Welcome to the latest blog in our ongoing marketing series. In this article we discuss how to improve marketing through data.
Something every person at Preoday is passionate about is data; we are proud of the data we help our clients gather on their customers and how our technology lets them analyse it for use. Unlike online ordering companies that withhold customer data from their clients, we see data as an essential part of our service and believe it helps grow successful hospitality businesses. Without it, how can a restaurant, bar, event venue, theatre or stadium get to know its customers better?
From location data to purchase history, basket size and frequency of return visits the wealth of customer data may seem complex, but in this case, it really isn’t. Here we share how you can use some of the data you collect through your Preoday platform for a specific purpose: marketing.
Data collected over a month or two can tell you exactly what meals and options on a menu are most popular and at what times. For instance, a venue with a wide range of food types might notice that on Tuesdays, customers crave curry. On Friday, they’ll order a large chips as opposed to the medium size they would select on other days of the week.
Time-related deals are a popular tool for businesses and are usually very successful. Using data, that success can be pushed further.
With your knowledge of popular meal options and times, there are two paths to take. The route you take depends on your sales objective. If you want to capitalise on the observed trend, you might aim to push a Two Curry Tuesday: Buy two curries instead of one and get a free naan bread. Alternatively, you might prefer to encourage customers to increase their portion sizes on a day other than Friday. If so, try offering a small future-facing discount: Go large on Wednesdays, claim extra-large on Fridays.
Make the most of milestones
Your data tells you everything you need to take advantage of the big milestones in you online ordering journey. Do you most want to attract new customers or drive the number of orders taken from existing ones? Whichever it is, first check the data and see if your figures are close to reaching a round number; for instance, you might have had 478 orders in total; not far off 500. Use the figure to market your ordering portal on your public/social channels:
“We’re approaching our 500th mobile order! We will be giving £25 credit to the customer that places the 500th order…so get clicking!”
You can even place a small budget behind a social post to extend the reach of the competition/offer. This will encourage existing customers to place orders while also attracting new audiences.
Personalisation
The data collected from the Preoday platform includes specific information relating to individual customers. For instance, you can tell when Brenda Cummings first placed an order with you, how large her orders are on average and how many times she has placed an order across a set period of time. You can also tell if Brenda goes to sleep.
No, not literally. In data terms, a sleeping customer is one that hasn’t placed an order for a known period. If the data tells you that Brenda likes a medium, pepperoni pizza and 1ltr bottle of coke every two weeks and has done for the last 6 months, you have the chance to investigate if her orders stop. Two months on from Brenda’s last order, and with the knowledge of her favourite order under your belt, send her a marketing email or text with a personalised offer:
“Brenda, we haven’t seen you for ages, have you gone off pepperoni? Perhaps you’d like to take advantage of this special offer just for you? Order a medium pepperoni pizza this week and get your 1ltr bottle of coke, free!”
Without data, you’d have never known Brenda was gone, with it, you have a chance to win her back.
Knowing how to improve marketing through data is important; data provides a measure of how your customers think, feel and behave. If you want to know how well your customer base has taken to a new dish, you just need to check the data. If they haven’t picked up on it, you can decide whether to ditch it or put extra marketing emphasis behind it. And that’s the point. Data tells you about your business and helps you make informed business decisions with greater ease.
If you’re a Preoday customer but haven’t been making the most of the data you’re collecting, let us know. We’ll happily take you through your dashboard so you can take advantage and improve marketing through data in the future.
It’s not as catchy as: ‘When is a door not a door?’ (answer, when it’s a jar) but it speaks to the idea that in-car collection, and the technologies that support it, are flexible enough to bend to the needs of a business and its guests.
Delivery can be daunting to the uninitiated, and it might be tempting to sign up with a third-party ordering aggregator that offers the service, such as UberEats, but other options could suit your business and brand better. Here we present three different ‘levels’ of delivery, starting with the most basic – and cheapest method: doing it yourself.
