New Upgrades for NetWaiter; Mobile Ordering Enhanced

Posted by Tim on October 18, 2014

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You may have noticed NetWaiter recently released some upgrades to its restaurant online ordering system. So far, the customer feedback has been great and we hope you’re hearing good things too. Here are a few of the upgrades:

More Attractive Site – NetWaiter has created a smoother, more attractive site for customers as they navigate their way through your online ordering site. The general ordering process has not changed much, however, please feel free to evaluate your custom site design to determine if any ‘refreshing’ may be warranted.

Enhanced Mobile Ordering – Your site is now more user friendly on mobile devices. Your previous mobile site has been upgraded for easier navigation and performance. NetWaiter has also extended the Group Ordering feature to be available from mobile devices. Previously, customers could only join a Group Order from their mobile device. Now you can initiate a Group Order from any device/computer.

Stronger URL Branding – Previously, when a customer visited your NetWaiter online ordering site, the URL would be shown as www.netwaiter.com/Your_Restaurant. Now, your restaurant name is shown first, to better reflect your restaurant and brand: Your_Restaurant/netwaiter.com. You do not need to make any changes to the links you have on your website – customers will automatically be redirected.

Tips for Effective Facebooking and Tweeting for your Restaurant

Posted by Tim on October 3, 2014

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Branded Online Ordering, Facebook, NetWaiter, Online Ordering for Restaurants, Twitter, Social Media for Restaurants, Social Media

You regularly send out messages to your social media followers – Facebook and Twitter – about news, deals, restaurant online ordering, takeout, and other general information about your restaurant. But how do you know that your messages are effective, and you’re not just throwing meaningless content out there?

Here are a few tips:

Maintain your brand voice. Whatever your brand image, make sure you keep it consistent. It’s who you are – don’t deviate from your image.

Watch what gets action. If you see spikes in comments, likes, or sharing and retweeting, then you have hit a nerve with your audience. Did you get a lot of action when you posted info about your new recyclable takeout containers? Or, something simple like Taco Tuesday? If so, that’s important to your audience.

Include photos and video. People look before they read. Photos of attractive dishes, a video of the final preparation of a menu item, or just your chef slicing onions faster than the eye can see. All are interesting to the social media follower.

Keep an ear out for oversaturation. There is such a thing as too much. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. You don’t want to annoy people.

And for Twitter only…

Pin important Tweets. This makes sure it stays at the top of your profile. Do this to attract attention to special offers and information that you don’t want your followers to miss.

Request a retweet. Ask specific folks to help spread the word about your restaurant and let them magnify your voice.

Is Your Restaurant Online Ordering Skyrocketing or Slumping?

Posted by Tim on September 19, 2014

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Restaurant Online Ordering, Advertising, Branded Online Ordering, On-hold Messages, Online Menu, Online Ordering for Restaurants, Increasing Sales, Increased Revenue

NetWaiter is often asked, “How can my restaurant’s online ordering sales skyrocket immediately?”

First and foremost, every restaurant is different. We know - that line is never fun to hear, but it’s true. If people don’t like your restaurant’s food, they aren’t going to like it any better because of the way they ordered it. Thankfully, restaurant owners using NetWaiter are smart, sell great food, and their customers love ordering online.

There are many traits that successful restaurants have in common. After speaking with a lot of owners and managers, we’ve compiled a list of the most important factors needed to launch your online ordering sales into orbit and some tips to assist:

Embrace Online Ordering and “Take Ownership” of It. Get everyone at your restaurant to embrace one of the most powerful sales tools you have. “Take ownership” of your online business. Few parts in any business are autonomous and require little to no strategy or thought. Give it some attention and thought and it will reward you significantly.

Get The Word Out. Like anything, people need to know you offer something if you expect them to take advantage of it.
-   STEP 1: Make sure you have at least one ‘Order Online’ button on your homepage. DO NOT make people search or scroll to find your online ordering menu. You should also have links to place orders on other pages of your website for easy access.
-   STEP 2: DO NOT link your ‘Order Online’ buttons to another page, forcing customers to, yet again, click another button. Send customers directly to your online ordering menu. They love online ordering because it’s convenient. Forcing them to click around your site or search for your online ordering menu will only irritate them.
-   STEP 3: Get employees to help spread the word to all of your customers.

Simple Advertising. Some of the following tactics are very simple to implement and will help you advertise your online takeout and delivery business.
-   1) Attach ‘flyers’ to all phone-in orders that mention your website and online ordering. (TIP: Order some inexpensive or free business cards from a place like vistaprint.com). This is also a great tactic if you are trying to convert expensive portal customers to order directly from you. A small promotional discount for ordering directly from you will go a long way.
-   2) Display signage inside your restaurant. The next time a customer is in the mood for takeout, they’ll visit you online first.
-   3) Mention your online ordering system and website address to all phone-in customers. The truth is – they don’t want to be calling you anyway. They would rather place their order online and you do too – average order sizes are much larger online.
-   4) If someone calls your restaurant during a rush, there is a good chance you’ll put them on hold. Make sure your on-hold message mentions your website and the ability for them to order online.

Your goal is to have skyrocketing online sales, but don’t get discouraged by a slow start. With additional NetWaiter features, like our Facebook integration, email marketing, and promotional system, you’ll be able to kick things into high gear. It’s all about building momentum. The nice thing about it – once you have it, it’s hard to slow down.

Don’t Send Online Customers Away!

Posted by Tim on August 22, 2014

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Marketing, Online Ordering for Restaurants, Branded Online Ordering, Customer Experience, Customer Loyalty, Portals

Restaurants that link an online ordering portal to their website are turning business away and paying to do so.

If you have an online ordering link to a portal showing on your restaurant’s website, you are sending customers from your site, where they are completely focused on you, to a place where they can order from a variety of restaurants. You are essentially inviting them to order from one of your competitors.

Within the overall marketing strategy of your restaurant, the purpose of a portal is to bring you new customers, not the other way around. When you point customers to a portal to place an order at your restaurant, you pay extraordinary fees for that business. If you’re sending repeat customers to place orders through the portal, it’s even worse.

The average portal fee at Grubhub/Seamless is about 14% of each order. With your own, individually-branded online ordering site, like NetWaiter, you would pay a small fraction of those fees.

Customers come to your website because they are interested in your restaurant. Don’t send them to a portal where you will either lose them to a competitor, or pay the portal’s huge fee. Keep them on your site, accept their order directly, retain all of the customer information, and save money while doing so.

Increasing Loyalty and Other New Data About Online Ordering

Posted by Tim on August 1, 2014

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Branded Online Ordering, Email Marketing, Marketing, NetWaiter, Online Ordering for Restaurants, Statistics

A piece in PMQ Pizza Magazine reveals some new data about online ordering. It’s good stuff to review:

Online ordering has an average customer return rate of 95%. This means you can boost customer loyalty with minimal effort, other than implementing an online ordering system.

The younger generation (i.e. millennials) is much more comfortable online, compared to talking with someone. That’s how they’ve grown up. It’s not hard to imagine why they flock to online ordering.

Some restaurants report that a popular promotion to drive customers to their online ordering site, and keep them coming back, is a weeklong offer of deep discounts; 25% to 50% off a high-profit menu item seems to do the trick.

According to one restaurateur, twice-a-week email blasts from your NetWaiter Management Console to customers with a special offer is another way to generate more business. NOTE: Be careful with this type of customer engagement, you don’t want to alienate customers by emailing them too much.

Snacking and Online Ordering

Posted by Tim on June 11, 2014

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Branded Online Ordering, Convenience, Snacks, Snacking, NetWaiter, Online Ordering for Restaurants, Target Customers

It’s not uncommon for some restaurants to get a surge of takeout orders in the afternoon. While some may be late lunch or early dinner orders, they aren’t always full meals. A lot of the time it’s a snack-type order. A recent report reveals that about 50% of eating occasions are snack related. Experts attribute this largely to busy lifestyles, but there are other contributing factors:

73% of snacking is physically driven – combatting hunger (44%), nutritional support (15%) and the need for a sudden burst of energy (12%), which explains the late afternoon aspect.
36% is emotionally driven – 23% of the people in this category use snacking as a time-marker in their day. There is also boredom alleviation (13%) and those who use snacking as a way to reward themselves (6%).
28% of snacking is socially and culturally driven, including people who are bonding around food.
Then there is something called ‘aimless snacking’ (27%), which is attributed to the constant availability of food and beverages.

The numbers add to more than 100% because there is a good deal of overlap in consumer motivations for a snack.

What does this mean for restaurant online ordering? 1) Make sure your appetizer and snack selections are listed on your online ordering menu, and 2) consider adding items that are both ideal for an afternoon snack and are a sure bet for takeout popularity.

Some Statistics to Kick Around

Posted by Tim on May 30, 2014

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Branded Online Ordering, Convenience, Convenient Technology, Larger Order Sizes, Mobile Ordering, Mobile Website, NetWaiter, NetWaiter Management Console, Online Ordering for Restaurants

Here are some interesting statistics from the 2014 Restaurant Industry Forecast, put out by the National Restaurant Association, and how they can be interpreted regarding restaurant online ordering.

It often comes down to your website – The NRA reports that 61% of those consumers responding have visited a restaurant’s website. If you offer online ordering and your NetWaiter site is prominently linked to your site, you can capture the customer’s order when they visit your site. It’s all about convenience.

If you offer it, they will use it – 52% of customers said they would use a smartphone or tablet for delivery or takeout if the restaurant offered that option. That’s over 50% of your customers, who would likely increase the frequency of visits to your restaurant, if they could order from their mobile device.

More reasons for mobile – Another survey finds that restaurants are the most searched industry on a mobile device and that 75% of those searching will make their dining decision based on the restaurant’s mobile site producing the information they were seeking. NetWaiter will make sure the important parts of your site (i.e. your menu) can be easily viewed from a mobile device. The good news is that your mobile site instantly reflects any changes made to your regular site through your NetWaiter Management Console.

Don’t Ignore Restaurant Search and Review Apps

Posted by Tim on May 16, 2014

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Yelp, Mobile Ordering, Mobile Website, Restaurant Search/Review, Photography, NetWaiter, Online Ordering for Restaurants, Branded Online Ordering

Here are two numbers that will catch your attention – 200,000 and 250,000.

According to Yelp, during a recent business quarter, consumers called businesses through Yelp's mobile app 200,000 times a day and generated over 250,000 directions a day. These numbers refer to all businesses, but as we all know, restaurants represent a sizeable chunk of Yelp’s listings.

These aren’t numbers to ignore. There are a variety of mobile apps available and some of them can play a big role bringing in business. Here are some tips on how to make the most of them:

Find out where customers are hearing about your restaurant – Yelp is the 800-pound gorilla of restaurant search/review, but there are others, both locally focused, as well as broader reaching apps. Have your wait staff survey customers to identify your top three sources of referrals. You should monitor your listings on those sites regularly.

Use what’s available to help you promote your restaurant – Each site is different, but many of them allow photos (which you should include), the opportunity to make special offers, and a place to add a business description. According to Yelp, people stay on a business page two-and-a-half times longer when it has photos.

Don’t forget Online Ordering – Make mention of your NetWaiter online ordering capabilities as prominently as you can. Include a link to your branded online ordering site so customers have easy access to order from your menu. If a customer links to your NetWaiter site from their mobile device, they will automatically be routed to your mobile NetWaiter site.

Customer Demand, and Other Reasons You Can’t Ignore Tech in Your Restaurant

Posted by Tim on May 16, 2014

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Technology, Online Ordering for Restaurants, Statistics, NetWaiter, NetWaiter Management Console, Branded Online Ordering, Convenience, Email Marketing

63%... and climbing.

That’s how many restaurant customers, according to the National Restaurant Association, have used technology to interact with a restaurant - including reviewing a menu, checking nutritional information, and placing an order.

Equally important is that most consumers, once they use a technology, are more apt to want to use it again. Nevertheless, many restaurant owners remain hesitant about online ordering. They site various factors and although they may not admit it, we suspect some of them simply fear technology.

Here are three reasons that should overshadow any doubt about online ordering:

Brand Engagement - Online engagement is critical for brand awareness. The more your customers can touch you, and you can touch them, the more likely they will patronize your restaurant. The NetWaiter Management console gives restaurants valuable data for analysis and the ability to reach out to customers via email campaigns (another form of engagement).

More Customers – Obviously, takeout expands your restaurant beyond the seating capacity of your ‘brick-and-mortar’ location. Because NetWaiter can expand your takeout and delivery business, you are now able to handle an even greater amount of business. Most importantly, NetWaiter online ordering increases repeat visits and loyalty, so you’ll be seeing customers more often, which is good for your bottom line.

Improved Efficiency - Without NetWaiter, your takeout business is limited to how fast phone calls can be processed. Customers don’t have to wait on hold or listen to a busy signal. NetWaiter also increases the accuracy of your takeout orders – which is critical for customer satisfaction. There are much fewer ‘do-overs’ (which can cost a lot of money) and fewer upset customers. Happy customers = repeat business = more revenue.