In a blog post earlier this month, we talked about how NetWaiter’s online ordering system can help you cater to increased demand for customization - requests for extra meat, double avocado, or other add-ons.

To help accommodate these requests, in addition to upselling the order, it’s important to include any paid option as a selection customers can click to add.  But what happens if a customer enters a separate request in the Special Instructions field that should incur an additional charge?

These special instructions, which restaurants are happy to fulfill, can cause a difficulty when an order is pre-paid. Do you honor the request for extra turkey, even though you haven’t been paid for it, or do you hold off and not include it?

To address this, NetWaiter has developed a Secondary Transaction Feature to allow a restaurant to run a separate charge on a customer’s card, after the initial transaction, to pay for that special request.

This is also a handy feature to add a tip.  A customer may not have thought about a tip when placing their online order, but the Secondary Transaction Feature allows delivery drivers to add a tip to an order, after the initial payment, if the customer tells them to.

Another new addition to NetWaiter is the Hidden Item list.  NetWaiter has always allowed restaurants to “hide” items on their menu, most often because the kitchen has run out of a key ingredient or the item was a limited special that may come back in the future.

This new feature shows “All Hidden Items” in one section of the Management Console for easy management.  Managers can see all items on their menu that are hidden, in one place, and then unhide those that they want to be available again.

In sales and marketing, the tipping point is the moment when all the market factors merge, tipping in favor of a specific product service. Sales skyrocket and no one looks back. 

Online ordering may quickly be approaching its tipping point. For restaurants that do not yet have online ordering, now is the time to get a NetWaiter site. For those restaurants who already offer NetWaiter, you’re already on the right path and riding the next big wave of change for restaurants.

Consider the market factors that have led to this tipping point…

The Consumer. Each year the percentage of consumers, aged 18 to 34, who indicate that they would order takeout or delivery on a mobile device goes up. The latest figure is 74%. Just a few years ago that number was below 50%.

The Technology. More than half of the mobile devices in use are smartphones, capable of accessing the internet and placing online orders. Public Wi-Fi is commonplace, and 3G and 4G runs things at breakneck speed. Placing orders online, not just by mobile, but tablet, laptop or desktop, is virtually flawless, and will only get better.

The Marketplace. It is estimated that the totality of mobile payments will top $720 billion/year by 2017, most of that being driven by the largest generation and demographic – the Millennials - which, not by surprise, is also the largest demographic who use online ordering.

The Capabilities. NetWaiter does much more than process online orders. The NetWaiter Management Console allows you to collect and analyze data, target customers, and send them special offers.

A recent study shows the branding advantage of a mobile site, especially for a restaurant. 

Consider these facts:

• Consumers attach to a brand faster using mobile devices than anything else, because they hold the device in their hands, as opposed looking at a computer screen or television.  They make it a part of their identity, and therefore, trust it more (the study calls it psycho-haptic — “what I touch is real”). Amazing factoid: Studies report that 65% of mobile owners admit to sleeping with their device next to their bed.

• Choices to messages on a mobile device tend to be Yes or No, and responses come fast.  This is because mobile devices are designed, in part, to make things convenient and quick.  Amazing factoid: According to a Litmus study, entitled Email Analytics, as of December 2013, 51% of emails were opened by a mobile device.

• Branded content on a mobile device is more likely to get a positive response.  This goes back to how people take personal ownership of their mobile device, which is much more than a desktop or laptop computer. 

• Want to counter a couple of bad reviews on Yelp?  Spend a little money for a great mobile site.  Consumers are more likely to change their perception of a brand if the message or experience comes via a mobile device.  Remember, their device is their personal property.  They are emotionally attached to it.  It wouldn’t lie to them.

The statistics are stunning: 95% of smartphone users conduct restaurant searches, and 64% of those searches convert to purchases within one hour.  Knowing this, it’s important to understand that mobile websites come with their own specific set of challenges.  Here’s what to keep in mind:

Keep it quick. Think about your own experiences.  When you’re using your smartphone to look up information, you could be in your car, walking in or out of an appointment, or traveling.  Time is a premium.  Your mobile site should include the important things within one click (i.e. a link to your online menu and online ordering).  Quick access is important.

Highlight your menu.  Sixty percent of consumers say a menu is the most important factor in selecting a restaurant online.  Keep that menu updated, too.  No one likes bad information, especially when it’s directly from the source.

Keep your brand prominent.  Who you are is important.  Make sure your logo and colors are reflected on the first page and all other pages of your mobile site.

Choose the right mobile partner.  At NetWaiter, we quickly saw the potential of online ordering from smartphones.  That’s why every NetWaiter client gets a custom mobile website for online ordering, branded to their restaurant.  Furthermore, we make it easy to update your mobile menu and settings through the NetWaiter Management Console.