Customer Crave Personalized Convenience, Deals, and Experience

Most people want things to be easy. They also want the best deal they can get. 

While this sounds like a no-brainer, there’s a twist: they’re willing to let companies use their data to get these things. 

As Restaurant Dive points out, three-quarters of U.S. consumers are comfortable with personalization using publicly available information, according to a Boston Consulting Group survey released earlier this month.

The study found that the most common benefits consumers wanted from personalization were finding the best deals and making the experience faster, easier, and more enjoyable. 

We’ve actually seen an example of this recently. TikTok is potentially banned from the United States because of the information it gathers from users. The outcry, especially from Gen Z, shows that they’re more than willing to give out this information for a service they love. 

While this study didn’t specifically apply to restaurants, restaurants are uniquely positioned to deliver on this appetite for personalization. They have a mound of data guests have given them and can use it to create a personalized customer experience, enhancing the dining journey with offers and interactions that match individual tastes.

Let’s break down these two areas and look at how they specifically apply to eateries. 

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Deals

If the mountain of value messaging we’ve seen has taught us anything, it’s that guests want to get their money’s worth. Luckily, restaurant loyalty programs offer everything needed to tailor offers all the way down to guests’ individual wants and needs. 

A quick look at past purchases can tell you what guests like to eat and drink, how often they come in, and what time of day they visit. A personalized restaurant deal based on any of these factors would be a great motivator for an additional visit or purchase. 

In fact, as we’ve written about before, personalized dining experiences and offers can:

• Enhance guest engagement
• Improve customer retention 
• Increase revenue and ROI

Because “Have that Cake You Love On Us” sounds a lot more enticing than “Free Dessert with Purchase.”

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Convenience

Guests just want things to be quick and simple. This can come to life in a number of different ways for restaurants through personalization: 

• Greeting them by name when they enter
• A “Just for You” portion of digital menus based on past purchases
• Suggestions and pairings that work well with orders
• Easily redeem points or coupons at checkout

Overall, these are tactics that can help build long-term relationships where guests think, “They just GET me!”

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Your Partner in Personalization 

Ziosk can be a powerful resource when it comes to providing personalized customer experiences. We help collect a good amount of data with every guest visit. This data is gold when it comes to tailoring convenience and restaurant deals for guests – especially if they’re a part of your rewards or loyalty program.

We can help identify patterns and segmentations by breaking down what they like to eat, what daypart they most like to visit, etc. These insights can help create the value your guests are seeking. And in the near future, we’ll be unleashing the power of AI on this data to bring intelligence to life through actionable insights that will help identify how to customize and personalize the guest experience. 

Guests are craving personalization, and restaurants are uniquely positioned to deliver this through convenience and deals. Capitalizing on this appetite can enhance guest engagement, improve retention, increase revenue and ROI, and help build relationships that benefit both the restaurants and the guests.

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