Customer Service
Getting the digital experience right
Today, the digital-ordering channel is no longer just a way for a customer to place orders. It’s part of the ongoing conversation between brand and guest.
July 31, 2024 by Kristin Lynch — Sr. Director of Strategy & Analytics, Paytronix
Mobile apps are the best way to facilitate digital ordering, whether the guest picks up the order themselves or has it delivered to their home. But mobile apps are also evolving to include loyalty, guest feedback, and online ordering all in one place.
In fact, overall guest satisfaction goes up as a brand engages with its guests more digitally. Guests using a first-party app spend more, tip better, and return more often, according to the 2023 Paytronix Online Ordering Report. Apps also are a positive influence on a brand's Google and Yelp ratings.
Digital touches are important — whether they are on the front end, putting relevant offers in front of guests, or in the back end where the restaurant team can construct strategic offers. Overall, a great digital channel experience tends to result in happier guests who return more often.
Work with a ready-made mobile platform
Unless a brand has the money and IT staff to develop and maintain a bespoke mobile app, it makes more sense to use a white label app that can be customized with the brand's own look.
And yet, all mobile platforms are not created equal. It's important to shop for a platform that offers a comprehensive mobile experience where data is shared across key functions like online ordering, and loyalty. The app should include SMS capabilities to connect with guests via messaging on a one-to-one basis. After all, it's the truly personalized mobile experience that will drive a significant shift in spend for digital vs phone orders.
Additionally, a great mobile platform should be able to identify individual mobile subscribers by the store they visit most frequently. This enables the brand to showcase highlighted menu items, differentiate those menu items from store to store, and then showcase specific offers to guests most likely to visit that specific store.
Single sign-on
The importance of on demand access cannot be understated. A progressive mobile platform will make it easy for guests to download a brand's app and enroll in their loyalty program at the same time. Single sign-on streamlines the ordering and rewards processes and eliminates time consuming barriers that could alter the guest journey.
Too many passwords can frustrate guests, preventing them from redeeming or accumulating the loyalty points they earned, and impact the data gained from that purchase. With each guest touch point going through one single sign-on, brands can leverage that data to learn who the guest is and what the decision drivers were for them to come to the restaurant and how they interact with the brand.
Guest feedback
One of the most important features of a premium mobile app is the ability to monitor and respond to guest feedback. Putting that direct and immediate feedback loop on the app gives guests a conduit for their feedback that goes directly back to each store operator. A rapid response to negative feedback goes a long way toward keeping those unhappy guests from Google and Yelp where they are likely to post public negative reviews.
Although they hurt to receive in the moment, each poor review is actually an invitation to improve the overall brand experience. A brand can salvage the relationship by offering a discount towards the next visit. This often ensures that the guest returns, ideally to find the negative aspects of their experience have been resolved.
As overall ratings increase, customer satisfaction increases, and so do orders. According to the 2023 Paytronix Online Ordering Report, brands saw a profound shift in guest behavior when reviews received a response, even when the response was generated by artificial intelligence. When guests hear back, even those who leave negative feedback order 23% more and leave 22% higher ratings on return visits.
Personalized messaging
Communicating on a one-to-one basis means personalizing both the messaging and the imagery each guest sees. It's about segmenting customers and putting relevant offers in front of people at the right time. It means knowing what day of week guests like to come in and then phasing campaigns into the marketplace based on the propensity for people to want to go to eat on a particular day.
The inverse is having the flexibility to push people to visit. For instance, tactically targeting a guest who visits every other week to get them to come in on their off week. A good offer can convert these guests into weekly visitors.
Then there are localized offers specific to each store. This could be a fundraiser for a local philanthropic organization or a school event. It could even be a more tactical offer, such as letting people know that being a Taylor Swift fan is appreciated with an offer each time Taylor comes through. Messaging should be as modern and as relevant as possible to show guests that a brand is interested and respectful of them.
Ease of use
A mobile app makes it easy for guests to show restaurant staff what offers they have. It's also easier for staff to troubleshoot problems, such as logging into a wrong phone number, or how to take advantage of offers no matter how they are ordering.
A mobile app should also have self-service design components that make it easier for marketing folks to publish content and limited time offers in real time. It also should leverage advance segmentation to facilitate the creation of hyper-personalized messages and promotions as well as access to geofencing tools for the delivery of store-specific promotions and messages.
Centralized features
Having real estate on a guest's phone is invaluable so it's best to make the most of it. A great mobile app should consolidate every aspect – from online ordering, to loyalty and even gift cards – in one easy-to-access place. This also makes it easier to track every aspect of guest engagement so that a brand can leverage that data to test and learn aggressively. This can be a huge asset in terms of gaining insight into what's working and what's not.
Great analytics enable a brand to look at everything from empirical data footprints to transaction details. Survey tools let a brand query guests for subjective feedback, such as what they like about a specific menu item, all in real time. Consequently, the brand can plan its next moves.
Today, the digital-ordering channel is no longer just a way for a customer to place orders. It's part of the ongoing conversation between brand and guest. This is a key reason why brands must have their own first-party mobile app. Brands also are discovering that their most valuable digital customers are their most loyal, meaning that the entire guest engagement ecosystem needs to be in sync to achieve the greatest value.
About Kristin Lynch
Kristin Lynch is Senior Director of Restaurant Strategy for Paytronix Systems (www.Paytronix.com), the leader in guest engagement for restaurants and convenience stores. She has more than 20 years’ experience managing large CPG and retail brands in marketing and brand strategy. Kristin was previously Vice President with Round Table Pizza and Director of Marketing for well-known brands such as Thorntons, Pyrex, and Craftsman Tools.
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