A robust and reliable analytics platform is central to the success of your restaurant business. Restaurant customer data platform analytics can provide you with a wealth of insight into how your guests behave and spend.
In turn, it will help you generate more guests, increase sales, gain insights into customer behavior and preferences, create detailed customer profiles, measure return on investment (ROI), and maximize those valuable marketing and operations dollars.
Surprisingly, though, many restaurateurs are still in the dark when it comes to using data analytics for business growth purposes and measuring ROI.
For example, a CMO Council survey of senior marketing executives found that “more than 80% of respondents were dissatisfied with their ability to measure marketing ROI, and fewer than 20% of the respondents said their companies employed meaningful metrics,” as reported by the Harvard Business Review.
Brick-and-mortar businesses, like restaurants, have been at even more of a disadvantage because guest data collection has traditionally been difficult to collect and very expensive.
Fortunately, Bloom Intelligence now makes it very simple to do, and at pennies on the dollar compared to other data collection methods.
In our last post, we discussed the various ways to collect guest data, such as through your website, your POS, your online ordering system, and your guest WiFi.
Now that you are collecting guest data, here are some of the various insights you can glean from it.
Restaurant Guest Data: On-Premises Insights
Even if guests do not log into your WiFi, Bloom will know that their device is at your location. This can give you very detailed and accurate insights that you have simply not been able to see before. Here are a few of the most valuable.
Guest Dwell Time
The amount of time guests spend in a location is called “dwell time” and it is a key performance indicator (KPI) for any brick-and-mortar business.
Dwell time is related to several important metrics like customer satisfaction, shopping experience, and even sales.
According to a study by PathIntelligence, increasing dwell time by just 1 percent leads to an average 1.3 percent increase in sales. Although 1 percent may not sound like much, it can make a serious difference in your bottom line when multiplied across all of your guests and locations.
With Bloom, you will also see dwell times by the hours, letting you know how long guests stay when arriving at a specific hour of the day.
Popular Visit Days and Times
When you’re busy running a restaurant business, it may appear at first glance that you’re always experiencing the same guest visitation rates on a daily basis. In reality, it probably varies more than you think.
With Bloom, you’ll see accurate guest visit days and times. You’ll see daily averages, or you can drill down into specific days of the week.
A great aspect of collecting guest data is how you can use it to map out more staff efficiency.
For instance, you can know exactly how to manage staffing schedules based on when you have the highest foot traffic during any given day. Now you can save money by avoiding paying for extra help you don’t really need.
It will also help you make data-driven purchasing decisions, so you can avoid 86’ing menu items or end up with wasted inventory.
Other Guest Behavior Metrics
With the ability to sense and track individual guest devices, you’ll be able to see other valuable metrics to help you understand guest behavior and improve your business.
You will be able to see your first-time visitor return rate and average guest repeat rates. Repeat customers ensure long-term business success, but getting them in quantity can be difficult when you lack feedback on the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Fortunately, such feedback is readily available with Bloom.
If you have a high first-time visitor return rate, it means you’re doing something or several things right. If you can maintain this return rate, retain these customers over the long term, and increase their lifetime value, your business can grow rapidly.
Other Business Metrics
Using machine learning algorithms, Bloom can give you data about your average guest loss, as well as projected visits. This can further strengthen your staffing and purchasing decisions, saving you time and money while improving overall guest satisfaction.
Integrating Bloom with your POS system can also provide you with accurate per-person averages and guest lifetime values.
Restaurant Reputation Management
Bloom Intelligence integrates with Google and Facebook, allowing you to see and respond to all of your ratings and reviews on these platforms in one place.
With the graphical charts, you can easily spot trends over time and work to make your restaurant’s reputation better.
You’ll also have access to a word cloud showing your positive, neutral, and negative sentiment from all of those online reviews. This can help you better understand what you are doing great, and what might need more attention.
Your reputation, online or offline, can literally make or break your restaurant business. It can make the difference between having a waitlist or having a sparse dining room with too many empty seats.
This is why actively managing your restaurant’s reputation is crucial for a profitable, growing business.
Discover Bloom Intelligence – Your Guests Will Love You For It
With Bloom, you’ll have a complete 360-degree view of your guest base. Then you can use the data to improve marketing and operations, save time, and increase guest lifetime values.
If you are ready to start collecting your own first-party guest data, you need to give Bloom Intelligence a look.
Not only will you be able to automate your restaurant email marketing, but you can also use Bloom to unlock valuable guest insights, improve your ratings and reviews, identify and bring back lost guests, and so much more.
You’ll feel confident as you make solid data-driven decisions. You’ll drive company growth and build a much larger base of loyal guests.
With the amount of competition out there, Bloom can give you a strong competitive advantage and ensure lasting success.
So, click for a free demo of the Bloom Intelligence platform, or call to schedule today at 727-877-8181.
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