Providing more ways your customers can purchase is a great way to increase revenue and drive loyalty. Learn best practices and see real examples of online ordering that works.
Pretty much every time someone does business with you, there’s a data trail. If they order from you online, there’s a bit more data. If they order from you multiple times, the data starts to get rich and fertile with opportunities for deepening your relationship with them.
Why Does This Matter?
Because if you’re using a third party delivery service, like DoorDash or Uber, they own the data and the relationship. You don’t. They use the data to market to your customers and build loyalty for their service. Not for your business.
If you use a point of sale (POS) system, like Toast or Square, they give you access to the data. But to get value from it, you’d need to download it and then perform analytics over time so you could figure out how to best engage with each customer. Let’s say you want to reach out to customers who haven’t ordered for a month. You’d download the customers from last month, separate the ones who didn’t order this month, write an email, then send it through a system like Mail Chimp. It would be kind of impersonal. To save time, you could always hire a data analysis firm and a marketing agency. That gets expensive.
Another option is to tap into artificial intelligence (AI). You can use a tool that constantly pulls the data, crunches it, and then uses it to your advantage. All day, every day, 24/7.
What Does That Look Like?
A customer clicks the Order Online button on your website.
A customer might also call you and get an AI-driven answering service that sounds just like you. That service can text a link to your online ordering. It also takes those busy-busy-busy calls off of your staff – like hours, location, and specials of the day.
Your online ordering system recognizes the customer and greets them with their Loyalty Program status. (This encourages them to order more to get the discount or free appetizer with points.)
As the customer places their order, an AI-driven assistant gives them suggestions for additional items they might like. (This is one way Amazon continues to break sales records.)
After check out, your customer gets a personal thank you note included their text or email receipt.
If the customer doesn’t order after 20 days, AI triggers a completely unique email encouraging them to reorder. You can even offer a discount.
When the customer gives you an online review, AI generates a response that you can post or edit. (People typically look at reviews, and research shows that responding to all reviews – good and bad – drives business.)
The thing is, if a customer goes into your physical store, you and your staff can provide a personal touch. If a customer places an online order, that’s more difficult. The more you use data to replicate the in-store experience, the more likely a customer will be loyal. AI is a terrific tool to help you with that.
In 1911, newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane uttered the idea that a picture can save 1,000 words at a time when Instagram wasn’t even within the realm of possibilities. Now that the average attention span is 8.25 seconds, restaurant operators need to capture the interest of potential eaters lightning fast. A user-friendly menu with high-quality images can increase ordering rates by 35%.
But many operators don’t have the time or money. That’s why we thought introducing AI generated images would be a huge help. While we do have customers with set-in-stone menus that never change, the majority have fluctuating menu items based on ingredient cost, seasons, and other impacts. About 80% of restaurants using SWIPEBY don’t have menus populated with images.
Restaurants with set menus typically invest in a photography session that takes a ton of time and expense. They must prepare all their dishes to look perfect when they can lock in a professional food photographer to capture images that can be used on their website, marketing materials, and menus. Because their menu rarely changes, the images are long-lasting, and operators feel it’s worth the investment.
For owners of restaurants with changing menus, SWIPEBY Snapshot gives operators the ability to create AI generated images based on their menu description. They can get very specific, very quickly. They can generate an image for a “Chicken Philly sub with roasted peppers and mushrooms” or add “on a wood board with a brick background.” Because Snapshot is integrated into the SWIPEBY platform, images for online and printed menus, websites, and marketing materials can be updated with fresh images as needed in seconds.
The power of AI integrated into our platform helps make the lives of independent restaurant owners easier by providing enticing images that quickly communicate menu items to the consumer without a lengthy description. A picture is worth 35% more online orders? Maybe it isn’t quite as catchy, but those additional sales are definitely appetizing to a restaurant owner.
That’s a lot of people who have extremely limited choices when they are out and about. Fast food places, a handful of mega-chain restaurants, and some huge convenience store chains with curbside or drive-thru are typically their only options.
Why can’t they have a housemade specialty dish from a local restaurant? What if they want a really good cup of coffee?
The solution is easy. Independent restaurants and convenience stores can quickly add a virtual drive-thru. It doesn’t have to be expensive, overwhelming, or even complex. You certainly don’t need to renovate to add a drive-thru window.
Consider the technology SWIPEBY offers for a virtual drive-thru or look for other options. With SWIPEBY you’ll be able to customize the experience for the customer and your staff. You simply toggle to offer curbside, pickup, no commission delivery, and/or self-delivery when it makes sense.
Check us out, and start helping customers with mobility issues.
There are some must-do marketing tactics, and we’ll cover those. But we’ll also dive into some ideas you might not have considered.
BRAND
The first idea is about your brand. Whether you’ve been in business for years or are new to your neighborhood, think about how you come across to your guests – and potential guests. Having a well thought-through brand identity makes a lot of things easier – from writing social media posts to making future menu item decisions.
This isn’t hard to do, really. Just think about who you are and why you opened your restaurant to begin with. Whether you’re a laid back coffee shop, a long-standing family-owned bakery, or an Italian bistro, ask yourself how you want your guests to feel with every interaction with you and your staff.
Once that decision is made, you get to have fun creating or updating your public-facing materials.
ONLINE PRESENCE
Do you have a website or do you plan on building one? A lot of independent restaurants have decided to skip the website and have a Facebook page instead. Either way, you’ll want to be sure you have the necessary info that guests are looking for.
Cover the basics of course: a little blurb about you, address, hours, menu (lots of restaurants surprisingly neglect this part), price range, special offerings like wifi, outdoor seating, parking, special diets, etc. Photos you include are important, just be sure they match with your brand so you build upon one strong identity.
If you haven’t already, set up your Google Business Profile. This is an important way to get your restaurant on the map, literally. And, now that Google has the “order now” button, you’ll need to be sure your online menu is connected. Invest the time upfront and ongoing to fully optimize your Google Business Profile. You can learn how to do this here.
Get listed on the most popular restaurant apps. These are Yelp, Zomato, Open Table, Zagat, and Trip Advisor.
ONLINE MENU
Make sure you have an up-to-date online menu with photos and correct prices along with choices for pick-up and delivery. The easiest way to get frequent guests – both dine in and off-premise – is to offer convenience.
Don’t rely on a third party delivery company or random online menu company to do this for you. You need to own the guest data and keep the menu up-to-date with the items and prices you set, not an outside party. SWIPEBY can help you with your own branded online ordering site.
This is your opportunity to connect and engage with people in your community and visitors.
Don’t be afraid to get personal in your social posts. Guests want to know who you are – what is your favorite menu item to prepare and why did you create it? Are there regular customers who would be okay having a photo posted? Restaurants that have loads of regular customer photos give a feeling of a place for people to belong, and can be a terrific approach if it fits your brand.
Be sure to let people know when you’re doing something in the community. If you provide pizza lunches to the fire department, have a booth at the local Friday Fest, or have a coffee station at a 5K benefit, it will be appreciated. Community support drives loyalty.
You can mix and match carefully crafted posts (Canva is a great tool for this) with candid photos that capture fun and important moments like a server delivering something flambé or a specialty anniversary dessert of the house. You can always host a guest photo contest too.
Whatever the approach you choose, be sure it stays in line with your brand and that you post often. Some restaurants post every day, which is ideal if you can manage it. If you get the Facebook Business Suite, you can use their tool for scheduled posts on both Facebook and Instagram.
GET REVIEWS
Now you’re ready to proactively earn good reviews. This is another vital marketing tool since so many people use reviews to decide where they want to eat. They look at the number of reviews and how many are stellar.
First, you’ll need to ask. SWIPEBY customers enjoy an automated tool to do this to help drive 5 star reviews while managing the not-so-good reviews. But there are also other approaches. Create a QR code that is on the reception station or in the restrooms. Include a link on your receipts, menus, and coupons. Simply have your staff ask.
BUILD TRIAL AND LOYALTY
The best way to get repeat guests is through rewards. SWIPEBY built loyalty into the platform since we know how important this is. You can use an old-school approach with punch cards or consider integrating with one of the loyalty apps available.
You can build loyalty through coupons which you offer via mailers or local coupon books. You can also collect email addresses with online orders and send email coupons to diners. This is a great way to encourage people who order for off-premises to consider dining in for their next visit. There are a few good email systems for this, like Mail Chimp. SWIPEBY has a programmatic remarketing email feature to drive repeat business.
As alluded to in the social media section, get active in your community. Sponsor a float in the July 4th parade. Have a booth at the farmer’s market or one of those 100-mile garage sales that seem to be a part of all communities now. Pass out coupons to people who attend school plays. Attend and be active in town council meetings. Give specials to first responders, healthcare workers, teachers, and city and county workers.
MEASURE AND MONITOR
Set aside a little time each month to take a look at how your guests are engaging with you. Are there certain kinds of social posts that get more likes and comments? Are there specific menu items or staff members that drive higher reviews? What times are not as busy that you can layer in some fun marketing program like a special or promotion? What upcoming events could be a good fit for your brand?
These are just some of the ways you can set your restaurant apart from all of the major chains. We hope you find these thoughts valuable.
Remarketing. You may have heard the term, but short of a vague definition from Google, how can you use it to bring back people who tried your restaurant?
Conceptually, it’s pretty simple.
Someone places an online order from your restaurant. You collect the guest’s information, including their email address.
If that guest doesn’t order from you within a certain timeframe, an email is triggered with an offer to lure them back.
If they still don’t return after a certain set amount of time, another email is automatically sent.
This happens a specific number of times until the guest either returns (at which point the whole process is reset), or they are taken out of the automatic email loop because enough time has passed to indicate they aren’t responding to the emails.
In a lot of cases, it works. People love a good offer. And, if you couple it with a loyalty/rewards program, they may even come back often enough to not get placed in the email cycle again.
A good thing is that many online ordering providers offer some form of remarketing in a sense that they will send bulk emails for you. Unfortunately, they also require you to do a ton of upfront and ongoing work. This may include uploading and refreshing your customer contact database, deciding what the emails should say and offers you should include, and monitoring it to see if it’s working.
That’s a lot of work for someone who is already super busy running a business no matter how much you truly want and need return guests. So, SWIPEBY designed our remarketing engine to be truly automatic from the minute a guest places an online order. You don’t need to upload or babysit any of your guest data or be an expert at crafting emails. We handle it all for you.
So we are seeing less independent restaurants in our communities as the major chains sweep in with strategic and competitive advantages in areas like technology to support customer demand for convenience. Sadly this means our communities are becoming homogenized without the authentic culture and diverse choices that our neighborhood eateries offer.
Without an affordable, intuitive solution, we are at risk of losing the rich experiences independent restaurants bring to communities around the country. Unfortunately, the smaller businesses typically can’t or won’t embrace the technology needed to stay competitive.
SWIPEBY has learned that there a a few “must haves” that can help independent restaurants shift from being hesitant to implementing the tech they need to thrive. We know smaller players don’t have the time or desire to install, learn, and operate the kind of system a mega chain uses. That’s why we built a tech solution that has robust features and yet is still easy to use, flexible, and requires little to no training or maintenance.
Our mission is to help keep neighborhoods around the country from becoming a sea of cookie-cutter mega chains by giving independent restaurant owners what they need to thrive. Reach out if you’re curious what we have to offer. hello@swipe.by
With pandemic restrictions being lifted and the weather improving, dining in is coming back. An increase of in-store diners is causing some independent restaurant operators to ignore consumers that still want off-premise. But, smaller restaurants need to remember that many of their competitors – the mega chains – still offer the convenience of curbside and drive-thru. Consumers will choose convenience over quality. We see it in the lines of cars waiting in fast food drive-thru lanes.
People are out and active in the warmer months. It’s important for an independent restaurant to offer the same convenience to their on-the-go consumers that the mega chains do. In order to continuously build a relationship with consumers that will be loyal to them, they need to offer convenience along with a quality online ordering to-go menu year-round.
While SWIPEBY customers are seeing an increase in in-store diners, they are continuing to benefit from strong off-premise business. This helps them stay relevant and thriving no matter the season.
If you’re curious how SWIPEBY can give you a seamless curbside experience and no-commission delivery from a huge network of drivers plus other features that are proven to drive repeat business, reach out for a quick demo.
The turning point has happened. There’s no going back. People will choose more expensive and lower quality items if they can stay in their car.
You may have a local restaurant with burgers that are miles better than a fast food joint, but people aren’t lined up for them because it’s just easier to hit the drive-thru.
We’re seeing it with convenience stores too. People will get gas then wait in line to pay more at the Starbucks drive-thru. They’d be just as happy getting coffee from the c-store if it was brought out to them while they were filling their tank. Throw a newspaper and muffin in the bag too.
NPD findings show that carry-out is less popular, while consumers are embracing delivery and drive-thru.
That means, going forward, even small, local businesses and chains need to offer curbside in order to attract new and returning customers. Just offering delivery isn’t enough any more.
But here’s the thing, since you can have simple, quick-to-implement tech, it doesn’t make sense to lose customers to the large mega chains. Especially when those customers would much prefer to give you their business.
If you offer online ordering, curbside pickup, and delivery to your customers, then you’re right in line with consumer demand. That is terrific. You’re drawing new and repeat customers at a higher rate than your competitors who don’t.
Is this enough? 62% of U.S. online shoppers expect curbside pickup. Are you doing all you can with the technology that makes curbside possible? And, is your delivery method the best option for your business?
If you’re looking at off-premise orders as simply transactional, then the answer to those questions is no. You’ve got some opportunities to lower costs, improve efficiency, and take customer interactions to a new level.
Lower Costs
Third-party ordering and delivery fees can be so high, that there’s litigation about them. In some cases, restaurants were added to a third party delivery platform without them even being notified. The third party delivery company simply marked up menu items to make a profit taking control away from the operators.
The easiest solution to this is to take back control of your delivery experience. Offer online ordering with delivery through your website, social media pages, and Google accounts. Use technology that enables you to pay less for the service + control parameters such as what percentage of the fees are paid by customers and if you want to add a surcharge to cover staff tips.
Some SWIPEBY operators have offered deals to customers who order through their app or website instead of the third party app as a way to pull them away. It works because 77% of consumers prefer to order directly from you and not a third party delivery service.
Improve Efficiency
Instead of having three systems for ordering, curbside, and delivery, pull them all together under one platform. This makes it easier on your staff and your customers. You can also integrate all of them with your POS. (SWIPEBY is fully integrated with the Toast POS to make this a seamless experience.)
Interact with Customers
Your unified off-premise technology captures valuable customer data that you own. You can use this information for marketing opportunities to establish your brand to drive loyalty and promote specials.
When a customer opts for curbside, how and when you interact with them can create a lasting impression. You want it to be a good one so they become regular customers and recommend you to their friends and family. SWIPEBY operators use our geofencing technology to know when a customer is nearby and when they arrive. The operator can easily set automated customized messages letting the customer know where to park, the status of their order, and other key information. And, it’s all delivered in the friendly on-brand tone of the store.
Taking the idea of geofenced messaging further, an operator can market to customers beyond the off-premise experience. For instance, a customer who is in the area can receive a message that advertises a special on something they’ve ordered before. Consumers enjoy when a brand knows and understands what they like. Amazon has an entire business model built around the concept.
Our operators have told us a lot of stories about why people cannot or will not leave their cars to go into their restaurants for pickup. These operators know that a huge majority of customers prefer to order from their local restaurant instead of a mega-chain but need a curbside option.
So for someone who cannot easily leave their car – maybe they are disabled or elderly – curbside pickup from their favorite pasta or steak place is great for both them and the restaurant.
Also, parents really want to stay in their cars because they can’t leave small kids alone. Parents who’ve picked up their kids from school or some activity want options other than a big fast food chain for a drive-thru dinner.
Another big group of customers who need to stay in their cars are pet owners. Research shows that 78% of people with pets travel with them. That’s a large customer base local restaurants can attract with a curbside solution. Why make someone eat a cardboard-like burger and cold fries just because Fido is in the backseat after a trip to the dog park? Instead operators can market directly to these pet parents about curbside letting them know there’s a tastier and healthier option available.
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