Food has Never Been so Easy and Sanitary Secure to Order
Airtouch New Media launches its Multi Channel Pickup or Take Away Contactless Digital Food Ordering Platform for Restaurants.
It is well known that to offer a frictionless experience to customers is the most important success factors in addition to the food offer itself. People loves to eat their favorite dishes having no issues during the entire customer journey. If we make it special, we ensure a loyal customer that will come back for sure.
If we define Customer Journey like all the moments on which a customer interacts with a Brand, there is no question that the entire ordering process within a Restaurant business has to be efficient and we should be able to leverage technology and all the complementary channels like: Phone, Computers and Smart Speakers properly to offer the optimal experience on each stage of the ordering experience. All the channels should act in a complementary way of the experience without been substitutive. If you are at home or work and you want to make a complex order, you might use the Computer. When on the GO or at the Restaurant you might use your Phone. If you want to make a quick order and you are at your sofa you might want to just request to Alexa your favorite menu.
In many businesses the multi-channel factor plays a two faces situation where in one hand to implement different alternatives (App, Chatbot, Voicebot) for the customer to make an order and solve their needs is something very positive but in the other side it is very challenging and could be expensive for the business. This is why the ideal is to implement gradually the channel(s) that make the most sense first depending on the country/region where you are, the customers profile and the kind of service you provide on your restaurant (Quick Service vs Casual Dinning). It is very important that the solution platform you choose allows you to add additional channels and scale the service in the future to not to start a technological nightmare where you have multiple disconnected platforms and multiple vendors.
But which channels to use?
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Own Mobile App and Website Food Ordering
Quick Service or Casual Food Restaurant? If you have several locations and your budget allows you to implement an own App or Web to make a medium, long term strategy that involves Ordering and Loyalty programs, option 1 should be your greatest starting option. In this scenario, you need to think that you will need to maintain both channels. You should only select this option if you have enough brand awareness so the customers will download the app and access your website without relevant efforts.
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Customizable Web or Mobile Browsing Templates Food Ordering:
We’re recommending this if you already have a simple website and/or App without any food ordering. Especially if you would like to implement the service without a huge investment. In this case you only need to add an ordering button on both channels and the user will have an ordering experience within a customizable template. This option is very straight forward and is less expensive than the previous option where the ordering experience is custome made and integrated into the channels.
This a very interesting alternative if your restaurant(s) are located in countries/regions where customers don’t mandatorily have a computer or a high end Smartphone with enough space for having many apps installed and WhatsApp has a huge penetration. Whatsapp Ordering is a great option since it is easy to promote, don’t use memory space, and the Bot drives users through a step by step conversational experience to make an order. It is a very popular option in Africa, Middle East, India and Latam. Outside of the mentioned regions and of the US, it can also be a great option if you are interested to add innovation and new niches. Don’t underestimate its viral effect.
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Amazon Alexa:
This alternative is for those restaurant chains that already have option 1 or 2 and would love to provide a very convenient and comfortable channel for small but very important occasions. You can ask for the status order, order a favorite menu or making a quick not elaborated order. There isn’t a faster and easier way to do it rather than Alexa and it is for spoiling your customers.
As a conclusion, with or without Covid, Digital Ordering will definitely grow and be more and more implemented within restaurants. Since we live in a world that is multichannel and there will always be new coming, it is better to get married to a Platform that can easily integrate the channel(s) that are the most appropriate at every moment and that has low entry barriers.
Bon Appétit!