Behind the scenes, online ordering can feel a little daunting at first. Understanding how your customers view your menu and how they expect certain items to be categorized is something that you might not have even thought about until it came time to set up your own business with online ordering.
In-house delivery solutions (like Thr!ve Online) will provide assistance in setting up your menu, but third party services like GrubHub and UberEats give little to no guidance when it comes to setting up your menu, leaving you with your own knowledge to build off of.
Whether you're looking to add an integrated, in-house online ordering solution to your restaurant or just want to grab a few more orders through your area's popular third party app, there are a few things that you can prepare in order to fully maximize your online ordering revenue potential.
Visuals Matter
Hungry potential customers eat with their eyes first. While delicious food is the key to getting customers to come back for more, a good looking image of your menu items is the perfect way to attract someone who's never tasted your food before. Gourmet Marketing says, "When you have pictures that show exactly what your customers can expect when they order an item, they’ll feel more comfortable ordering, and when you meet and even exceed expectations, you’ll drive repeat business."
Not to mention that appealing, appetizing pictures may also encourage customers to buy more than they originally intended.
Make Their Mouth Water
Along with beautiful and delicious-looking photos, providing customers with enticing descriptions is a great way to boost your revenue. Instead of simply saying that your pepperoni pizza has "sauce, cheese, and pepperoni," try adding some more detail and sprinkling in some adjectives. Reading that a pepperoni pizza is made up of "hand-tossed crust brushed with herb butter, covered with tangy pizza sauce, mozzarella, and spicy Italian pepperoni" will get potential customers' mouth watering and encourage them to chose you over your competitors.
Don't Forget About Mobile
The world is quickly switching to a mobile-heavy lifestyle. According to Stone Temple, over 60 percent of all US-based web traffic is on mobile. You want potential customers to have a easy and enjoyable experience when placing an order online, so making sure your menu displays exactly how you want on both desktop and mobile devices is crucial. Keeping text out of your images and making sure your delicious descriptions don't get cut off are just some of the things to consider when taking mobile viewing into account.
