Serving the “Need States” of Online Customers, Part 3 – Impulse Customers

Posted by Tim on December 1, 2014
This is Part 3 in a series of articles about attracting the “need states” of online restaurant customers - the needs and key decision-making points of each customer segment.  Part 1 addressed Special Occasion Customers.  Part 2 addressed Routine Customers.  Today we address Impulse Customers.

Impulse Customers.  These are folks that make spontaneous dining decisions.  Here’s what you need to capture their attention:

  • Good Web Visibility.  This is especially needed with mobile devices where the likelihood of an impulse purchase increases. Make sure your website is mobile friendly.  Your NetWaiter site is already optimized for mobile devices, so you can redirect visitors directly to your custom NetWaiter page if needed.
  • Price Point.  The price point for this type of customer is often lower.  They may also trend towards ordering more snacks, rather than full meals.  They want to see options that fit their lower price points when searching your online menu. 

Impulse customers can also be found locally.  Make sure you do things that attract these patrons.

  • Email Marketing.  More and more people live their lives through their smartphones.  Reaching them while they’re ‘on-the-go’ isn’t a bad thing.  If they like what they see, they may be inclined to take action right then.
  • The LTO.  Limited time offers tap into the marketing tactic of “get it now or miss out.”  Offer them a special online-only deal, with a very limited window for them to take advantage.  Just make sure the offer gets to them before lunch/dinner.
  • Make It Effortless.  With NetWaiter, over 68% of customers choose to pre-pay online for their pickup or delivery order, if provided a choice.  Pre-payment makes it a smooth, quick transaction.

It’s also important to keep in mind that the need states of customers change.  Every customer, at one time or another, will be in one of these three need states we discussed.  Appeal to each one of these need states, and you will reliably attract more customers.

Important Stats on Mobile Devices and Restaurant Technology

Posted by Tim on November 14, 2014
Recent research by the National Restaurant Association reveals stats that show just how important your restaurant's online ordering business is to certain customer segments:

Consumers that own smartphones or tablets:
  • 90% of 18 to 34-year-olds.
  • 89% of 34 to 44-year-olds.
  • 62% of 45 to 55-year-olds.
  • 60% of 55 to 64-year-olds.
  • 34% of those 65 and over.
Takeaway: Mobile devices are quickly becoming the instrument of preference when it comes to online ordering.
 
Consumers that report they use restaurant technology more than they did two years ago:
  • 53% of 18 to 34-year olds (Millennials).
  • 43% of 35 to 44-year olds.
  • 26% of 55 to 64-year olds (Baby Boomers).
 
Takeaway: Millennials are still the sweet spot for online ordering, but the customer base is expanding in all age segments.

What Influences Customers Online?

Posted by Tim on November 7, 2014
What influences a customer when making a purchase online?  Although these stats* apply to all online purchases, they are very much applicable to restaurants and restaurant online ordering.


Site Speed and Visuals:
•    After waiting 3 seconds, 57% of visitors will abandon a site if it’s still loading.  80% of those people will never return.
•    Visitors will leave a site within 10 to 20 seconds if it doesn’t immediately resonate with them or provide value.
This is why it’s critical your online ordering site is fully branded to your restaurant.  Customers need to ‘connect’ with your brand immediately or you may lose their business.  If your website links to a portal – you’re most likely losing a lot of business.
•    92.6% say visuals are the top factor influencing a purchase decision.
Showing high quality images of items on your menu can really benefit online sales.

Checkout Process:
•    67.4% of shoppers across all types of sites will abandon the checkout process.  That means just over 30% of visitors complete a purchase they start.  
With NetWaiter, nearly 80% of visitors complete a transaction after they select their first item.  That’s a HUGE difference.

Top Reasons for Abandonment Include:
•    41% - Hidden charges at checkout.
•    10% - Lengthy checkout process.
NetWaiter’s goal is to get the customer through the ordering process in as few clicks as possible – hence our very high conversion rate.

Other Interesting Information on Abandonment:
•    Men are more likely to abandon a purchase.
•    25 to 44 year-olds are the worst offenders when it comes to giving up on a purchase.
Considering the importance of this age group to online ordering.  This is why it’s critical to make the online ordering experience quick and easy for customers.
*Credit to The Marketing Donut and other sources.

What It Takes To Attract Millennials

Posted by Tim on November 7, 2014
Millennials – adults 18 to 35 years old – are the ideal candidates for restaurant online ordering.  Many of them don’t remember a time before the Internet.  Most of them have a connected device within arm’s reach, day or night, whether it’s a laptop, tablet, or smartphone.  Restaurant online ordering is natural for them.

There are, however, some things you need to know about this group – things that can make a difference for your restaurant and your online ordering business…

20% Less.  Millennials, as a group, currently eat out 20% less than other demographic groups. The Great Recession affected them profoundly.  They aren’t afraid to cook for themselves; however, they don’t like to cook all of the time.

The Amazon Generation.  Millennials don’t remember a time when there was no Amazon.com.  The result: they expect a user-centric, friction-free experience with their business transactions.

Loyalty.  Millennials are loyal, so much so that they don’t need or care a lot about loyalty programs.  A friction-free experience is much more important.  As a group, millennials are the least likely to review sites such as Yelp when making decisions.  They know what they want.

Window of Opportunity.  More than 50% of millennials make their buying decision in the six-hour window before they eat, with 29% of that group admitting that the window is closer to one-hour.  17% of millennials don’t even plan that far in advance.  Getting your message to them when they are deciding is important.  Millennials also like businesses that communicate with technologies they prefer – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Key Lessons:
•    Millennials expect consistent and convenient service more than discounts and loyalty clubs.
•    Communicate frequently and with the right platforms to reach millennials.  Stay top-of-mind so they choose your restaurant whenever they decide to place an order.
•    Make your takeout and delivery as convenient as possible.  Millennials may dine at restaurants less, but they don’t always want to cook for themselves.  Your restaurant’s online ordering site is the key to their dilemma.

Serving the “Need States” of Online Customers, Part 2 – Routine Customers

Posted by Tim on October 29, 2014
This is Part 2 in a series of articles about attracting the “need states” of online customers - the needs and key decision-making points of each customer segment.  The last piece addressed Special Occasion Customers.  Today we address Routine Customers.

Routine Customers.  According to a recent survey in the restaurant industry, about 30% of patrons account for 60% of the traffic in a restaurant.  These are the customers you want.  What interests these Routine Customers?

• Convenience.  There are things you can do to enhance convenience beyond just the ability to order from a mobile phone – specified takeout parking and a separate pickup line for takeout orders inside your restaurant are both great.  If possible, you can step it up another level and add curbside delivery in your parking lot.

• Outreach to the local area.  We know of a sandwich shop that partnered with a property manager, supplying complementary salads as part of a tenant appreciation day at a local office complex.  Each complimentary salad included a card with an online ordering promo code.  Every person within the office complex immediately knew about their restaurant, how good their salads are, and had a discount on their next online order. 

• More outreach. Respond to what’s going on in the community.  Harsh weather?  What kind of special offer can you email to your customers to help alleviate their pain?  A well-known burger chain in California sent their mobile truck to the site of some local flooding a number of years ago and handed out free burgers.  Talk about developing word of mouth!

Up Next: Part 3 - Attracting impulse customers to order online.

New Upgrades for NetWaiter; Mobile Ordering Enhanced

Posted by Tim on October 18, 2014
You may have noticed NetWaiter recently released some upgrades to its restaurant online ordering system.  So far, the customer feedback has been great and we hope you’re hearing good things too.  Here are a few of the upgrades:

More Attractive Site – NetWaiter has created a smoother, more attractive site for customers as they navigate their way through your online ordering site.  The general ordering process has not changed much, however, please feel free to evaluate your custom site design to determine if any ‘refreshing’ may be warranted.

Enhanced Mobile Ordering – Your site is now more user friendly on mobile devices.  Your previous mobile site has been upgraded for easier navigation and performance.  NetWaiter has also extended the Group Ordering feature to be available from mobile devices.  Previously, customers could only join a Group Order from their mobile device.  Now you can initiate a Group Order from any device/computer.

Stronger URL Branding – Previously, when a customer visited your NetWaiter online ordering site, the URL would be shown as www.netwaiter.com/Your_Restaurant. Now, your restaurant name is shown first, to better reflect your restaurant and brand: Your_Restaurant/netwaiter.com.  You do not need to make any changes to the links you have on your website – customers will automatically be redirected.

Serving the “Need States” of Online Customers, Part 1 – The Special Occasion Customer

Posted by Tim on October 18, 2014

Making sure your restaurant attracts as many online customers as possible depends, in part, on understanding the “need states” of customers – the needs and key decision-making points of each customer segment.  This is the first of three articles looking at the various types of online customers and their specific needs.  Part 1 looks at Special Occasion Customers.  Part 2 will discuss Routine Customers, and Part 3 will address Impulse Customers.   

Special Occasion Customers.  These patrons want to celebrate a special event – i.e. a birthday or job promotion - with a special takeout meal they can enjoy at home or at some other special location.

• Reliable, dependable service.  Customers know they can depend on you to come through when it really counts.  Their online order is ready when they come in, and the food is always great.

• Attractive, leak-proof containers.  No one wants to mar the occasion by having to clean up a mess.  Also, make sure those containers allow for the best presentation of the meal.  Customers don’t want to open a container and be confronted with “takeout mush.”

• Special Offers.  You might be able to make an extra sale if you offer something special - like a pair of candles to complement their nice meal.  This customer can be easily upsold items because they are ordering for a “special” dinner.  The best way to capture that extra revenue is to cross-sell, like suggesting side orders with entrees.

• What type of special occasion?  You can ask the customer as part of the checkout process: Is this a special occasion? If so, what type?  Based on their answer, you may be able to provide them something special to recognize their celebration.

Tips for Effective Facebooking and Tweeting for your Restaurant

Posted by Tim on October 3, 2014
You regularly send out messages to your social media followers – Facebook and Twitter – about news, deals, restaurant online ordering, takeout, and other general information about your restaurant.  But how do you know that your messages are effective, and you’re not just throwing meaningless content out there?

Here are a few tips:

Maintain your brand voice. Whatever your brand image, make sure you keep it consistent.  It’s who you are – don’t deviate from your image.

Watch what gets action. If you see spikes in comments, likes, or sharing and retweeting, then you have hit a nerve with your audience. Did you get a lot of action when you posted info about your new recyclable takeout containers?  Or, something simple like Taco Tuesday?  If so, that’s important to your audience.

Include photos and video. People look before they read. Photos of attractive dishes, a video of the final preparation of a menu item, or just your chef slicing onions faster than the eye can see. All are interesting to the social media follower.

Keep an ear out for oversaturation. There is such a thing as too much. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. You don’t want to annoy people. 

And for Twitter only…

Pin important Tweets. This makes sure it stays at the top of your profile. Do this to attract attention to special offers and information that you don’t want your followers to miss. 

Request a retweet. Ask specific folks to help spread the word about your restaurant and let them magnify your voice. 

Use Online Ordering to Tackle Sales this Fall Sports Season

Posted by Tim on September 19, 2014
All posts tagged 'Larger Order Sizes'

Some Statistics to Kick Around

Posted by Tim on May 30, 2014
Here are some interesting statistics from the 2014 Restaurant Industry Forecast, put out by the National Restaurant Association, and how they can be interpreted regarding restaurant online ordering

It often comes down to your website – The NRA reports that 61% of those consumers responding have visited a restaurant’s website. If you offer online ordering and your NetWaiter site is prominently linked to your site, you can capture the customer’s order when they visit your site.  It’s all about convenience. 

If you offer it, they will use it – 52% of customers said they would use a smartphone or tablet for delivery or takeout if the restaurant offered that option. That’s over 50% of your customers, who would likely increase the frequency of visits to your restaurant, if they could order from their mobile device. 

More reasons for mobile – Another survey finds that restaurants are the most searched industry on a mobile device and that 75% of those searching will make their dining decision based on the restaurant’s mobile site producing the information they were seeking. NetWaiter will make sure the important parts of your site (i.e. your menu) can be easily viewed from a mobile device. The good news is that your mobile site instantly reflects any changes made to your regular site through your NetWaiter Management Console. 

You want customers to be online, and so do they.

Posted by Tim on February 21, 2014

Your restaurant should want as many customers as possible to order online.  Here are 5 simple reasons why:

•    You capture valuable information.  You can see ordering frequency and ordering habits.  You also get customer contact information such as email addresses and phone numbers.
•    Online orders are larger than phone orders by as much as 45%, although the average is around 20% larger.
•    Reduction in errors.  How many times have you given a credit to a customer because their order was wrong?  Also, you free up employees from all that time on the phone.
•    Customers order more frequently.  Once they experience the ease and convenience of online ordering, they keep coming back.  NetWaiter online ordering takes good customers and makes them better.
•    Customers are happier. Online ordering is quick, it’s convenient, and customers love being able to order from anyplace, at any time, and know their order will always be right.

5 simple reasons why your customers prefer to order online:

•    It’s convenient.  How many people have memorized your telephone number, let alone know your current menu?  With NetWaiter, your customers can view your up-to-date menu and not worry about speaking to anyone.
•    It’s quick.  With just a few clicks on their mobile device or laptop, their order is complete.
•    Their order is accurate.  Order accuracy gives customers the peace of mind that items won’t be missing from their order.
•    They can order from anywhere—as they’re leaving the office or on the soccer field in the final minutes of their kid’s game.  They also won’t feel rushed by an employee on the phone.
•    The ability to use discounts and promotions is much easier online and they can pay in advance.

Upselling Through NetWaiter

Posted by Tim on January 9, 2014

 

Good waiters and waitresses work hard to upsell dine-in customers - to gently suggest they add items to their order, whether it’s a side of sautéed mushrooms with their filet mignon or an order of breadsticks with their pizza.

Does this same upselling occur with phone-in orders?  Probably not.

Why?  The employee taking the order is multi-tasking three other jobs simultaneously and the customer placing the order is more concerned that the employee get it right, rather than add more items.

NetWaiter, however, guarantees each customer ordering online from your restaurant will be properly upsold, netting larger orders and greater profits. This upselling happens in two phases.  The best thing – both are done in an unobtrusive way to generate larger orders, without slowing down the customer’s ordering process.

The first phase allows a customer to select additional options while customizing an item.  This can be done with any item.  If someone is ordering a sandwich, you may need to ask which type of bread they want (along with their topping choices).  You can also upsell the sandwich with additional suggestions, such as adding “Extra Turkey” for $1.50 or a “Bag of Chips” for $1.25.

The second phase tracks which categories a customer has ordered from and prompts them to add items from categories that haven’t been selected.  NetWaiter highlights the three or four most popular items from a suggested category and allows a customer to make a selection after adding any item to their order.  The specific categories are set based on a hierarchy configured by the restaurant. 

As mentioned in a recent blog post, appetizers, desserts, and beverages are the most overlooked items for takeout.  The hierarchy of categories for upselling can be set with this in mind.  You should set appetizers and desserts towards the top of the hierarchy.  Other categories at the top should include those with high profit-margin items and items with price points that make them an easy add-on to any order. 

The next time you update your online menu, make sure the categories in your upselling hierarchy are optimized to maximize online sales.  If needed, a NetWaiter Success Specialist can help you with your configurations.

Removing Social Embarrassment from the Ordering Process

Posted by Tim on December 27, 2013

Social Embarrassment, in connection to a restaurant order, is a term that refers to a customer who holds back and doesn’t order everything they want - the extra toppings on a pizza, for example, or chili fries rather than regular fries - for fear the employee will judge them for their selections (unhealthy or otherwise).  If you remove human interaction from the ordering process, customers will have no shame ordering the high-calorie, and often more expensive, options.

For example, a regional pizza chain that implemented online ordering quickly noticed a shift in the nature of orders coming from customers who previously called in.  Social embarrassment seemed to no longer be a factor.  Customers loaded on additional toppings, spending an average of 61 cents more per order.

Although social embarrassment is surely a factor in human interactions at a restaurant, there is another, and perhaps more significant factor, at work here.  It deals with the social embarrassment of stumbling through a phone order with an employee who is also doing three other jobs.  Add in the background noise of ringing phones, other customers, and the kitchen and the result is a customer who feels pressured to keep their order simple and fast.  It’s not worth the hassle.  They will forego the double cheese and the sun-dried tomatoes on just half of the pizza (those are extra toppings and extra profits).

NetWaiter online ordering, though, takes this out of the equation because customers have full control of their ordering experience, without any pressure.

The other social embarrassment alleviated by online ordering is the pressure on employees who just don’t like to sell.  Most restaurant owners will agree that extra profits are lost because employees don’t always (or properly) upsell customers. NetWaiter, however, does this automatically.

People criticize the ever-increasing trend of taking human interaction out of business transactions.  It turns out, though; there are more benefits (for everyone involved) than downfalls when it comes to online ordering for restaurants.

Changes to Your NetWaiter Site Mean More Convenience

Posted by Tim on October 18, 2013

 

The studies and research all agree.  The biggest attraction for ordering online is customer convenience and control.  Whenever we make changes and upgrades to the NetWaiter system, we always put them through our ‘convenience filter’.  Above and beyond our recent Group Ordering release, other upgrades have been made to improve convenience for customers.  Here’s a recap:

 

Group Ordering

As discussed in our last newsletter, group ordering allows any customer, but particularly people like administrative assistants, pharmaceutical reps, or anyone organizing a group lunch/dinner, to conveniently place orders for everyone involved.

To start, an organizer invites friends or co-workers via email.  Your NetWaiter site allows the organizer to select invitees and include an optional message.  Each person accepts or declines the invitation.  If they join the group, they are directed to your menu to select their items.  When completed, their selections are sent to the organizer, who submits the Group Order, with the desired pickup/delivery time.  Each item of a Group Order is identified with the person’s name that ordered it.  If possible, your restaurant should write the name of the corresponding person on each item before packaging up the entire order.

 

Other Front-End Changes

Editing Orders – Customers will discover they now have a faster and easier way to edit and delete order information, if needed.

Site Appearance – We’ve tweaked a couple of visual elements (fonts, etc.) to improve consistency throughout the ordering process.

Site Layout – We’ve increased customer usability of the NetWaiter website.  Additions include a ‘breadcrumb’ to help with navigation, easier access to Log In/Off, and a link to view the status of a pending Group Order.

 

Management Console Changes 

Email Marketing and Social Widget Upgrades – You now have more options for editing content of email messages and those on your social widget.

Promotions Upgrade – When offering promotions that include specific items, NetWaiter will automatically add those items to an order when the customer enters the Promo code.

 

 

 

Attention Restaurant Marketing Budgets: Online Ordering Is A No-Brainer

Posted by Tim on September 30, 2013

One of the things we like to do at NetWaiter is provide restaurants as much information as possible about the benefits of adding online ordering to your business plan.  A version of the following article recently appeared in Restaurant Hospitality Magazine.

A 30% boost in your takeout business within a matter of weeks.  What restaurant owner would not want that?

Those are the kinds of success stories we hear over and over from restaurateurs who have made online ordering part of their marketing plan.

Every day, restaurant owners are confronted with the costs of doing business.  The fixed expenses and staples are no brainers – rent, utilities, payroll for a great staff, the cost of quality food, etc.  The more difficult expenditures are discretionary ones like marketing. Where can a restaurant spend to get the best ROI?  Owners are bombarded with choices daily.

When asked, many successful restaurant owners have a similar response: “Online ordering has been one of our most profitable investments.  NetWaiter should be at the top of every restaurant’s to-do list if they don’t already have it.”

Companies such as NetWaiter offer a fully branded online ordering service through a restaurant’s website (a NetWaiter site can be customized with the look and brand the restaurant).  Customers order in seconds from an online menu.  They can make special requests, indicate future delivery or pickup times, and even make payments (NetWaiter electronically deposits the money to the restaurant immediately).  Custom delivery zones can be set by the restaurant (if they offer delivery), or customers can come in and pick up their order.  

The benefit to customers is convenience. They can order from anywhere (desktop, iPad, Smartphone, etc.). Imagine a mother getting off work. While still in the parking lot, she can order dinner from a restaurant and pick it up on her way home.  There is also the control given to the customer. Since they placed the order, there is less chance of error.  Customers who use online ordering typically use it again and again, quickly becoming regular customers.

Customized online ordering is a game changer for restaurants.  Using a restaurant portal that promotes online ordering for a variety of restaurants is very expensive (10-20%+).  Online ordering via a custom ordering site, such as NetWaiter, creates more business and is significantly more cost effective.  In addition, restaurants get a great tool that builds loyalty and extends and strengthens their brand.  Some NetWaiter clients even have ROIs in excess of 7,800% (the average is closer to 2,000%).

Where can a restaurant get a better ROI with their marketing dollar than online ordering?  There are many marketing options available, but none can come close to the ROI of a custom online ordering site.

When they first came out, daily deals like Groupon swept across the industry.  Smart restaurateurs, however, realized them for what they were—a trap.  An article in The New York Times more than two years ago addressed the pitfalls of these services:  "The consumers were being told: You will never pay full price again.  The merchants were hearing: You are going to get new customers who will stick around and pay full price.  Disappointment was inevitable."

Years ago, a newspaper advertisement might have been a restaurant’s ‘go-to’ way to bring in business.  Readership has dropped significantly, though, and even when newspapers were widely read, buying an ad didn’t provide a very good ROI.  It’s very hard to measure the success of such an advertisement unless you offer a redeemable discount.  Those discounts, however, significantly impact the ROI of the advertisement. 

Even more modern and effective marketing and advertising opportunities, such as email, loyalty programs, text marketing, social media marketing, etc. (which are all certainly worthwhile to deploy) would have a hard time beating the ROI of online ordering.

According to a study and paper done by The School for Hospitality Leadership at Cornell University, one of the things that draws customers to online ordering is convenience.  Once they experience it, they use it again and again.  Plus, because NetWaiter is integrated with Facebook, it allows people to share their ordering experience with their friends.  The more people ordering online, the more people learn about the restaurant’s online ordering site.

 

The Bottom Line – Why would you not offer online ordering?  There is no replacement for a well-run online ordering system such as NetWaiter, which gives customers the control and convenience of ordering takeout and delivery online.  Other marketing opportunities can’t come close to the ROI an online ordering site can produce.  Just as our clients say – online ordering should be at the top of the list for every restaurant.

Large Group Orders on the Horizon

Posted by Jared on September 20, 2013

Launching later this month, NetWaiter's new Group Ordering feature will allow offices and other groups to order more easily.

When someone visits your NetWaiter online ordering site, they will have the opportunity to organize a Group Order.  To start a Group Order, the organizer simply invites friends or co-workers to join their group.  NetWaiter provides the ability to easily enter the email addresses of invitees, along with the option to include a message.  Each person receiving the email can accept or decline the invitation.  If they join the group, they are immediately guided to the restaurant’s menu to select their items.  When done, their items are submitted back to the organizer.  Once all orders have been collected, the host can submit the Group Order, along with payment and their desired pickup/delivery time.

The organizer can view their Group Order and the progress of each invitee.  The Group Order status shows the organizer who has accepted/declined the invitation, who is browsing the menu, and the order information from the people that have completed their order.

The group ordering function includes several convenient features for organizers, including the ability to save invitees.  The next time an organizer places a Group Order, they can automatically select people to include that they previously invited.  The host can also delete names as needed.  In addition, if someone was left out of a Group Order that should have been included, the organizer can invite them, even if the order is in progress.

Online group ordering is a major benefit for both customers and restaurants.  For instance, if an office is having a staff meeting during lunch, it’s easy for employees to initiate a Group Order at a local restaurant.  This saves the hassle of everyone ordering individually.  From the restaurant’s perspective, the orders are larger and more organized for easy preparation.

Group Orders mean more convenience, and for restaurants, more convenience means more business.

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