Restaurants Can Earn Business by Reducing Friction for Customers

Since the onset of COVID-19, restaurants went “all in” with online and mobile ordering as well as other ways to reduce friction with customers, including delivery, curbside pick-up, kiosks and more. The idea is to make it easy for customers to place orders through a variety of methods and in a way that reduces or eliminates contact between customers and employees.

Many of these efforts, especially for quick-serve restaurants, are aimed at getting customers their food faster. In that game, seconds count – big time. Here are some tips for your restaurant customers to eliminate friction throughout the customer experience to improve service and earn repeat customers.

• To speed ordering, go mobile – Mobile order-ahead, whether through a loyalty app or website, is an effective remedy. It results in wait times up to 2.4 times shorter than in-store ordering, according to a study from Rakuten Ready, a location-centric mobile commerce platform.
• Pandemic drives need for delivery – Delivering food to customers may be the ultimate way to reduce friction and, since the pandemic, food delivery has taken off.
• Serving up in-house ordering – Strategies for reducing friction in sit-down restaurants include in-house online ordering, whether using a tablet on the table or a customer’s own device. It’s a simple matter for a customer to scan a QR code with their device and be taken to an online menu.
• Technology is required – A good POS system that supports integration with myriad other apps is crucial. Increasingly, restaurants are opting for a cloud-based POS, which lowers the up-front capital expense and relieves the restaurant from worrying about constant updates. And security should be top of mind for any business, and restaurants are certainly no exception.

For a closer look at how restaurants can earn business by reducing friction for customers, read the full story on the Comcast Business Community, and be sure to share this information with your restaurant customers.