Updated: Jun 21, 2020
What have you done to drive more traffic to your online ordering system?
The online ordering system is a simple and convenient way for customers to buy food online, without having to go physically to the restaurant.
These items will then be delivered right to their doorsteps or be ready for pick-up (whichever they prefer) at the time they click on the purchase button on the website.
However, some people are not used to place an order using the online platform. They would even prefer waiting in line for too long, rather than doing it for a few minutes through the website.
It is very difficult to change people's behavior, it takes many years to do that.
But of course, there are always ways to encourage these people to get rid of the traditional practice and transition to the new trend which is a lot more convenient, easier, and faster.
More than 20% of our restaurant sales are from online ordering, and we actively continue to grow this rate.
There are ultimately 3 benefits of having an online ordering system and that's why you must work hard to take advantage of this very useful tool of ordering food:
1. It reduces mistakes.
The more people you have involved, the more risk of having errors. The server has to take the food order, the server gives the order to the kitchen, etc.
When customers place the order on their own, if they do make a mistake, there's no one to be blamed for but themselves because they are the ones who input the information on the website. It reduces the slips from our end.
2. It is used for checking the average ticket.
The average ticket for online orders is higher than phone orders or carry-out orders because when they order via phone, they already knew what exactly they want to order.
On the other hand, online order is like a virtual shopping.
When they browse through the website, they tend to order more items.
Looking at the variety of food images on your page makes them crave and order for more, thus increasing the average ticket.
3. It can be used for capturing customer's information.
When customers order online, we get their house address, phone numbers, and email addresses. We can use this contact information to continue to market them.
The restaurant industry is a lot like farming. One seed is not going to make you a successful farmer. It's more about planting more seeds daily.
Do all things diligently every day, and in due time, you will enjoy a good harvest.
Here are 8 ways to increase restaurant online orders:
1. Bottom of the receipt - on the bottom of our receipts, we put, "Ditch the line, order online at www.mattengas.com."
2. Social media posts - in every post that we show, there's always this one line that says, "Online order available at www.mattengas.com."
It will be a lot easier for the customer to order. As in by just one click on the link that we provided on the caption, they will automatically be routed to our website.
3. It should be prominent on the website - the line "MAKE YOUR ONLINE ORDER NOW" must be prominent or highlighted on the top page of your website for easy access.
4. Email marketing - we send weekly emails to an estimated 6,000-7,000 people.
It is part of our rewards program that our customers would allow us to market to them via email.
Our email campaigns always have at the bottom of it a red circle that says "ORDER ONLINE NOW." This creates an awareness that we do offer online ordering.
5. Printed materials - anything printed that we have such as printed menus, coupons, flyers, posters, etc, we always have the message, "Our online ordering is available at www.mattengas.com."
6. Business cards - we have business cards that encourage customers to use our online ordering platform.
We also have a section in our business cards that has a message "Text the word ______ to the phone number_______ to receive a complimentary order of ______."