Many restaurants are reluctant to take the CRM plunge. Is this enhanced customer file right for you? Discover the best strategies for leveraging customer data, as well as everything a restaurant CRM can do to boost loyalty and sales.
Lire l'article : CRM Restaurant, les 5 meilleurs outils (et comment choisir le vôtre)
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a tool for managing customer follow-up. In the form of online software, restaurant CRM helps to improve front-of-house service and develop more effective marketing actions. It consists in maintaining an enriched customer file. The latter can be put to good use in two ways:
- Improving the customer experience
- Conduct targeted marketing campaigns to boost sales.
CRM is one of the most important marketing tools for restaurateurs. It takes the form of intuitive online software (like that offered by Pongo). Customizable, its general objective is to store customer data in compliance with the RGPD in order to maintain the relationship with them.
CRM software for restaurants enables you to keep track of your customers' visits, whether in a restaurant, bar, hotel, etc. Integrated with your reservation system and/or loyalty program, it integrates seamlessly with the customer experience. It can even enhance it in many ways, with numerous positive effects on your sales.
The main benefits of CRM for a restaurant relate to customer loyalty.
Firstly, more personalized service in the dining room. The database allows you to record certain customer preferences.
Secondly, a CRM enables you to deploy loyalty and marketing campaigns in the broadest sense. Getting customers who have already been with us to come back is fundamental to effective sales development.
Indeed, non-returning customers are a growth lever often neglected by restaurateurs. With a good CRM, it's easy to keep them coming back, through a loyalty program or targeted marketing.
CRM now covers all restaurants and bars, regardless of size or type of cuisine. The entry ticket is lower than ever, with à la carte solutions. Big data" is now within everyone's reach.
Thanks to SaaS (software as a service), restaurant CRMs are now available in customized formats. Nothing to install, no special skills required: creating a customer database is easier than ever. Small and medium-sized restaurants can deploy a CRM customized to their objectives and size.
CRM gives restaurateurs very practical tools, without being time-consuming. Here, in brief, are the 5 main benefits to be gained from a customer database. They include examples of applications that will have a direct effect on a restaurant's sales.
A CRM brings together all kinds of customer data from multiple sources in a single access point. The points of contact between a restaurant and its customers are mainly in the dining room, but also online. Whatever their appetite for digital technology and marketing, all restaurants handle customer data on a daily basis. But few make the effort to store it!
With a CRM, you can collect them and make them grow with little effort. It gives you a considerable competitive edge over competing restaurants.
The data fed into CRM can come from the following sources (non-exhaustive list):
- Reservation system
- Table management system
- Online ordering interface (online or click & collect)
- Cash register software
- Restaurant website
- Social networking
Instead of being scattered, this data is collected in compliance with the RGPD and centralized in the CRM. The process is seamless, and doesn't necessarily add any extra steps for staff or customers. Once centralized, data can be enriched by complementing each other: contact information, consumer preferences, personalization data (birthday, gender, etc.)...
What's more, with a CRM, the restaurateur retains control of his customer data. This is a major difference from online reservation or delivery platforms, which retain ownership of the data.
CRM customer data is a veritable goldmine! It enables you to monitor performance and consumption habits far more effectively than reports from cash register software. It can be used to gain more detailed knowledge of preferences and consumption patterns, with the highest possible level of personalized detail.
In particular, data analysis is used to support decision-making. Once compiled, the data is rendered in the form of customizable reports, targeted to your objectives.
Data analysis enables you to optimize your menu, find out the habits of regular customers, map product combinations, eliminate less popular items, etc...
Data is also useful for deploying more effective loyalty programs, with rewards based on tastes, demographic criteria, birthdays, etc...
Finally, data analysis paves the way for predictive marketing. It makes it possible to anticipate business trends through in-depth analysis of the customer database.
A CRM enables you to personalize marketing actions with demographic and consumer data. Better-targeted marketing is crucial for restaurants. It's what separates spam from well-crafted communication, tailored to what your customers want.
Using a database, customer segmentation enables us to send messages that are better adapted to each group according to a number of criteria (frequency of visits, average shopping basket, preferred opening hours, etc.).
It also allows us to use the communication channel best suited to each customer, whether social networks, email or SMS marketing.
For example, a CRM allows you to send messages on a customer's birthday, highlighting gifts or discounts. Restaurant marketing uses the following levers:
- Inform about promotions, events or card changes
- Offer to join a loyalty program
- Offer incentives (gifts, discounts, etc.) to win back a lost customer
- Drive-to-store to attract customers from the web to your restaurant
- Encourage customers to leave positive online reviews
- Etc...
Rewarding customer loyalty is a highly effective lever for increasing occupancy rates across all services. The new-generation, online, data-driven loyalty program makes it possible to achieve maximum efficiency.
Loyalty is never as effective as when it is linked to customer data. A CRM can therefore be used to run a much more effective loyalty campaign. This can include a points system, rewards in the form of free items, discounts, exclusive combos, unique gifts in the image of your restaurant, and so on...
The advantage of CRM is to inject personalization and segmentation into the loyalty program. Rewards can be tailored to different customer profiles: monthly regulars, ambassadors, customers to be won back, one-time visitors, etc. For more information, read this article on how to base an intelligent loyalty program on your CRM.
At the end of the day, a CRM enables us to get to know each customer better. When front-of-house staff have access to this history, they can optimize the experience by suggesting what customers prefer: table, dishes, drinks, etc...
Improving the customer experience is the goal of all restaurateurs who want to increase their sales. CRM is the ideal tool for achieving this goal. It allows you to build a strategy to take control of the in-store experience.
For staff, a CRM saves time. It eliminates the need to enter data at each visit, as when ordering online. From the very first contact, preferences are known. Contact data facilitates ordering, whether for home delivery or click'&'collect.
CRMs for restaurants are generally very affordable in terms of price. The SaaS format (online, subscription-based, à la carte software) gives restaurateurs total flexibility. They can test a solution without obligation, to get an idea of its added value.
That said, a CRM reaches its full potential once the customer base has reached a critical size, allowing you to reap all the benefits mentioned above.
Once the CRM software has been selected, the first step is to inject the data already held by the restaurant. In any case, there's always time to apply these tips to grow your restaurant's customer database.
Several CRMs are frequently used by French restaurateurs, including Pongo, which also offers automated marketing solutions.
It is sometimes possible to try out the solution for a demo or trial period to get an idea.
The main criteria for choosing CRM software are as follows:
- Interface
- Customization
- Intuitiveness
- Performance indicators.
Finally, you can opt for a CRM that offers personalized support. This kind of advice is essential if you want to take your first steps while realizing all the benefits of a CRM for restaurants.
Valuing customers is fundamental to improving the in-store experience. A CRM system helps improve customer loyalty by actively leveraging the customer's loyalty. It also increases the average basket and lifetime value of each customer. Properly exploited, a restaurant's customer database can become extremely profitable in the medium and long term!
