How Customer Feedback Increases Customer Loyalty in Restaurants
Never underestimate the importance of feedback, especially in the restaurant industry. It’s practically a motto here at Pedanco. Restaurants that actively seek out and respond to feedback see increased loyalty from customers. Because your current customers are the primary contributors to your business, their loyalty is a top priority.
The Seven Pillars of Customer Centricity
A December 2014 report by DunnhumbyUSA discusses the seven pillars of customer centricity: menu assortment, price, overall experience, feedback, promotions, loyalty and communications. Of these seven pillars, feedback is identified as directly correlating with long-term revenue growth. Without feedback, restaurants are less likely to identify their customers’ preferences, rendering restaurants incapable of truly satisfying customers.
Quick Service and Casuals: Meeting Customer Expectations through Feedback Strategies
The top 10 casual restaurants in the U.S., including Texas Roadhouse, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, Red Robin and the #1-ranked TGI Fridays, consistently report high levels of customer feedback. Although TGI Fridays received high scores in a number of areas, including menu assortment, the chain earned the #1 spot based on its customer loyalty. TGI Fridays is well known for its loyalty programs, and customers consistently reward the chain for its commitment to retaining its customers. TGI Fridays uses a host of tools to gather customer feedback, most of them digital, which have greatly contributed to the chain’s success with meeting customer expectations.
Fast food restaurants didn’t fare as well in the customer centric restaurant rankings. Not only did they score low in customer loyalty, but they also scored low in communications and feedback, suggesting once again the connection between feedback and loyalty. As with the fast casual restaurants, fast food restaurants that received average or even high marks for pricing and assortment but low marks for feedback had lower levels of customer loyalty. One fast food restaurant that did crack the top ten was Chick-fil-A, which received only average scores for pricing but high scores for feedback. DunnhumbyUSA noted that Chick-fil-A has achieved a fast-casual atmosphere in a decidedly fast-food space, making them excel in both feedback and loyalty.
In-N-Out Burger, which also cracked the top ten, scored low on promotions and offers a limited menu. However, the chain’s menu is aligned to meet its customers’ demands. In-N-Out Burger meets these demands by paying close attention to customer feedback, a category in which it also happened to score above average. For other fast food restaurants to be successful, they must improve their customer feedback and communication strategy. The DunnhumbyUSA report suggests that fast food chains “ramp up their use of mobile, social media and direct feedback to listen to customers and connect on a one-to-one basis.” We developed the Pedanco platform to meet those very demands, and our restaurant partners are using the feedback they’ve gathered to increase customer engagement and loyalty.
Finally, the report notes that, to remain competitive, “restaurants need to deliver on complex combinations of factors sought by customers and connect with them through a personalized customer experience…” Good food and service are enough to get customers in the door, but if you don’t know what you’re customers are saying after they leave your restaurant, those qualities aren’t enough to ensure customer loyalty in the long run.
*Photo Credit: Natesh Ramasamy
Originally published at blog.pedanco.com.
