velocity: The group went from 5–8 new reviews per month across all outlets to 80–100 per month — distributed across all 6 profiles.
- Maps rank: 4 of 6 outlets moved from position 5–8 to positions 2–4 for their main keyword. The two remaining outlets (in highly competitive areas) improved from positions 8–10 to positions 5–6.
- Rating: Average rating across outlets improved from 4.15 to 4.45 — primarily because the new reviews were from satisfied customers who, when asked, gave honest positive feedback.
- Management time: The marketing manager's weekly time on GBP management dropped from 6–8 hours to under 30 minutes — reviewing flagged reviews and approving AI-drafted responses.
What the Client Said
"We knew reviews mattered but had no bandwidth to do it properly. Epicware just runs in the background — I check in once a week to review anything that needs attention. The results were faster than I expected."
What's Next
The group is now in the process of onboarding EpicMap to track district-level rank for each outlet — identifying specific geographic pockets where rank is still below position 3 and targeting GBP post content at those areas. Two outlets have also engaged Epicware's bad review removal service for reviews assessed as competitor-posted.