Engaging with customers and thus retaining them is a number one priority in the restaurant business.
And as the restaurant industry is extremely competitive (and is getting more so), there are now dozens of factors influencing customers’ restaurant choices. Now, it’s not only about the quality of your food. It’s about the high-quality service, winning marketing strategy, affordable prices, etc.
Restaurants go great lengths to increase customer loyalty and create a positive dining experience.
Now, a solid customer engagement strategy plays an essential role in building a sustainable loyal customer base.
In this blog post, we will share 5 Tips on How to Increase Customer Engagement in your restaurant:
- Use Social Media Consistently.
Social media is proven to be one of the most effective tools when it comes to enhancing customer engagement. There are many ways to promote your restaurant on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok:
- Make customers crave your dishes by providing them with appetizing photos and videos. Add hashtags to the content to make it discoverable by more users;
- Post valuable and informative content like cooking videos, infographics, and articles containing keywords to encourage customers to share it on their social media accounts;
- Utilize word-of-mouth promotion by running competitions, giveaways, and hashtag campaigns;
- Don’t forget to add the links to your website and ordering system to increase traffic.
- Shorten the Customers’ Path-to-Purchase. Today, offering delivery services is a necessity for any restaurant. People are seeking convenience: they want this process to be as quick and easy as possible. Having an online ordering system provides you with an opportunity to make the ordering experience as pleasant as possible by offering a safe and fast payment procedure.
- Promote Through Emails. The power of email marketing cannot be underestimated. You can use emails to keep customers updated with new menu items, send them discount codes, invite them to events organized in your restaurant, and send them holiday messages. Remember to make them personalized and use call-to-action email subject headers to make your letters more capturing.
- Encourage Customer Feedback. In most cases, people rely on online reviews when choosing a dining place, so clients’ reviews are crucial for your promotion.
- It’s vital to develop a strategy that will help you receive more reviews:
- Train your waiters to ask for reviews;
- Offer free drinks or appetizers for a review;
- Create e-surveys and polls on Instagram and Twitter.
- Responding to reviews is another essential aspect of customer engagement. Make sure you respond politely to both positive and negative comments! Remember that your potential clients can see all the comments, so show them how well you can cope with criticism and improve flaws in your services.
- Invest in a Website and an Online Ordering System.
A convenient user-friendly website is a pillar of your customer engagement strategy. There, you have absolute freedom to advertise your menu, offer bright pictures of your dishes, provide testimonials, etc.
Another benefit that can be brought to you by your website is that you increase your brand’s visibility and discoverability. Besides, it helps you enhance brand recognition.
The food delivery sector is booming thanks to technologies.
Moreover, with most of the people who prefer to order online, it keeps on increasing and shows considerable potential globally.
That’s why if you are in the restaurant industry, it’s imperative to adopt new technologies that will help you to rank among the competitors.
Currently, many restaurants are using independent food delivery apps that help them to expand market share and increase sales volume.
Not only does it help them to offer a valuable new service to their customers, but also they harness the benefits of modern e-commerce.
Unfortunately, there are lots of highly competitive food delivery services that are ready to deliver food.
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