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Why Your Restaurant Needs Online Ordering

Restaurants of all shapes and sizes have had to close their doors for their dine-in customers all over the country, and in many places across the world, as well. Many have had to figure out how to start offering carry-out and delivery on the fly, and some have even had to create these systems from the ground up.

Lots of business owners are facing new challenges amidst the coronavirus pandemic, and the transition to carry-out and/or delivery has been one of the biggest for restaurant owners everywhere. Many have relied on third-party companies, like DoorDash and Uber Eats, but even with their help, you should make it a point to start offering online ordering on your website.

5 Reasons Your Restaurant Needs Online Ordering

#1. Save on expensive fees.

Delivery apps, like DoorDash and Grubhub, are great for helping you get found, and you can think of them as another marketing channel for you. But, they take hefty cuts. In fact, the four biggest third-party delivery services — Grubhub, DoorDash, Post Mates, and Uber Eats — are facing a class-action lawsuit for charging exorbitant fees to restaurants struggling in the wake of coronavirus and that have no other delivery options.

Restaurants that can offer curbside pickup or their own delivery services can save money, and your goal should be to try to get customers to order via your website. You could even sneak in some coupons for those who order from your website next time for pick-up. You could offer a discount that’s maybe half what you have to pay to DoorDash or Grubhub; your customers will save money, and so will you!

#2. Some people still prefer to carry out their orders.

Delivery is great and has been a godsend for many restaurants and consumers alike during this pandemic, but a lot of people are also looking for an excuse to get out of the house. Additionally, some people want to support local restaurants but don’t want to pay pricey delivery fees themselves or don’t want to take the risks associated with delivery. For those people, carry-out or curb-side pick-up is the ideal choice, and when you offer online ordering on your website, it’s not a difficult thing to set up.

Having online ordering makes it easy to create your own carry-out system, especially if your customers can create an account and save their orders and preferred payment method. This will make the checkout process super fast via their phone. That way, it only takes a minute to place their order, so it’s ready for pickup.

#3. Leverage the data to drive sales and improve your marketing efforts.

The more orders you have placed through your website, the more data you can leverage to improve your marketing strategy and drive more sales. As I mentioned earlier, third-party delivery apps give you another way for your restaurant to be found, which makes them a marketing channel. Unfortunately, though, the access to the data you need to fine-tune your efforts is limited on those apps.

But with your website’s online ordering system, you’ll have a lot more valuable data at your disposal. You’ll be able to see what marketing campaigns are working best, what traffic sources drive the most sales, etc.

With this kind of data, you can revamp your efforts, and you’ll be able to spend more money on what’s working and less money on what’s not. This will help you to maximize your budget.

#4. Give your customers more options.

Whether your customers prefer to pick up their food or have someone deliver it, it’s important to have the option they prefer available to them. If you don’t, chances are, they’ll move onto another local restaurant that does, which means that you’ll lose out on their business.

Make clear buttons on your website that say “Order for Delivery” and “Order for Pickup.” This way, you’re giving your customers an option, but you can also divert the delivery traffic from Doordash or Grubhub and pick it up on your online ordering system. This makes it easy for your customers.

Even if you offer your own delivery service, you might still want to give them the option to order via Doordash or Grubhub if your customers prefer that experience. For many restaurants and other small businesses in this day and age, the more options you can give your customers, the better off you’ll be.

#5. Enhance your loyalty programs.

When someone places an order through your website,it allows you to gather their phone number, email address, and other information that you can use to enhance your nourishment efforts. You can also utilize this information to design a loyalty program for your happy customers.

With the information you gather in the online ordering process, you can send your customers discounts and updates through SMS text message blasts and email campaigns, which can help to generate more business. You could also create a points system, so that people can earn discounts or free items or meals when they’ve spent a certain amount of money with you or have ordered a certain number of times.

If your restaurant’s website isn’t what it should be, or if it’s not capable of supporting the kind of online ordering system you need to stay afloat during the pandemic, it’s time to build your own website with Websites 360®.

Our website builder is easy to use and designed to offer everything you need — including a responsive, SEO-friendly, and customizable design — and we offer a ton of great design templates to choose from. Best of all, anyone can create a beautiful website using our website builder, even if you don’t have any website design experience to speak of. And, when you need additional help, our team is standing by.

Start building your DIY restaurant website today, and learn about the restaurant marketing solutions from Marketing 360®!