Happy, loyal customers are the lifeblood of every business. They are especially important in more crowded and competitive marketplaces such as the restaurant industry. Customer loyalty is defined as a willingness of a person to continue to do business with your brand over competitors. Loyal customers will spend more, they will promote your restaurant to other customers, and they are far more likely to continue to do business with you. Whether its fine-dining, fast food or fast casual, achieving customer loyalty in the restaurant industry should be a priority for each and every segment.
In today’s hyper-connected world, the key is strategically engaging customers across digital platforms; from review sites to social media and beyond. If done correctly, restaurants can foster meaningful connections, demonstrate value, and inspire guests to return again and again through targeted digital loyalty strategies.
Let’s explore 7 powerful ways restaurant marketers can utilize online platforms to boost sustainable customer loyalty, backed by examples and expert insights:
#1) Monitor and Manage Your Online Reputation Proactively
Your online reputation has immense power to shape brand perceptions. Review sites such as Yelp, Google and Facebook are used often by potential patrons to learn more about a restaurant before visiting.
Experts recommend putting processes in place to:
- Proactively monitor online review platforms and social media for brand mentions using tools like Hootsuite. You must be aware at all times of what is being said about your business, positive and negative. This applies to all businesses, not just those in the restaurant industry.
- Move quickly to address negative reviews and comments constructively and with care. Here’s a pro tip: If the negative review or comment is specific to an individual visit, the person leaving the comment is likely a customer. If the review or comment is vague and focuses on your business with little specifics, it is more likely to simply be a troll. Focus more attention on negative feedback that is specific to one or more visits or purchases with your restaurant.
- When it comes to positive mentions, many experts will simply suggest that you use those positive comments in your own marketing material and communications. That’s smart, but we want to go a step beyond that and make your customer loyalty strategy brilliant. Whenever you see a customer leaving a positive mention or review for your restaurant ALWAYS contact them and say THANK YOU. You would be amazed at how happy you can make someone by simply showing appreciation for them. Always thank every customer for any positive mention. Often, the customer will be thrilled at your response and will continue to engage with your restaurant. When this happens, you can encourage them to continue to leave positive mentions online, you can ask them to take a survey, or perhaps even join your customer loyalty program. When you find a happy customer who is creating positive content for your restaurant, you want to connect with that customer, thank them, then encourage them to create more content. Keep in mind that more positive content about your restaurant posted on social media and review sites helps dilute any negative content.
- Analyze trends in sentiments, locations, and issues to identify systemic problems requiring attention. This is especially important if you have multiple locations, each location should be delivering the same, exceptional experience to its customers. If one particular location is responsible for more complaints and negative content, its imperative to investigate the cause. Likewise, if one location is responsible for more positive reviews than other locations, you want to determine what that one location is doing differently, and can it be replicated across other locations.
- Establish internal protocols and guidelines for responding to complaints and feedback. Keep in mind that if a customer leaves a comment or feedback during business hours, they will likely expect a response as soon as possible. For instance, if a customer has an issue with an order placed at lunch today, they may go to your restaurant’s Facebook page and leave a comment expecting a CS agent to respond while they are still at the restaurant. If your CS team doesn’t see the response till the next day, one bad experience along with a slow response could result in a lost customer. Time is of the essence when delivering customer support via digital channels.
Proactive online reputation management turns critics into advocates. But executing effectively requires commitment, savvy communication skills, and analytics. With guidance, restaurants can safeguard and promote brand equity through an optimized online presence and integrated customer support response.
#2) Produce Engaging Social Media Content
Today’s consumers expect restaurants to maintain active, interesting social media channels. Developing a strong library of creative, branded content that engages followers in your brand story is essential.
Experts emphasize that effective social content strategies require:
- Conducting social media audits assessing current performance and benchmarks. Social media audits should be done at least yearly. Twice a year is even better.
- Crafting content calendars tailored to your brand identity, audience interests, and key marketing initiatives. Take into account audience activity and which days and times they prefer to engage with your content.
- Hiring professional photographers and content creators who understand how to create compelling content in all forms that is also branded consistently across all social channels.
- Increasing community engagement through contests, UGC campaigns, holiday tie-ins, and time-bound festivals or events.
- Tracking performance metrics constantly and optimizing based on insights. Strategy direction should evolve based on changes in data, and this should also factor into your regular social media audits.
This expertise in strategically leveraging social platforms helps restaurants earn loyalty through value-added content vs endless promos. In short, create content that’s focused on how your restaurant fits into the lives of your customers versus content that’s simply self-promotional.
#3) Optimize Digital Experience Across Channels
Customers engage with restaurant brands across an array of online and offline touchpoints – your website, app, social media, review sites, in-person visits, and more. Offering a consistent, frictionless experience across channels is vital for loyalty. Just as customers want the same level of service regardless of which of your locations they dine in, they also want to know that the same level of support they get on Twitter will me matched if they email or call support.
Consultants recommend:
- Journey mapping exercises to identify pain points and areas for experience optimization across channels. Aggressive monitoring and surveys post support can greatly help identify bottlenecks and problem areas in the support process that should be addressed and corrected.
- Improving personalization consistency through data integration and smart UX design across web, app, loyalty program experiences. Also, focus on the data that customers are comfortable sharing when you personalize shopping experiences.
- Tight integration of data, order information, and customization across platforms to transition customers seamlessly. This is especially important for customers who order on a mobile app then pick up the order at a location.
- Optimizing online ordering and booking based on mobile-first convenience. Offer easy pickup and delivery options. Perhaps one of the only benefits of dealing with covid in 2020 is that it forced companies in the restaurant industry to focus on contactless or ‘curbside pickup’ options. This provides a new level of convenience and safety for customers and is the expected norm. If your restaurant isn’t providing contactless pickup, it’s past time to add that to your customer experience.
- Ensuring your website and apps offer optimal responsive design tailored to user needs vs company-centric content. Always consider how your customers use each device. For instance, customers on a mobile device are likely away from home, traveling, and only interested in using your mobile app to complete an immediate purchase. So deliver the content these users want, ie help them facilitate a transaction as quickly as possible.
With guidance optimizing every digital touchpoint, restaurants can craft cohesive customer experiences driving retention.
#4) Leverage Email Marketing for Targeted Outreach
Email marketing is quite valuable because while not everyone checks their social media feed every day, almost all of us do check our inbox. If you have a customer’s email address, that’s quite valuable, as it gives you direct access to that customer, either at home or on the go via their smartphones and mobile devices. Using email marketing to develop customer loyalty in the restaurant industry requires strategic list segmentation and messaging personalization based on rich customer data.
Experts emphasize that effective loyalty-focused email marketing requires:
- Segmenting your subscriber list based on key factors like customer lifetime value, order frequency, purchase recency, demographics and preferences. Sugmentation allows you to customize the content and experience you deliver to your email subscribers.
- Paying close attention to email engagement trends to identify the optimal send times and days for each segmented list. Track metrics such as open rate and clicks to determine when is the best time to send emails to your subscribers.
- Developing campaigns targeted to customer needs, like re-engagement offers for lapsed patrons. Understanding subscriber behavior helps you deliver the email experience that’s most valuable to them.
- Tracking email performance diligently to optimize your approach and improve deliverability. It’s vital to aggressive track email performance to identify what’s working, and what isn’t. Double-down on what works, and work to correct the bottlenecks in your email campaigns.
Proper list segmentation, timely messaging, and perpetual optimization based on data is crucial for email marketing success. Leverage digital marketing experts to maximize this channel.
#5) Set Up an App-Based Loyalty Program
Loyalty programs are proven to boost retention when implemented correctly and marketed well. Consultants recommend:
- Conducting analysis of customer data and pain points to determine the right loyalty program features and benefits to incentivize repeat visits. The focus of the app’s customer loyalty program should be rewards but keep in mind that rewards can extend beyond the purchase. Rewards should also be tied to experiences as well. If rewards are simply tied to the purchase, then you risk having users stop using the app once a reward for purchase has been redeemed. Always remember that the goal of any customer loyalty program is to build loyalty to the brand, not the offer.
- Building a customized branded mobile app tailored to house your loyalty program for easy access. The totality of the experience of participating in your loyalty program should be accessible from your mobile app. This encourages customers to purchase at your restaurant, and it also helps facilitate on-site feedback of the dining experience.
- Tightly integrating app-based features like mobile wallet loyalty cards, specials, and rewards into your POS systems. Consistent branding experiences are vital. There needs to be a seamless transition from the app experience to the POS experience. A disconnect can lead to confusion and irritation by the customer if they can initiate a transaction easily via the mobile app, but cannot easily complete it in store.
- Crafting strategic marketing plans across social media, email, in-store signage to drive membership. Make sure to point out the advantages of participation in your customer loyalty program. Also consider providing incentives to join, keeping in mind to balance the experience between offering products and experiences. Both are vital to driving true customer loyalty.
- Providing data dashboards to track key loyalty metrics like enrollments, active users, point redemptions.
The right advisor eliminates guesswork, guiding optimized loyalty program creation from the ground up based on your customers, resources and capabilities.
#6) Enable Online Ordering and Reservations
Digital convenience factors heavily in earning customer loyalty in the restaurant industry. Experts emphasize that restaurants should:
- Offer seamless online reservations and waitlisting through your website or platforms like OpenTable or SevenRooms. Allow easy self-service booking. Give customers the convenience they expect.
- Build your own ordering apps or integrate with major delivery apps to enable effortless to-go and delivery ordering. If your restaurant does integrate with delivery services, promote this on-site so customers will know that’s an option for their next order.
- Offer order tracking and real-time messaging for delivery orders. Communication and transparency is key, and constant updates and communication helps establish trust with the customer.
- Provide loyalty members exclusive early booking access or notification of available reservations. Earlier we talked about how your customer loyalty program should focus on providing a better experience to members instead of simply pushing discounts or sales. Giving loyalty members access to more booking options is a great example of giving experience-focused rewards.
Convenience through tech removes friction and earns loyalty. Prioritize digital ordering and booking.
#7) Provide Ongoing Staff Coaching
Your employees make a significant impact on the customer experience delivered. Investing in staff education around hospitality and digital engagement best practices is invaluable.
Consultants advise providing coaching to staff focused on:
- Customer service techniques to resolve complaints and de-escalate issues. Empower resolution at the front lines. Staff in store and online should be trained to recognize legitimate complaints from real customers. Additionally, if a customer support handoff has to happen from social media channels to the main CS team, make sure staff in both departments are trained to provide a consistent and frictionless experience for the customer.
- How to identify high-value regulars and personalize treatment accordingly. Simply acknowledging repeat customers communicates appreciation and attentiveness.
- Maintaining brand standards consistently across digital touchpoints and in-person. Customers will notice if there is a disconnect in their experience.
- Using systems and tools to capture guest feedback. Staff should be trained to know what feedback options are available, and which customers should be encouraged to participate.
- Checking in patrons who booked reservations online. Even if your restaurant has on-site kiosks to facilitate or complete transactions, staff will still require training on how to use the kiosks, or how to deal with incoming orders if the kiosk goes down.
Expert-led coaching helps align your team to consistently deliver on digital CX initiatives.
The Path to Building Lasting Customer Loyalty in the Restaurant Industry
Winning sustainable loyalty from restaurant guests in a digital era takes strategy, commitment, and utilizing technology thoughtfully. With abundant diners craving connection and experiences from brands, the opportunity is immense.
