Part 4 — Online Reservations, Gift Cards, Customer Loyalty Programs and Email Automation

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hi this is Chris Smith again from HYPEsites. Over the past 10 years we have helped over 400 companies succeed online. We have recently analyzed hundreds of restaurant websites and interviewed owners, staff and consumers and are pleased to announce a new initiative to work with restaurant owners/managers to help them increase profitability by matching website marketing and functionality with consumer preferences and shopping habits.

Welcome to our fourth video in our Make More in 2020 series. In this video we will address Online Reservations, Gift Cards, Customer Loyalty Programs and Email Automation.

Build loyalty by allowing customers self-service online reservations

Let's go back to our trusty Google search and Google My Business Listing.

Many restaurants offer reservations, typically via email, website form submission, phone or from a third party booking site like OpenTable (monthly fee + per reservation fee). One drawback, beside the fee, is that like the online order platforms, OpenTable allows the users to search for other restaurants so you could lose some of your reservation traffic to competitors.

By far, the fastest, friendliest, quickest option and most cost-effective method is to offer online reservations directly from your site. No fees, no phone calls, and 40% of restaurant consumers prefer online reservations.

Build loyalty with Gift Cards, Loyalty programs and email automation.

64% of restaurant consumers also want to easily be able to purchase gift cards.

Here we see virtual gift cards added to the menu and customers can easily purchase them directly themselves. Recipients will be notified of the gift via email and can use the card for online ordering or in the restaurant.

45% report that they would use a restaurant's online ordering systems more often if it included a loyalty program.

You can easily add a loyalty program to your online orders to build customer loyalty and to increase the frequency of customers re-ordering. You can see the loyalty notification on the item detail page. After placing the first order, returning customers will see their loyalty balance and can apply it at checkout.

Last but not least, online ordering and reservations require the consumer to provide an email address. All of these customer emails will now be yours to use for retargeting, promotion and email automation.

Now that you’ve watched the video series, how would you grade your restaurant’s website?

Is it serving up what restaurant searchers are looking for? Does it satisfy the 19 out of 20 mobile searchers? Does it help you cost-effectively offer additional services like online ordering, reservations, gift cards and loyalty programs?

Five Star Restaurant Websites Designed for Consumers

HYPEsites built MEXITALY as our demo site to showcase the functionality and features that we bake into our highly engaging and mobile first restaurant websites. Our restaurant sites can be customized to match your branding, style and food menu and include ALL of the features diners want including readable visual menus, online ordering, online reservations, gift card sales and customer loyalty programs.

Best of all, they rate “A+” for usability on a smartphone, “A+” on online features restaurant consumers want and “A+” on search engine indexability.

Call HYPEsites today at 561-901-5922 to arrange for a FREE review of your restaurant website.