Digital restaurant solutions have taken off since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Online ordering supports social distance and gives restaurants a chance to operate through reduced sales channels. Some businesses have also introduced text ordering for simultaneous safety and convenience.
Text ordering is exactly what it sounds like, customers messaging their favorite restaurants. Everyone has their cell on them most of the time, so why not leverage that for a better dining experience?
Benefits of Text Ordering
When you integrate text channels into your management system, you provide a quicker, easier, and socially distanced experience. Guests can even pay this way; on their first order, route them to your website to securely enter payment information. Then they’ll connect a pin number to the account to authorize transactions through text in the future. This simplifies repeat ordering. Next time they’re deciding where to eat, customers will think of you.
You’ll source more guest information for your database with text ordering, even more than you get with traditional online orders. Just taking note of their area codes tells you where your loyal customers hail from, for a sense of what radius to focus your marketing efforts and delivery services.
With digitization overtaking the industry, break into this sales channel while it’s still emerging. Not too many restaurants offer text ordering, but customers are eager to take part in this more convenient way to shop. Text ordering sets you apart from the competition.
Strengthen Customer Relationships
Phone orders are slow, rife with miscommunication, and hold your staff hostage to the ringing instead of out on the floor doing what they do best. Text, on the other hand, increases accuracy because guests write down and send in their own orders directly. Connect your text ordering system to your Kitchen Display so cooks can get started right away. The sooner dishes come out, the sooner couriers can grab them and get them to the customer’s door.
Satisfy your customers, and you’ll have their loyalty for life. Online ordering naturally gathers more information than sit-down seating or phone orders because your system can save their customer profiles. That way you know when they usually visit, what they order and how much they spend. Then you’ll create better promotional campaigns tailored for your audience’s preferences and habits. The better you know your guests, the more effectively you serve them.
Text Ordering Moving Forward
Going where your best customers go means adapting to new trends. Text ordering is just the next step in giving customers a satisfactory dining experience. It’s more convenient and more accurate than calling in delivery over the phone. The future of food service is only getting more digital, and this is one avenue with the potential to grow a lot during the pandemic and after it passes. To give the best service possible, you need a superior Point of Sale system that works with your business every step of the way.
