In
an era where digital convenience is king, new insights suggest that customers
who dine in at restaurants tend to be happier than those who order online. This
revelation, backed by Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA-based Foodservice Solutions®, is based
on data from Merchant Centric.
Merchant Centric's proprietary data
has given birth to a new term: The Happy Customer Index. This index scrutinizes
reviews for delivery, to-go, and mobile app experiences, offering a unique
perspective on customer satisfaction in the digital age.
Over
the past three quarters, the Happy Customer Index has been instrumental in
determining which fast casual, casual, and fine dining brands perform the best
according to customers. The index analyzes content from millions of reviews
across platforms like Google and TripAdvisor, providing insights on over 100
key metrics, such as food, cleanliness, staff demeanor, and value.
The
latest focus of the index is the digitally-enabled off-premises business, which
has seen a surge due to the pandemic-induced shift. To gauge digital guests'
satisfaction, Merchant Centric examined over 1.25 million reviews mentioning
"to go," "delivery," and "mobile apps" from
September 2022 to August 2023.
The
findings? Digital experiences generally score about three quarters of a star to
a full star lower than dining in. However, delivery services are closing the
gap on the to-go experience at a faster rate. Mobile app mentions, while not
necessarily referring to offsite ordering, are mentioned the least and fare the
worst.
Consider
these statistics:
·
The
average rating for reviews mentioning "mobile apps" is 2.33 stars out
of 5 stars.
·
The
average rating for reviews mentioning "delivery services" is 3.02
stars out of 5 stars.
·
The
average rating of reviews mentioning "to go" is 3.40 stars out of 5 stars.
By
comparison, the restaurant industry average rating during the same period is
4.11 out of 5 stars.
The
most significant disparity between dine-in and digital mentions in reviews
comes from mobile app experiences. As more brands invest in their mobile
presence to drive traffic and frequency, any subpar experience can lead to
frustration. For instance, Taco Bell generates 32% of Reddit conversations
among the top 10 quick-service restaurants, but these conversations
predominantly focus on dissatisfaction with the brand’s app, including order
inaccuracies, glitches, and usability challenges.
However,
there has been improvement in mobile app performances, as well as for to-go and
delivery experiences. To-go fared the best among reviews and was mentioned the
most, though delivery improved the most throughout the past year.
Adam
Leff, Co-Founder of Merchant Centric, believes the improvement within the
delivery channel is partly due to brands' increased focus on their digital
business. This includes redistributing labor to digital makelines, adding
features like pickup shelves, or implementing location-based or sequencing
technology.
Leff
said, "It is no surprise there is a gap between dine-in and
to-go/delivery. People just expect that when they don’t have the dine-in
service or hospitality, it will not be as good. To a large degree, they’re
forgiving because of this. The important thing is we’re seeing steady
improvement in overall (digital) guest satisfaction.”
Are
you feeling stuck in your current approach? Interested in learning how
Foodservice Solutions' Five Ps of Food Marketing can enhance your retail food
brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation,
differentiation, and individualization? Reach out to us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us
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