The role of restaurant websites has been steadily increasing as the number of smartphone users grows by the minute. Consumers have developed an acute preference for purchasing almost everything from their mobile devices, including their food.
Statistica estimates that there will be 7.41 billion mobile users in 2024 out of the forecasted 8.11 billion population of the world. This sentence alone should give you a snapshot of the importance of restaurant websites.
Many businesses, including restaurants, can be seen jumping onto the website bandwagon to capitalize on the inevitable increase in smartphone users. For businesses, online ordering systems have widened their customer markets and granted them access to new demographics.
Despite the ever-increasing number of smartphone users and automated success, the success of restaurant websites also lies in the brilliant execution of marketing strategies behind each website. These strategies are carefully designed to maximize a restaurant’s customer engagement and to increase ROI.
If you’re wondering how you can utilize these marketing strategies for your online ordering system or restaurant websites, you’ve stumbled onto the perfect post. We’re about to introduce you to a few marketing lessons that small businesses can learn from restaurants websites:
Designing Engaging and Stand-Out Content For Audiences
To remain competitive in the industry, small businesses need to stand out. This will especially be the case in crowded markets such as the restaurant industry. Restaurant websites result in thriving businesses since they create engaging content, are constantly innovating, and are successful in establishing a brand identity that foodies prefer to engage with.
Developing interesting and fresh content for small businesses is vital since it helps to create brand awareness and brand loyalty. You see, an engaged customer tends to resonate more with a brand that has an online ordering system as compared to otherwise,
causing the restaurant to become a more profitable business. Using tools such as Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and other video marketing platforms alongside restaurant websites tends to amplify the same effect. The only thing you need to do is make sure that your content is attention-grabbing, relevant, and vibrant.
Embrace Data to Improve Business Strategies
Due to technological advancements such as geolocation tracking, beacon technology, and guest WiFi, you will have access to monumental amounts of data so you can improve the performance of your business.
Utilizing beacon technology in real-time grants businesses access to very accurate data about the time customers spend in your online store or whether they logged in via WiFi. Naturally, this data can be used to create lasting engagement for your restaurant.
In addition, delivery employees are almost usually connected to the mobile platform of restaurant websites. This is why they help to provide constant analysis about the most effective routes for deliveries or the time it would take to deliver orders. This data can, therefore, be used to constantly streamline and improve customer service.
Always Ask Your Customers For Reviews to Boost Social Proof
Most restaurants, especially small scale businesses, know just how crucial customer reviews can be. Therefore, most of them even put them at the front and center of their marketing efforts. Review can be important for many reasons. For example, the social proof provided via reviews can help drive sales and brand awareness for independent restaurants. Simply put, customers are always looking to try what others are ordering and enjoying.
Another important factor is feedback, since asking for feedback gives customers a sense of trust and towards the businesses. All small businesses need to start asking for reviews whether they are a small restaurant or a food retailer. Ask for reviews at the POS or send push SMS or automated messages to request feedback.
Offer Targeted Offers Based on Collected Data
One business maneuver that is guaranteed to ensure customer loyalty is offerring your customers relevant and targeted discounts and offers. Restaurant websites regularly notify customers of discounts and promotions, therefore, encouraging sales and convincing undecided users.
For most small restaurants, collecting and using customer’s behavioral data from numerous interactions allows them to segment customers effectively and easily giving them the tools to send targeted offers that are always relevant to the customers.
By personalizing these offers for each individual or set of consumers, businesses can increase sales and engagement. They can also amplify this strategy with the help of direct mail, SMS, or email marketing.
Use Geo-Location to Encourage Sales
Many restaurant websites make use of location tracking to target audiences based on their location for restaurants. Many small businesses can benefit from this strategy with the help of WiFi data and beacon technology. Knowing people’s locations, the restaurants will be able to target customers with specific promotions and offers.
For instance, some restaurants will have the ability to send customers closer to the restaurant special offers for lunch, or perhaps, food retailers may be able to promote specific goods that are close by.
Restaurants with online ordering systems can use all of these techniques while also defining their promotions based on their customers’ locations. In doing so, they will be able to add a lot of value to their customer base, while allowing them to save time and marketing resources.
Use Consistent Marketing Strategies
For a large number of small businesses, consistent marketing strategies with consistently distinctive branding is vital. Restaurant websites, when launched in this manner, are quite impossible to miss, especially if marketed with posters, flyers, and social media ads.
With respect to visual branding, delivery personnel and vehicles should also be consistent with the brand so as to tie everything in with a clear visual campaign. Every small business and brand should learn from this to ensure that their brand’s visibility is always on-point. Doing so helps build brand awareness while also helping to create interactive content and an engaging story.
Make Your Customers’ Life A lot Easier
The reason why so many restaurant websites have suddenly become popular among customers is they’ve made it easy for their audience to buy their favorite meals with just a few taps on their mobile devices. This is a very important lesson for every small business and independent restaurant.
It helps make every step of the buying process easy for customers, which includes everything from reading your menu and learning about your promotions to placing orders and providing feedback to customer representatives.
Making the customers’ buying process easier involved removing barriers in the POS, creating an easy to use online ordering system and a website that is easy to navigate. By implementing all of the above, your restaurant will encourage more sales and therefore, encourage positive brand positioning.
Final Thoughts
Did you know that 70% of all restaurant-goers prefer ordering from a mobile website or the restaurants’ own website? This number increased tenfold during the pandemic and is expected to keep increasing post-pandemic. There’s no doubt about the fact that restaurant websites are a huge success, both - for marketing and for sales purposes.
Restaurant goers love using and interacting with restaurant websites because of the convenience they offer. Many independent restaurants are now eagerly making the switch to online ordering systems while also making their websites mobile-friendly.
If you are a restaurant manager or owner and are wondering, “How to set up online ordering for my restaurant?”, all you need is a feature-rich CRM for restaurants and an online ordering system in one. Both of these systems will offer all the benefits you need to satisfy your customer base while also expanding your restaurant to a whole new level.
Go ahead and use all of the lessons we have mentioned in this post and start encouraging your customers for reviews, create engaging content and consistent marketing campaigns for brand awareness. Within no time, you will see an increase in lead generation, customer retention, and finally, a surge in your bottom line.
A Holistic Restaurant Website That Benefits Both Customers and Restaurateurs
“Customer experience isn’t an expense. Managing customer experience bolsters your brand.” – Stan Phelps
Customer loyalty makes a huge difference and loyal customers are bound to spread positive words about your brand. MenuCRM offers a full-featured website that simplifies customer loyalty programs for small business and independent restaurant owners.
MenuCRM can be your restaurant’s website, online ordering system, CRM, restaurant loyalty program, and customer communications toll, all packed into one. By adopting MenuCRM, you will not only be able to increase your foot traffic and orders in less than 45-days, but also streamline meal purchase processes without the need of internal restaurant maintenance.
So what’re you waiting for? Take the leap and do what is best for your restaurant business.
