We know you’re busy and have a to-do list that’s a mile long, but if you’re serious about growing your business, you need to start with the basics. Who are your customers, and where do they come from? We present to you: Google Analytics. Millions of businesses both big and small rely on this tool for web analytics. It’s a free and relatively simple tool to use.
We reckon google analytics is the perfect partner for your online ordering system. But in case you’re not familiar, we thought we’d give you a quick overview of some of the basics and how you can use them in your hospitality business.
It’s a tool that allows you to track visitors to your online shop, telling you where people have come from (through social media or email for example). You can then utilise this information to give you a better insight on how to convert these visits into sales.
You don’t need to track visits. You could just let them happen and hope for the best … just like you could continue to use marketplace apps and never own YOUR data. But as we’ve said before, if you’re looking for long term growth, you might want to reconsider. Here are a couple reasons
You want your customers to be able to find your store easily and from multiple channels. Whether they come through ads, social or just searching for your URL, you need to understand the role that each of these channels plays in your overall sales mix.
To find traffic sources for specific pages you just need to do the following:
Once you’ve grasped the basics and have learnt to navigate around your analytics, it’s time to start analysing. Looking at the data is really important and interesting but it’s what you do with it that matters.
Pay attention to what days and times are most popular with your customers and tailor your offering to what they need. Do you need to have more staff available to support your online shop on those days? Or might you need to stock up on a certain product! With analytics, you can start to anticipate customer needs.
Where are they ordering from? You might have grounds to expand your delivery radius or even think about adding ‘nationwide’ delivery to your lineup so that more people have access to your venue.
It can also give you insight into what you’re not doing well and indicate where you can improve. For example, are customers bouncing (leaving the site) before actually buying anything? Do you need to update your imagery, change product descriptions or offer a more affordable delivery rate? Analytics can help you answer all these questions and more.
Google Analytics can be intimidating at first, but it’s a really great tool when you get your head around it. Once you’ve mastered the basics and optimised your organic channels, let us help you level up. At Slerp we have an expert team of digital and performance marketers who can support you. They can increase your revenue, running ads on your social media and google search, and help you boost your search ranking through SEO, all of which attract new leads and convert them into orders.
Remember we’re always here for any questions you have or support you need, just drop us a line and we can guide you through the tools that are right for you and your hospitality business.
The hospitality industry has shown incredible resilience and adaptability in the face of the pandemic. One key trend to come from this has been the development of efficient, dependable and sophisticated systems for online ordering.
The unpredictable conditions of today’s landscape have led to many more restaurants, takeaways, and similar businesses investing in the development of online ordering and apps. So if you have recently made the excellent decision to partner with Slerp, what are the best ways to spread the word about your new digital capabilities?
If your target customers are wondering whether your hospitality business accepts online orders, one of the first things they are likely to do is visit your business’s website.
When they take that step, will they see an obvious and direct link to your online ordering system? A strong ‘call to action’ button should be placed front-and-centre on your restaurant or takeaway’s website, not hidden away in a fiddly dropdown menu.
One place you are likely to already have an engaged audience, is your brand’s social media pages. Whether your hospitality firm is active on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, there’s a lot of scope to shout about the slickness and convenience of your online ordering system with a post or tweet.
Don’t forget that social media is an amazing tool for advertising networks. So, it could be a good idea to use it to get your brand and products in front of people who are not already following your business’s social pages.
Utilise social media as an effective and affordable tool.
We all love loyalty perks, everybody loves a freebie and to feel valued. The situation is no different for your hospitality firm! You can now introduce a loyalty scheme that automatically awards customers stamps or points every time they order from you, regardless of whether it’s in person, in app or online.
It is well-known that loyalty programmes can help drive repeat orders and customer retention. At Slerp, though, we take it one step further. Partner with us and we will give you access to fully automated tools that could further help you get customers buying from you again, based on their shopping history and habits.
If you’re trying to work out who is most likely to order online with you look no further than your existing in-premise customer base. Yes they like to dine with you in person, or purchase in store, but there will be a time when they’re at home and they’re looking to order in, make sure that they think of you.
Ensure you have signage in and around your physical store, highlighting the wide-ranging online ordering capabilities you offer. Eye-catching, colourful banners featuring your website link or a QR code can go a long way – as could promotional flyers distributed to nearby homes.
Encourage your in store customers to get online.
This is another ‘old-school’ method for promoting aspects of your business, but it is a powerful one. Just imagine the awareness you could gain for your online ordering capabilities, if you simply added a QR code or printed a message about your website, ordering app and loyalty scheme on every food box you deliver.
Many of the best ways of spreading the word about your online ordering capabilities are free or relatively inexpensive – so don’t overlook great promotional opportunities right under your nose.
And don’t worry if you would rather not be too distracted from your core business right now. Partnering with Slerp can enable you to make the most of our expertise in online ordering, while freeing up your team to do what they do best.
The UK is, in many ways, a nation of takeaways. The longstanding tradition of our enjoyment is proven in the figures. Household expenditure on takeaways across the country has risen from £7.4 billion in 2009 to £11.2 billion in 2021, and is set to hit £15 billion by 2023.
But will your own takeaway business enjoy a share of that growth? To give yourself the best chance, you should be looking not just at the attractiveness of your brick-and-mortar business for ‘walk-ins’, but also at how your takeaway can better capitalise on the online space this year and beyond.
So, whether your takeaway has had some level of online presence for a while or you are only just beginning to set up a website or Google My Business listing, here are some of the steps that will really help power your takeaway business.
It doesn’t matter how big your marketing budget may be, if you lack a clear sense of what makes your takeaway distinctively attractive, you will struggle to see the success of your campaigns.
Are there unique foods or ingredients you offer? What’s your price point? Does your takeaway business specialise in ‘cheap and cheerful’ familiar favourites, or do you emphasise a particular food quality or level of experimentation with flavours, styles and shapes?
Customers are increasingly taking advantage of the variety of takeaways that give them the option to order online… and we aren’t just talking about having a standard website set up. Your platform needs to be prepared for a variety of different orders.
Some customers might want you to deliver directly to their home. Which means your system needs to be simple, intuitive and optimised for a swift delivery process, with no compromise to the quality of the food the customer receives.
Local customers might wish to take advantage of ‘click and collect’, which could be especially handy if they are on their phones and already close to your site. And speaking of phones, could now be the time for your takeaway business to have its own branded app?
Fortunately for you, these are all things that we can help you with! With Slerp by your side, your online takeaway ordering system will not only help your business to spread awareness online, but also operate more efficiently to ensure the utmost customer satisfaction and power growth.
As we’ve mentioned, it’s no longer sufficient to settle for a ‘bare bones’ online presence – unless you’re happy to miss out on a lot of potential business. This is true not only for your website and online ordering system but your whole digital marketing approach – and there will almost certainly be something more you could be doing.
Image orientated platforms like Instagram go hand in hand with food photography. Remember, you want to take advantage of your customers’ cravings, so experimenting with various angles and lighting for items from your menu will enable you to produce the most ‘instagrammable’ content to really get your customers excited.
There are so many impactful ways to promote your online takeaway. Are you using targeted ads to spread the word about your brand and products? If not, the team at Slerp can help incorporate this into your digital marketing.
The things that make a takeaway business successful these days have changed and progressed massively from the methods used 10 or 20 years ago. So it’s up to you to keep track of the latest trends and developments. Contact the experts at Slerp today, and we’ll help you get every aspect of your brand’s approach to online ordering and marketing just right.
