For a hospitality business, online ordering is no longer an optional addition; it’s become a necessary aspect of the operation and a major source of revenue.
Events in the past year, such as lockdowns that halted dine-in business for extended periods, have accelerated the shift to digital ordering. As restaurants and takeaway businesses engage in expanding their online ordering capabilities, this trend is expected to accelerate in 2021.
Having your own branded website and app, where clients can place orders for click and collect or delivery, provides you with a firm foundation and the tools you need to flourish online. Obviously, your next major goal is to increase your internet sales over time. The answer to this is to improve your digital presence and consumer experience.
So, let’s take a look at 10 tried-and-trusted ways to boost your business’s online orders.
- Make your menu more appealing
Your online menu should immediately impress and appeal to your customer. As a result, we always advise fine-tuning and optimising your menu to highlight appealing meal deals and best-selling items. Also, if possible, include high-quality photographs of items to your menu to make it more aesthetically appealing.
It’s also worth keeping an eye out for new cuisine trends. Based on current and upcoming trends, you might want to consider changing your menu to make it more appealing to clients, perhaps by adding a new dish or two.
- Make special deals for your customers to encourage them to order directly
Customers are always looking for a good deal, and this is something that will never change. So, luring them in with special incentives is always a good idea. You want to encourage them to place orders directly through your website or app for delivery or pick-up, rather than through third-party aggregators, where you lose a significant portion of the order value due to their excessive commissions.
Giving your consumers deals that are exclusive to those channels is a simple but highly effective method to advertise your delivery and click & collect services – both on your website and app.
- Take your online services offline to promote them
You should promote your online ordering platform at every opportunity, and one such chance is in-person connection with dine-in consumers. Staff can regularly inform dine-in customers about the ordering alternatives available on your website and app, so that they can click and collect the next time they visit.
Similarly, you can utilise outdoor signage and internal posters to promote your online ordering services on your property. Make the most of your physical location as a marketing asset and opportunity. Any signs you put up should clearly reflect the website address/URL and other important information. To promote current digital ordering methods, this leverages fairly old marketing tactics.
- Provide quick responses
At every level of the process, the functioning of online ordering must be efficient. You don’t want to have any bad encounters with packing or food delivery. As a result, your packaging must give quality, a professional appearance, and temperature control. Packaging should also be unique, promoting your business in a favourable light.
It also aids in keeping your consumers informed about the projected food delivery or collection time, reducing customer irritation and uncertainty. Customers like to know how long they’ll have to wait, and knowing that is an important element of giving an outstanding customer experience which encourages repeat orders.
- Make it easy for clients to download your app
It’s one thing to create a fantastic app, but it’s another to get people to download it. This may seem self-evident, but you must consistently promote and encourage downloads of your software. This gives your company prominent real estate on the customer’s phone, putting you at the front of their thoughts when it is time to place an order.
As a result, app downloads are a significant contributor to long-term consumer loyalty. Promoting your app across all accessible media should be a crucial aspect of your marketing strategy.
- Connect all of your social media accounts to your online menu
Your target consumer is likely to use social media in their spare time on a daily basis, giving you another opportunity to promote your online ordering.
By posting a link to your online menu on your social media channels, you can bridge the gap between your website and social media. This creates a seamless user experience by allowing clients to go straight from browsing on Facebook or Instagram to placing orders with you online.
- Use digital advertising to your advantage
Google Ads and social network advertising, for example, are sophisticated internet marketing platforms that may successfully target your clients at the appropriate time and in the right place. It frequently provides excellent value for money as well as a significant return on investment in the form of higher sales. Google Ads, for example, uses location targeting to ensure that potential clients in your area quickly locate your business through the search engine.
- Use Google My Business to improve your web presence
Customers can easily locate you and connect with you if you have a GMB account. Because it’s designed to help promote local companies, this free Google service is a terrific approach to improve your internet visibility.
It allows restaurant and takeaway operators to choose how their businesses appear across Google platforms and stand out. Given current consumer behaviours, with massive quantities of local searches conducted through smartphones every day, this is a critical area to focus on.
Being included on Google My Business means you’ll show up in Google Maps and Local Pack listings, which display local businesses relevant to a search query. That means you’ll have a lot of visibility for individuals searching in your area, and you’ll be able to give them the most important information at a glance, such as your location, phone number, and a link to your website. As a result, it aids in attracting more people to your website, resulting in more orders.
The Google Maps interface’s convenient ‘Takeaway’ and ‘Delivery’ icons also allow users to travel straight to food companies that provide those services with just one click.
- Use consumer feedback forms to collect data
Gathering customer contact information has become difficult for organisations as a result of strict data privacy legislation enacted in recent years. You must be cautious in order to follow the guidelines. Customer feedback forms, both in-store and online, are one innovative answer to this problem.
Not only do you obtain free objective feedback, but you can also ask for permission to collect customers’ contact information. This could be quite useful in future marketing and promotional efforts.
- Make it easy for regular clients to reorder
In today’s society, online ordering must be quick and easy. Providing a great user experience and streamlining the process benefits both your consumer and you.
For example, you may create a ‘Favourites’ part of your menu based on a customer’s previous ordering habits. This means users can quickly reorder their favourite things with only a few touches. It’s a convenient shortcut that allows customers to acquire what they want quickly, resulting in more orders.
