Consumers want restaurant food this holiday season. A recent HungerRush survey of 1,000 adult consumers in the U.S. found that 64 percent of respondents said they planned to order at least one food item from a restaurant to include in their holiday meals, while 37 percent said they would order their entire holiday meals from a restaurant. Does your data hold clues as to how you can best support your own guests’ holiday wishes for festive food? Maybe they’re looking to treat themselves after cutting back on meals out of the house this year, to minimize their own prep work at home, or to simply enjoy the festive season with foods they wouldn’t normally make themselves. Fill out your calendar with outreach that taps into those wishes. This could include contacting last year’s guests (and other segmented groups on your email list) to share your holiday menus, take-out meal bundles or limited-time offers. Or, help people get into the holiday spirit by creating videos of your decorated restaurant or your chef preparing a special menu item that you share on social media. Encourage new social media followers (and sharers) by launching a social media contest and offering a free meal or a gift card as a prize. If you have community partners – like charities or complementary businesses – coordinate your social media efforts with them to encourage new people to support you this season. With each promotion, ask yourself what need you’re aiming to fulfill so you can ensure you’re sending out content that connects with your ideal guests. The habits and tastes of the couple who dines with you on a Friday night are likely much different from those of the parent who brings his child in for lunch with you on a Saturday. So your outreach to these guests must be different too. As Paytronix CEO Andrew Robbins recently said, “Fifty percent of people are day-dependent. The day they make a purchase is hugely important.” Getting the day right when communicating offers to them, he says, can make marketing to these guests 50-58 percent more effective. Your loyalty program, therefore, should be able to make guests feel like you’re interacting with them personally (without them noticing you’re doing so at scale). For example, if a guest loves getting takeout from you on a Friday night and she tends to ignore emails, you’ll have an easier time securing her order if you tempt her on a Friday afternoon with a text message that includes a link to (and even a visual of) her favorite order. It’s a much easier “yes” than a blanket email for a new lunch combo deal – though directing that to a certain subset of your guests may work perfectly. When you get guests to sign up for your app or to other forms of communication from you, how far are you able to drill down on their habits and preferences? Consider not just what they like to eat but when, why and how they like to hear from you. More data from them should equal more detailed customization from you. |
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