How to Give Restaurant Customers The Direct Delivery and Online Ordering They Crave
The current landscape of food ordering now makes the ordering experience as simple as clicking a single button. No more calling the restaurant, no more downloading, no more registration pages. Customers appreciate convenience, headache-free ordering, embedded within the daily messaging channels they frequent on a daily or even hourly basis.
Customers can now choose where it is most convenient for them to order. So why would they ever choose ordering that requires a download or register step? The importance of knowing what resonates with your customers and where they prefer to order is paramount, while simultaneously implementing a budget friendly solution for your business. A recent study by Tillster determined that customers prefer ordering via direct sales channels that offer convenience (no downloading or registration).
It may seem as though the best bet for restaurants is to simply surrender to third party apps, let them do all the work, and assess constantly rising commission fees. The problem is that you are surrendering so much more by working with them and taking the easy way out. These third parties are also taking your customers, owning the relationship with them, while hijacking your brand experience as it becomes an indirect channel. That is where Say2eat comes in. As a white label service behind the scenes, Say2eat allows you to own your customers and the relationship, collect data and valuable insights, re-engage them to promote loyalty, surrender no commissions and most importantly offer headache free ordering via your customers daily used messaging channels.
In an additional Tillster study, it was determined that merely 5% of Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) customers would have a preference of ordering via third party sites or mobile apps. For fast casual and casual dining customers, only 8% prefer ordering via Third parties. Why is it that customers feel so strongly about communicating and ordering directly with your restaurant?
Complete Brand Experience Allowing customers to order directly from your restaurant is so much more than simply the ordering mechanism itself. You are placing your entire brand in front of them for whatever use they deem necessary. Learning more about your brand, browsing your menu, learning about your locations, sharing your story with them and so much more. The key here is that you are controlling the customer relationship and experience, while cultivating it as a long term relationship that yields loyalty and retention.
This allows you to keep your unique brand voice, while presenting your menu and offerings the way you prefer and the way that your customers are already familiarized with. Additionally, this direct sales approach with products like Say2eat’s make it infinitely easier for customers to conveniently refer to past orders while also utilizing one-click reordering features.
A Personalized Touch Matters Third party ordering sites and apps always list dozens of restaurants, with yours just being one small cog within a long list of offerings and brand voices. This approach does not meet the needs of a restaurant brand, lacking the personalization and branding that your customers yearn for and are familiar with. A direct sales channel especially branded for your restaurant allows you to keep your customers, capture valuable data and ordering preferences and tailor your own unique ordering experience to specific customers based off the data and preferences that are analyzed. Your customers want to hear from you and stay connected for easy ordering, and not have to navigate to a third party service that offers nothing more than your menu.
Loyalty Is A Two-Way Street According to research done by Tillster, customers order multiple times a month from the same QSR/Fast Casual Restaurants on a consistent basis. Your customers keep coming back to you for more and more. Take notice, while offering them simple repeat ordering. Your customers must be reminded that you value their business. When you keep your ordering experience direct and in-house with tech like that of Say2eat, you have the ability to offer simple ordering, loyalty programs and data collection all in one. This helps make customers feel appreciated and also keeps them interested.
Your restaurant’s brand voice is your biggest ally. Utilize it to its fullest potential, secure new customer bases, offer loyalty and most importantly simple ordering. You must customize your ordering experience to fit the customer’s needs, when and where they want to experience it. Regardless which customers you seek to engage and where they are, personalization within the customer journey is what is appreciated most as well as convenience.
Say2eat’s white label solution enables chains and restaurants to create personalized consumer engagements that lead to desired business outcomes. To see Say2eat’s technology in action, click HERE (link to schedule a demo).
