While dealing with bottleneck competition in the Hospitality Industry, you have to maintain an equilibrium between staying sane and reducing the churn. It is essential to look for dynamic methods to engage more customers in your business and retain the existing ones. For that, you first have to implement an agile Restaurant Management System to support it.
Being a restaurant/ food chain owner, you may as well relate to the frequent challenges popping up such as:
- Changes in marketing trends and dynamics.
- Changes in customer’s experience.
- Losing loyal customers.
- Growth of your restaurants and increasing competition.
Our team of experts carried out thorough research, encompassed common issues, and accumulated top five strategies to retain existing customers and draw new ones.
- Widen-up custom experience
- Introduce quick and convenient payment methods
- Deliver a wealth of information
- Allow order customization
- Smoothen-up their journey
#1 Widen-Up the Customer Experience
It is a good idea to engage your customers before, during, and after their dining experience, as it ultimately draws more customers to your business. In this digital era, where everyone wants a quick and smooth experience while dining, make sure they can get in touch with you via applications, mobile devices, social media, and the internet. Get a Restaurant Management System to accumulate every function on the same platform.
Some studies have shown that 70% of customers are most likely to hop back to quick service, casual restaurants, and fast casuals if they have an app that gratifies them with acknowledgment, or in other words, makes them feel “known.”
It is a magnificent opportunity to develop a robust, personalized bond, driving customers back to your business. The essence is, get in touch with the customers via their preferred channels. It can be as simple as asking them to share their favorite photos on social media or suggest new menu ideas. Also, you can offer them customized offers, promotional rewards, hold surveys to understand their taste, and implement the most demanded recipe. If you have a Restaurant Management System like LS Central, you can easily get these features at your fingertips.
#2 Introduce Quick and Convenient Payment Methods
Nothing is better than introducing a quick and convenient payment method to customers as a churn reduction method. Remove all obstructions and ensure a smooth path to your restaurant. Using Point of Sale Systems is recommended due to its flexible capacities. LS Retail ERP is an Online Food Ordering Software which helps you manage all your online ordering platforms in one place.
Even if you serve excellent food, your diners/ customers might note your service inefficiency. It can even drive them to shift their preference to your competition. Hence, ensure seamless services and avoid any vacuum formation between you and your customers.
Research by Deloitte revealed that there is an increase in customer visits of 6% and a rise in spending of 20% when customers have the flexibility to place orders and pay quickly using technology.
#3 Deliver a Wealth of Information
Diners appreciate honesty and transparency, sharing values is a great deal to them. It is one of the easiest mediums to convey that you are on the same page as them. Sharing details of your food quality, healthy eating, and sustainability ensure your restaurant will be their first preference. Thanks to the available Restaurant Management System – from websites or applications on their mobile phones to the POS System (Point of Sale) in your restaurant, data sharing has never been easier.
Customers can tap into your restaurant food detail in the blink of an eye and finalize if they want to give your restaurant a try. If you use a Restaurant Management System, all you have to do is input the data in the back-office and the system will distribute it to all the touchpoints (including loyalty apps, POS, and website). So, embrace this moment, and inform your customers
How you source your ingredients?
How you treat your staff?
How your services are sustainable and eco-friendly?
Nutritional values of dishes.
#4 Allow Order Customization
While serving customers you have to make sure you offer what they want, not what you want to offer. If you want more customers to engage with your business, allow order customization. Enable enough flexibility to make changes in their order and get it delivered as per their unique taste.
Flexibility is directly proportional to scalability. A Restaurant Management System like LS Retail Software Solution can give you the flexibility you need. It has been researched that 85% of customers tend to check out the menu before finalizing a restaurant to visit. Since it is one of the top demands to be seen among customers, offering food customization facilities enhances the chances of your selection. Sanctioning food customization to their unique taste is an effective way to add value to their dining experience. Use a Restaurant Management System like LS Retail Software Solution
The success of your business relies on effective engagement between you and your customers. Also, front office coordination is something you need to focus on here. Make sure the orders are transmitted properly from the front to the back office. In this case, technology like LS Retail POS can help. It guarantees correct order transmission from the table to the accurate kitchen counter, eliminating the risk of the kitchen staff misreading the waiter’s handwritten orders.
#5 Smoothen-Up Their Journey
Your customer’s journey to your restaurant is much more than crossing the threshold. It starts right from the moment they browse through the menu via your website, mobile application, or any other medium. It is significant to integrate all the processes to assure seamless services. Think of the mediums you can use to connect with the customers and the kitchen.
How can your staff get the information they need to deliver personalized information and recommendations? How can you change your restaurant’s layout to suit your customers better and reduce waiting times? To top it off, ensure all the elements coordinate well with one another. To achieve the ultimate agility, you need a Restaurant Management System.
Technology these days offers robust features to add uniqueness to your business. From connecting with diners to offering customized, seamless, and more comfortable services to integrate the front office and the front office. For the implementation of LS Retail Restaurant Management System, or a demonstration, Contact Trident Information Systems; Microsoft Dynamics 365 Gold Implementation Partner and LS Central Diamond Partner.
