Did you know that? Acquiring new customers is 5X more expensive than retaining the ones you already have. And today's consumers are even more demanding about where they spend their time and money. So building loyalty is a long-term strategy that is essential!
This article explains how customer loyalty can help you increase your revenues and keep them, with 6 simple ideas to apply!
What is loyalty in the restaurant industry?
As a restaurant, you know how difficult it is to satisfy all your customers every day. There are many uncertainties. Yet, it is your perfect mastery of the welcome, the service, the dishes and all those little details that will make every experience a successful one. And that your customers will come back. In short, you need to make sure you are providing your customers with the best possible experience.
But beyond the experience in the dining room or on the plate, there are now many additional tools and means to build customer loyalty and make them want to come back: loyalty program, communication on social networks, etc.
We tell you everything below!
Why retention is important for your restaurant
At first glance, you might think that a restaurant with endless new customers is positive. Yes, it is, provided that it also has a good base of loyal customers!
Here's why:
- 64% of diners choose to spend more at a restaurant they trust, even if the price goes up (Source: Hospitality Technology)
- During the off-season or during difficult times, it is better to have a loyal clientele than to close temporarily.
- Lower customer acquisition cost: loyalty programs create brand ambassadors, i.e. people who recommend the restaurant to their friends, family or followers on networks. Indeed, most people trust recommendations from their friends and family more than any other form of marketing.
- A turnover that increases: a loyal customer spends 67% more on average than a new customer! (Source: Skeat)
How to build customer loyalty? Our 6 tips
Here are our 6 tips that you can implement in your restaurant in order to build customer loyalty.
1. Focus on the customer experience
To err is human, and a steak that is just a little bit undercooked can be easily forgiven by most people. However, this is not the case for poor service. The guest experience is a key element in the customer loyalty process.
Inattentive or rude staff can ruin the most appetizing meals and successful cocktails in the world. Your employees must understand that treating customers as welcome guests is their top priority. This means ensuring that service is always perfect, down to the smallest detail, every time.
Let your customers know how happy you are to see them again and make them feel even more unique by greeting them by name and remembering their preferences. Customer expectations must be exceeded. A poor reception is remembered more than a delicious meal. Be sure to impress your guests at every opportunity!
2. Offer quality products
There is no doubt about it. The quality of the products you offer in your menus does not go unnoticed by your customers. This is even more the case today, where diners have dozens of options at their disposal, whether they order in or take away! In addition, people are increasingly looking for organic or local products.
👉 To go further: fast food, the boom in plant-based alternatives
3. Get your customers to join the restaurant
87% of shoppers are influenced by social networks when making purchasing decisions (source: Findly). Restaurants are no exception! And most importantly, it's free. So open up Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even TikTok and you'll see how active fast food restaurants are.
Engagement on these platforms is crucial, especially on Instagram. It is a great platform to showcase your establishment. Regular posts, neat photos, stories and videos, the right hashtags, encourage your customers to come back to your restaurant, while attracting new guests! Yes, the networks allow you to maintain contact with your loyal customers.
Our advice: post several times a week, share attractive photos of your new dishes, highlight your latest offers and interact with your customers!
And if you have a dedicated budget to promote your establishment, take advantage of the power of Facebook to precisely target your ideal audience.
👉 We talk about it in this article: How to advertise on Facebook?
4. Consult and respond to bad reviews
If some reviews are unfounded or even intended to tarnish your restaurant's image, try to learn as much as you can from your customers' comments to continually improve and offer a better experience!
It's also essential to take the time to respond to comments and reviews on social networks like Google My Business. Especially the bad comments! Because if you don't respond to them, it will leave the impression that your customers are not important to you. So you need to neutralize the criticism by giving a well organized, constructive answer, even if it means admitting you are wrong in some cases. But don't overdo it. Professionalism and respect should always guide your responses.
5. Promote customer-generated content
Still on social networks, remember to reply to any post mentioning your establishment. It is a way to show your customers that you are close to them, to give them importance. So don't hesitate to reply to them in order to increase interaction, it's a very good customer loyalty technique!
For your most connected (and satisfied) customers, it's common to take pictures of your establishment and your dishes and post them on their favorite platform. This is the perfect content to feed your own social networks! Simply ask them for the right to reuse their photos and mention them in exchange. They will be happy to contribute to your image and it will create a strong link between you and them.
6. Develop online booking
Do you know why online booking is an effective customer retention tool?
Imagine that a customer reserves a table in your restaurant via your online reservation system. He fills in his email address and other personal data, then you send him an email to confirm his reservation.
Result:
- your guest is sure to remember his reservation and come,
- you take advantage of the email to convey the spirit of your restaurant (with beautiful photos for example),
- and why not, insert an offer (like a free drink when you make your next online reservation).
If this is just a simple example of a marketing action designed to bring your customers back through online booking, feel free to imagine others!
Focus: the customer loyalty program
An effective loyalty program is essential to keep your customers coming back.
How to make your customers want to come back to your restaurant?
To develop a loyalty program that works, make sure the reward is attractive and accessible enough. It doesn't have to be something expensive! It just needs to be appealing and not too complicated to obtain. Otherwise, your customers might get discouraged and the offer might not work.
Some examples of easy to implement offers:
- a 10% discount if they sign up for your loyalty program,
- A free product if they spend a certain amount,
- One free menu after 10 menus ordered from you,
- Exclusive or limited time promotions,
- Etc.
Why create a loyalty program?
The easiest way to set up a program? Rely on digital: it's easy and quick to set up via a mobile application. And this way, your customers are guaranteed to never lose their paper loyalty card, which can be very frustrating for them.
For you, a digital loyalty program allows you to easily pilot your offers to implement relevant strategies according to your customers' habits and expectations.
While it's true that creating a loyalty program takes some time at first, it's a strategy that pays off in the long run. In fact, Skeat's study shows a 25-95% increase in restaurant revenue for only a 5% increase in loyalty.
Result: by developing a community of loyal customers, you ensure regular income and at the same time you create ambassadors of your brand who will share their experience and their good deals around them... And bring in new customers. It's a virtuous circle!
👉 Going further: loyalty: how do you get your customers to really use your program?
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Do you want to build customer loyalty? At Innovorder, we help hundreds of fast-food establishments achieve this goal through digital technology. Ask an expert to help you!
