How Restaurants Can Improve Their CX
There has been a polar shift in how consumers rate businesses they deal with, and the hospitality industry is not immune to changes in the very mindset of today’s customer. Consumers are no longer looking simply for great deals but are more interested in a relationship they develop with brands. As silly as that may have sounded even just a generation ago, today’s consumer will quickly identify with that statement.
Consumers want to know that they mean something more than a number in a business’s bottom line. They want to be recognized and appreciated as people, in the same way as they value the people in the brands they deal with. In other words, it’s not about product but rather about people. When it comes to restaurants, here are some ways in which they can improve the customer experience, CX.
Today’s Customer Wants to Be Heard
This is something that should be of interest to anyone in sales. One of the most important precepts within marketing and sales is all about answering a question or need. Sometimes marketing strategies actually create needs in order to sell a product or idea that offers a solution. The point here isn’t about creating or answering needs but rather about why this is so important. Actually, it all centers on what consumers want most and that is to be heard.
How Restaurants Can Benefit from This Understanding
Restaurants can capitalize on this strategy as well. Bearing in mind that customers want to be recognized and heard, it stands to reason that improvements in communication should be of high importance. For just a moment, let’s look at chain restaurants with drive thru windows meant to offer faster service. Have you ever been frustrated to the point of leaving an order behind because you couldn’t hear the person on the other end of the microphone, and they couldn’t hear you?
Perhaps an improvement in drive thru technology like that discussed on this site can offer a solution: https://www.rssts.com/drive-thru-technology/. A better communication system would be a major improvement in the CX. Customers want to be heard and if their order isn’t important enough to get right, they must not be valued!
Customers Want to Be Remembered
Sometimes a customer will go through the drive thru ordering the same thing day after day. It could be something as simple as a mocha Frappuccino or no onions on a burger with extra pickles. The clerk who notices when that customer forgets to mention the special request will be highly valued by that customer who, in turn, will highly value the clerk and the restaurant. There really is nothing worse than getting something other than what you ordered. Sometimes drive thru employees will try to blame the intercom system for the misunderstanding and that very well could be the case. However, knowing that this is a regular occurrence and doing nothing about it is paramount to a failure on the part of management to improve customer relations. Today’s consumer wants to be heard on more levels than one and any business seeking to improve the Customer Experience, CX, will start there. Listen to what they have to say because in the end, they really are your bottom line.