INTRODUCTION
Customer acquisition is a key indicator of success for restaurants, but it can often go untracked or undermeasured, especially among independent restaurants or smaller establishments.
According to a meta-analysis by Focus Digital, restaurants typically spend approximately $30-$180 to attract a new customer, depending on the style of restaurant. If your restaurant isn’t tracking customer acquisition, you are missing opportunities to assess and optimize your marketing efforts and ROI. Moreover, you could be missing out on ways to convert new guests to repeat customers, who tend to spend 67% more than new customers.
Following are three ways your restaurant can track customer acquisition.
HOW TO TRACK CUSTOMER BEHAVIORS THROUGH YOUR RESTAURANT’S POS OR CRM
Leverage your restaurant’s point of sale (POS) system and/or customer relationship management (CRM) tool to track new and repeat customers, consumer behaviors and trends.
Use the POS customer directory or “guestbook” features to build profiles for guests, which can include information such as their name, contact information, dining frequency or the payment method they use. This can help you track new and repeat visits and use behavior-related data for remarketing efforts.
For example, you can look at a guest’s last order date, customer status (e.g., new or frequent) or favorite items to build tailored promotions. For instance, you could send an email to a guest who hasn’t visited recently using language like, “We haven’t seen you in a while,” or create bounce-back offers for new guests (e.g., “enjoy half-off your next appetizer when you visit again”). You can also show appreciation for your most loyal guest by offering them their favorite menu item (e.g., most ordered) for free on their birthday or at a discounted price during their next visit.
Some of the most straightforward ways to capture guest information are through online reservations or ordering, or through handheld tablets that servers can use at tables.
Look at bulk data or large segments of customers to get a deeper understanding of your restaurant’s customer base. This can help you identify trends, calculate your percentage of new customer acquisitions and compare data to your active marketing campaigns to get a sense of what is bringing people in.
POS systems such as Toast, Digital Dining and Square have these types of features built into the system, while others may need to be integrated with separate CRM software.
WHY YOU SHOULD USE TRACKING CODES AND FORMS TO ASSESS CUSTOMER ACQUISITION FROM MARKETING EFFORTS
Without effective tracking, it can be difficult to determine which marketing efforts led to a reservation or order. Use campaign-specific tracking codes that can be read in tools like Google Analytics and landing pages with forms and/or promo codes to analyze what is working and which efforts you can skip or scale back on in the future.
For example, your restaurant may be promoting an upcoming wine dinner through email marketing, social media or more traditional advertising, such as a print ad in your local paper. Each of these efforts should be tracked separately. Add UTM tracking codes (e.g., [landing page URL]/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=boost&utm_campaign=winedinner) to your CTA buttons or QR codes to track the source of website traffic from these efforts (in this case, we know someone came to this wine dinner webpage from a Facebook post we boosted).
You should also include promo codes in your ads and/or a form on your landing page to track the source of actual transactions or conversions. Using the example above, you could use codes like “Facebook-10” or “Email-10” to offer 10% off for early bird reservations for your wine dinner. Customers would then enter the code when making a reservation, so you know which marketing effort led to a transaction, and to whom to give the discount.
Similarly, you can include an online reservation form with a field that asks how customers heard about your wine dinner, listing each marketing effort. Make sure to include non-paid efforts as well, such as “from a friend” or “from my server.”
Compare the reservation data from your event with your POS or CRM records to discern whether they are new customers or repeat guests. You can also assign participants to a “special event” or “wine dinner” segment that can be referenced in the future.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR FRONT OF HOUSE STAFF TO GET FEEDBACK DIRECTLY FROM CUSTOMERS
New and repeat customers obtained from over-the-phone reservations and walk-in tables should also be tracked to get a complete picture of your operations. Train your hosts, servers and bartenders to get to know your customers and ask key questions, such as “Have you dined with us before?” or “How did you hear about us?”
This information should be recorded in your POS when opening a ticket or table. You should also train your team to drive repeat business. For example, they can encourage guests to sign up for your loyalty program (thus getting them into your system) to get exclusive deals, special offers or first looks at upcoming events.
Have them use incentive-based language instead of a generic prompt. For instance, they should say something like, “If you sign up for our loyalty program today, you get [DEAL] for your next visit,” vs. “Would you like to sign up for our loyalty program?”
While it can be challenging for your team to include these questions in every conversation, especially on busy nights, it is essential to incorporate these procedures in your operations. Include them in your onboarding for new team members. You should also offer frequent training and provide reviews for your team to stay on track.
In addition, consider running a contest or offering bonuses to incentivize your staff to follow through.