Article contributed by David “Rev” Ciancio
Your Guests are Going To Love This!
Consumers, your guests, and even you – we are all online, all day long. Reviews.org reports that the average American picks up their mobile phone 262 times a day! According to research from RescueTime (an app created to monitor mobile phone use) people on average spend 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phone EVERY DAY with power uses spending around 4 and a half hours.
EVERYONE is on their mobile phone ALL THE TIME. Amazon, Uber, Target, Starbucks, Lyft, GrubHub, Walmart — these apps are so popular that they are on nearly everyone’s phones. And that’s creating a problem for your restaurant brand. Why? These apps from multi-million and billion dollar companies are setting expectations for how people believe ecommerce platforms should operate. They are literally setting the expectations for your restaurant.
Whether you are an independent operator, a growing multi-unit or international enterprise brand, ease of use needs to be a priority for your online ordering user experience. Did you know that you can add a Tesla to your cart in just 2 taps of a button!!??! Try it. That’s a purchase totalling well over 6 figures … and you can easily buy one in a couple of taps with just your thumb.
These gigantic retailers and brands spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, and have massive teams of developers who are working on the performance of their apps every single day. Whether you want to admit it or not, the ease of use of these apps are creating consumer expectations.
All of us, you included, want to be able to transact online in a quick, easy and efficient way. As a business owner, you should want this as well, because ease of use results in more sales.
And because the cost of acquisition, the effort to attract new guests, is so hard and so expensive, it’s imperative that we drive higher lifetime value through repeat purchases. You got ‘em, now you gotta get ‘em coming back for more!
But that creates a huge hurdle. Because we want this for our restaurant, that’s where the pain points set in. We want to be like these slick brands so we start thinking:
- I don’t have a team of developers like these brands
- I dont have the manpower or hours to do all of the work
- I don’t have a huge budget like these big brands
How can you build a tech stack for digital ordering that is frictionless, similar to ride share apps and large retailers? How do you make sure it’s not a one and done trial meal? How do you get them to dine again and again?
It’s a question even the biggest of chains are working on, constantly.
There’s good news. You don’t need a huge budget. You don’t need a massive team of developers. You just need a couple of tools that already exist and about $300 a month.
You read that right. Having a frictionless digital ordering experience is easy, affordable and does not require having an app that you need to beg your guests to download.
I’ve implemented this exact system at our restaurant, Handcraft Burgers & Brew, a quick service smash Burger joint in NYC. It was easy to set up, it works seamlessly, it was inexpensive and it has us delivering an experience to our guests that’s inline with the expectations they’ve built from using those apps from the retail giants?
Want to learn what it is and how it works? I teamed up with Bbot (a flexible platform that makes it easy for guests & servers alike to start a tab, add to it, and close out any time in a beautiful, custom-branded digital menu with no app download required) and Ovation (the guest feedback solution will help you do the digital table touch, get guest feedback, build your database and help you generate more 5-star reviews) to show you exactly how you can do it too and which tools you need to execute.
Watch this video below where you will discover how to provide a personalized and frictionless digital customer experience, similar to ride share apps and large retailers. Your guests will love it, and you’ll love how easy it is to implement!
Take a moment to digest and then reach out to me with any questions at rev@restaurantsgrow.com. Send me a message on LinkedIn or Instagram and let me know. I’d like to hear and if I share it, I’ll give you credit! Make it a great tasty day!
David “Rev” Ciancio is a former New York City bar owner and knows exactly how hard it is to operate and brand a hospitality business.
He is now a hospitality marketing consultant, customer and technology evangelist with more than 20 years experience in B2B digital marketing and business development, specializing in hospitality marketing, content, local SEO, reputation management and influencer marketing. He helps technology companies, brands and restaurants to acquire and retain customers. Rev is known as an “expert burger taster,” pens hospitality and marketing tips on his Instagram @revciancio, as well as his LinkedIn Profile. He believes that Pizza is a religion. Learn more at https://bit.ly/followersorders
