They will shortly pay for themselves. Yes, the initial outlay for the boards themselves and the associated software will not be inexpensive, but the investment will quickly pay for itself. That’s because survey after survey reveals that revenues at the drive-thru lane will typically increase by from six to eight percent, once the signs are employed to their full potential.
Faster throughput. With digital signage, you can change your message with a click of the keyboard, and that means you can present a smaller, more focused message to your customers, based on the time of day, the day of the week, and even on the weather. With less verbiage to wade through, your customers can make their decisions faster, and not only do you process customers faster, but also the customer spends less time waiting for his food, and he has more time to enjoy it. He leaves happier, which also means he’ll return more often – a double win for you.
Keyed into your POS system, and when you make a change in an item’s price simply and easily via smartphone or laptop, it gets transmitted not only to the digital signs but also to the POS system. So, you’ve already eliminated the time consuming and the possibly treacherous job of changing a printed sign, and now you’re also free of the separate task of updating the POS, as well as the possibility of error, or of one of your employees falling off a ladder when changing the sign.
Another great feature to have is the ability of your customers to place their order from the drive-thru lane. This is often accomplished through the addition of a speaker box, or it can be built into Menu Board itself. Either way, when the customer reaches the cashier, no conversation is required; Mr. Or Ms. Customer simply pays the bill. Studies confirm that this preferable for most customers, and in any case, it will greatly speed up throughput.
Automatic Up-selling. With digital displays, you won’t be advertising hot cocoa during heat waves or the breakfast special at 10 p.m. This not only eliminates confusion, but it also frees up menu real estate for effortless up-selling. There will be room to display soft drinks, sodas, and their prices right next to that luscious cheeseburger that almost sings out for the company on its way to your customer’s eager, hungry pallet. But no employee time is wasted asking – your digital menus do your up-selling for you, and they do it automatically.
In terms of frequency of visits to QSR’s, nobody beats the 35 and under crowd.
And, if there’s one thing that defines this age group, it is the fact that they live their lives online.
They are connected to the internet via their smartphones almost continuously, from the moment they wake up until the minute that goes to sleep, to a degree that mystifies most older folk.This young demographic is even more likely to choose the drive-thru lane over the dining room than older customers are, and because they are addicted to everything tech, they are far more likely to patronize a QSR that employs drive-thru Digital Signs over one that doesn’t.
But in reality, the quickest and surest way to capture this lucrative demographic is to appeal to them where they live, and that’s at their smartphones.Mobile OrderingIt isn’t easy to establish, as you’ll need to develop a smartphone app that connects your customer’s debit card to your POS system, and feeds in much of the same information that is presented to your Drive-Thru Menu Boards.
Your customers need no human-to-human contact with your order takers or your cashiers.
And because this is the way the younger crowd likes to do business, you will gain their loyalty and patronage.
