The rise of data, big and small, has transformed every moment of our lives for decades. We check Google Maps for the best route, our smart watches for our heart rate and oxygen levels, and online restaurant reviews before booking a reservation.
Technology has become second nature, illustrating the important role data plays in improving our everyday lives. The same is true for QSRs; restaurants should use data to understand their customer’s behavior, like their purchasing habits.
This insight can make the difference between quarterly growth and sudden stagnation.
QSRs’ POS systems track information related to every touchpoint of their operation, like when a customer places an order or makes a payment. This data may seem to be minor on a daily basis, but interpreted as a set of data across a month, quarter, or year, it can effectively illuminate opportunities to continue elevating your customer experience.
But where do you go from here? The data exists. Here’s how you can use valuable customer data to inform your decision-making.
Customer Experience: Not the Side Dish
Restaurants should strive to provide the best customer experience at every opportunity. After all, customer retention is cheaper than customer acquisition. Remembering a customer’s name, dietary restrictions, or their most ordered item shows that YOU, as the restaurant, care about them coming back, and THEY, as the customer, feel like they’re being taken care of.
An integrated solution that pairs an app with a POS can offer:
- Personalized content across digital, print, and other channels
- A digital wallet for order history and rewards
- Engagement with customers that leads to more frequent sales
- One, centralized way to directly market to customers
Consumers today expect to get food from their favorite spots through ordering ahead and delivery to home and office. With the power of data from an app, QSRs can see supersized orders, increased demand for delivery, and more significant margins — which leads to the next point; the necessity of a mobile app.
Time Fries When You Have an App
In today’s world, consumers want everything immediately and from the comfort of their homes. Streamlining the purchase process by offering your entire menu, promotions, delivery, and loyalty points all in one place.
As QSRs look to save time, avoid frustration, and cut costs, many are launching a mobile app to allow customers to place their order exactly as they want it, when they want it. And, you get the benefits of collecting their purchase data, upselling, offering promotions based on their favorite items, and more.
Improve your customer service, the customer experience, and the customer journey by analyzing your mobile app data and filling gaps in the experience. Are wait times too long? Are customers not ordering certain items? Now, instead of your best guess, you’ll have the hard information in real time.
Customer Rewards: Made to Crave
Acquisition. Engagement. Retention. The three stages of successful customer lifecycle marketing.
From getting customers in the door via new offers to keeping them coming back with personalized deals, your QSR can drive engagement across their entire journey.
Your customers pay for the experience as much as they pay for food. It’s not just a tasty meal that causes a craving, it’s the way they’re treated both in and out of your restaurant. Take advantage of data to enhance each guest’s experience by using an app to track their spend habits and preferences. Reward them with free items, discounted items, and even merchandise. Customize rewards based on their preferences. They’ll love that personal touch, and you’ll be rewarded with continued customer loyalty.
Big Data! Order Up!
By analyzing customer data, restaurants can gain insights into how their customers behave from their spending patterns to the frequency of their visits. Data is gold.
It’s time to use this critical information to make decisions that benefit guests, drive sales growth, and improve profitability today, or get left behind.
Learn how leading nationwide brands like Chipotle, First Watch, and more have improved their customer experience (and generated big results) with their loyalty programs.