Digital delivery and takeout orders for restaurants are set to skyrocket this year. In fact, experts predict digital delivery orders will increase from 40-80% in 2022/2023.
In the year ending in March 2021:
- Restaurant digital orders increased 124% compared to the prior year
- Digital orders for carryout increased 130%
- Digital orders for delivery increased by 140%
“Delivery is going to reshape the restaurant landscape on the backside of COVID. If anything, the pandemic hastened what was already coming. The “new normal” in the end might be something operators are plenty familiar with—convenience,” explains Danny Klein in QSR Magazine.
For restaurant owners and operators, this means online delivery and takeout orders will remain critical to a restaurant’s success. But, with so many different delivery apps and services, how can restaurant owners and operators get their customers to order takeout and delivery directly from their own website?
5 Key Strategies to Increase Your Restaurant’s Digital Takeout and Delivery Orders:
- Update your Google My Business information
- Update your website
- Advertise with social media
- Create digital-only incentives
- Appreciate your customers
Update your Google My Business
To begin, one of the best ways to encourage customers to place their takeout and delivery orders on your restaurant’s website is to update your Google My Business info.
Google is one of the first ways hungry customers search for their takeout and delivery options. To ensure customers can easily find your restaurant’s website and place an order, you need to update your restaurant’s listing.
Here’s how to update your Google My Business:
- Claim your listing on Google My Business
- Update your listing with your most up-to-date information.
- Add your online ordering system so customers can place takeout and delivery orders.
Update your website
Next, another great way to increase online takeout and delivery orders on your restaurant’s website is to make online ordering easy.
Buttons, banners, or pop-ups that say “Order Here” or “Order Now” should be the first thing a customer sees on your website.
If you need help creating an online-ordering friendly website, a platform like Dash can help. Dash helps restaurants easily create customized online ordering websites, complete with menu management and marketing tools like menu promotions, digital gift cards, and powerful loyalty tools.
Create digital-only incentives
Third, if you want more online orders for takeout and delivery on your restaurant’s website, consider creating special digital-only incentives.
For example, incentives for ordering from your restaurant’s website could include:
- 5% or 10% off all takeout and delivery orders placed on your website
- Free drinks, sides, or desserts
- Adding special online-only menu items or drinks
- Create menu items that tie into local events or holidays
- Create a digital loyalty program that gives customers points for online takeout and delivery orders placed on your restaurant’s website
Advertise on social media
Another strategy to increase takeout and delivery orders on your restaurant’s website? Social media.
Social media is a powerful – and free! – tool to advertise your restaurant and encourage more digital delivery and takeout orders from your website.
In fact, 45% of U.S. diners have tried a restaurant for the first time because of a social media post according to a study published in QSR Magazine.
To harness the power of social media to boost your restaurant’s online takeout and delivery orders, first make sure all of your social bio links go directly to your online ordering page.
Next, make sure to frequently update your followers by posting your restaurant’s specials, promos, or digital-only incentives on your social media channels. Consider offering flash specials or discounts to your followers, like 10% off, to encourage even more delivery and takeout orders from your website.
Finally, be sure to use social media to show off your food and entice hungry scrollers to become satisfied customers. (For tips on how to take great food photos, check out this post.)
Share your appreciation for your customers
Finally, one more strategy to increase digital takeout and delivery orders on your restaurant’s website is to show your appreciation for your customers and for their loyalty.
To do this, use your social media channels and website to feature positive reviews and customer’s great food photos of your delivery and takeout.
Also, consider adding a special thank you note to all receipts for digital takeout and delivery orders placed on your restaurant’s website.
Finally, you can also create your own thank-you message to share on your website or social feeds that shouts out your love for your customers and their orders.
