Building Restaurant Customer Loyalty
Customers come and go daily but how influential is your restaurant to the extent that customer loyalty is heavily associated with your brand?
Do you feel that there is a buzz around your restaurant? Do you believe that the repeat business shown by your customers is profitable in the long run? If the answer is yes (and it should be), then this article is a must read. We will tap into the most practical ways to grow restaurant customer loyalty for your food business.
Did you know that obtaining a new diner to your restaurant can be as much as 5 to 25 times more expensive than holding on to a frequent customer. Whereas boosting retention of just 5% can lead to profits increasing by over 25%. Restaurant customer loyalty is necessary for long-term success as it helps restaurants improve their overall brand. You can expect frequent customer loyalty to provide consistent revenue and retention over a period of time.
Aside from the consistent flow of income that restaurant customer loyalty brings, a loyal customer can prove to be valuable in the long term by driving awareness of your restaurant. Interested in finding out more about restaurant customer loyalty? Keep reading! We will highlight 3 valuable methods that will help you on your restaurant customer loyalty journey.
Create A Restaurant Customer Loyalty Points System
Who doesn’t love a reward? Enable your customers to earn through a loyalty program that credits them with points, giving them the opportunity to gain exclusive offers and promotions which can be redeemed when a customer next visits.
People love winning games and the main indicator for success in most games are points. Businesses have evolved with the times, with many now offering a points system that rewards customers for being loyal – this is known as gamification. Most common techniques that track and measure a customer’s data are through loyalty cards and smartphone apps.
Implementing a points system that rewards customers per visit will create the impression that your restaurant delivers added value…beyond the norm. Creating a points based system will incentivise customers to dine with your restaurant again and again, with the hope that their loyalty is acknowledged with prizes.
Collect Data on Customer’s Needs & Expectations
As technology continues to evolve, it is apparent that data has a huge role when making strategic business decisions, analytics have transformed the way restaurants engage and target customers. An approach that will help lower the risk of this threat would be to strengthen restaurant customer loyalty through a full understanding of your customers — this can be achieved through analysis of your customer and their behaviour.
It is a fact that your loyalty program requires data, but the data must be relevant and useful. Useful data will offer reliable answers to your customer’s preferences, spending habits and their overall favourability to your menu. These data points provide more ways to accurately target your customer. Over time this will earn the trust of your customers and grow overall restaurant customer loyalty.
Here at GoKart, analytics are frequently used to help match your restaurant the best food suppliers. Utilising the latest technology,we use high-quality data to determine which suppliers who will offer you the best deal.
Strengthen Restaurant Customer Loyalty with Communication
Did you know that there has been an increasing number of restaurants using communication such as email and texts. Currently, text messages and emails are proving to be a great way for restaurants to communicate with customers. If your customers are willing to provide their personal information, such as an email or phone number… then it’s your duty to offer them value in return.
Do the research! One way to easily understand the needs and expectations of your customers is by creating customer satisfaction surveys. Customer satisfaction surveys are designed to invite customers to express their opinion and can help you segment your customers into different categories. Also, encouraging customers to drop a review after a meal can enable you to measure how likeable your restaurants’ offering are and to make changes where needed. Not to mention the added benefits for your restaurant’s online presence – you can read our blog on restaurant SEO here.
A great loyalty program will be seen to have custom groups of communication which help identify customers who are the right fit for certain criteria. Take this for example, the development for a premium menu is under the works which features expensive items, you would want to reach affluent spenders and a well-equipped loyalty program should be able to deliver that communication.
More About GoKart
GoKart works with 100’s of restaurants across the UK – connecting them with the right suppliers and saving them time. We are revolutionising how restaurants order supplies. Explore our suppliers:
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