5 Ways a Restaurant Website Influences a Customer’s Order

Your restaurant website is vital for so many reasons. First, it’s the centerpiece of all your restaurant marketing. Second, it showcases your menu. And third, it’s where customers can go to find out your location and your hours.  

It’s also essential because your restaurant website influences a customer’s order. Let’s look at the five ways it does this.  

#1: Your Website Helps You Get Bigger Orders

Did you know that Millennials don’t like phone calls? A company called BankMyCell did a survey and found out that 75% don’t like phone calls because they take too much time. What’s more, more than 81% of them have anxiety if they’re forced to make a phone call. 

Because of this, you’ll find that your restaurant can first help you get online orders, and second, it can increase your sales because it makes it easy for people.  

For those who don’t like to make a phone call to order from your restaurant or make a reservation, you’ll see your business grow if you offer these features on your website.  

In addition, if someone wants to place a reasonably large order, your restaurant website also influences their order, making it easy for them to order multiple items. It also takes away the possibility of mistakes your staff may make when taking phone orders.  

Lastly, according to one study, more than 60% of restaurants can expect a bump in sales when they have online ordering on their websites. People will often order more online than they would eat in your restaurant. (tweet this) There are several reasons for this: 

• People may order more because they want extra for lunch or for another meal the next day. 
• You may find that people order more online than in your restaurant because they don’t feel self-conscious about the amount of food they order. 
• They may order more because they know they can save it, and so they don’t feel guilty about wasting food. 

#2: You Can Run Promotions

Your restaurant website is the perfect place to highlight the promotions you are running each week. 

If you have a customer that is looking around for a place to eat, they land on your website, and they see you are offering a website-only special, you may find they choose your restaurant instead of the competition. 

You can also offer specials as customers bounce off your website. For example, let’s say someone places a couple of items in their cart. But then they start to click away from your website. You can then have a pop-up that offers them free delivery, 10% off, a free appetizer or dessert, or another special to entice them to stay on your website. 

You’ll find that offering a special is often enough to influence your customer’s order and get them to go ahead and place it.

#3: Your Website Can Highlight Featured Items

Another bonus of your restaurant is its capability to highlight featured items on the front page and also on your online ordering pages. 

You might feature special menu items each day, or you might feature a new menu item. Just by highlighting and featuring unique menu items, you’ll find you sell more of them. 

Here are some ways you can use this to influence a customer’s order:

• You can highlight an appetizer or dessert to convince people to add it to their main meal.
• If you have a lot of ingredients for a specific dish you want to move, you can also highlight the item.
• Some restaurants try out new dishes. If this is you, you could showcase the menu item to get people to order it. This helps you see if people are even interested in it.

#4: You Improve the Customer Experience

You’ll notice that another way your restaurant website influences a customer’s order is by providing them with an overall fantastic customer experience. 

By offering a user-friendly, fast, and comprehensive website and online order system, you influence your customer’s behavior and show them customer service is important to you. (tweet this)

Your website engages your customers and appeals to their needs. You can also personalize their experience by offering an online ordering system that remembers previous orders and also is capable of upselling website visitors. 

For example, your site may remember they ordered a dessert and offer it to them again in your ordering system. This makes the customer feel special and improves their experience.

#5: People Can Check Out Your Menu

The last way your restaurant influences a customer’s order is it always helps them to pre-browse your menu.

For example, let’s say a couple is coming to dinner on Friday evening. One of them may browse your online menu to make sure you can accommodate them if they have special needs like vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or allergy-free. 

Someone might also look over your menu before visiting you because they are on a first date. This person might want to find the most date-friendly food to order before feeling stressed and anxious when they arrive with their date. 

The menu on your website is one of the most influential pieces of content. You want to make sure to be creative with your descriptions, making your food enticing. It’s also best practice to include beautiful, professional photos of your dishes. 

Finally, make sure to include a thorough ingredient list and nutritional information if you have. 

Final Thoughts on Influencing a Customer’s Order

With a restaurant website, you have the power of the internet. Your website is pivotal to all of your online marketing. 

It’s the place where customers can go for a first look at your restaurant as well as valuable information. 

If you want to use your website to influence your customers’ orders, you want to make sure it’s professional, updated, search engine optimized, mobile-friendly, and speedy. It should also be welcoming to everyone, and it should reflect the ambiance and mission of your brick-and-mortar restaurant, too. 

At Restaurant Engine, we can create a restaurant website for you that influences a customer’s order. Your website is a pivotal piece of your success, and all your marketing leads to and from your website. You can count on us to create a website that shows just how many people love your restaurant. Let us help you make the perfect site that draws customers in, improves customer engagement and your conversion rate, and enables you to grow your business! 

Are you ready to take your restaurant to the next level with a new website? 

Get your free website consultation today!  

Images: Kelsey Chance and Brooke Cagle on Unsplash