Why They Dine: How Surveys Can Supercharge Your Restaurant Visits

Learn how to unlock the secret to delighting guests and building loyalty with tailored dining recommendations! 🎉 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ I'm Bogdan Patynski, the Head of Marketing here at WISK. I've worked with a few big agencies, schmoozed with exciting startups, and even jazzed up a FIFA ad campaign. Do I know marketing? You bet your Schweppes I do! I've now whipped up a scrumptious marketing newsletter to help you delight-makers in hospitality level up your game. Our recipe? Marketing tips with a sprinkle of buyer psychology and huge dollops of humor. Trying out a new format here. So if you loved it, hated it: Drop a comment (friends don't let spam folders get lonely)! And at the end of each month, I'll transform into a marketing sommelier, rating venues' marketing prowess and pairing them with examples of how I'd perk up their presence instead. So, if you want to put your venue under this tasteful scrutiny, shout out, and join the fiesta! Now let’s start: Imagine this… You go to work at your restaurant, and it feels "blah." You think the restaurant could use some ambiance upgrades. Maybe a few plants here and there to make the atmosphere feel more inviting. You find a company online and order three small plants for the restaurant. After purchase, they send you a confirmation email. Something at the bottom of the email catches your eye. It’s funny copy that asks if you’re confident that you will keep the new plants alive. There are three options: confident, not sure, and not confident. You click the last option (because, unfortunately, you may not have a green thumb) and find yourself in a survey. The next question asks you to click on the plants you just purchased. You click the images and get brought to a final webpage. “We’ll send a reminder to water each of the plants based on their specific watering needs.” Just like that, you feel better, knowing that these plants will be taken care of. As you're browsing for more plants to buy, you’re suddenly keen to purchase even MORE plants for the restaurant. Why? In today’s edition of Why They Dine, we’re taking a look at Surveys – how personalizing the dining experience drives better results for restaurants. Let's get into it… 🧠 The Psychology of Surveys Simply devising a survey, distributing it, and waiting for the responses to pour in, right? There’s just one problem. Surveys come with psychological biases (a lot of them!). To mention a few: Acquiescence Bias: Survey respondents will choose the answer that is in agreement with your question. Social Desirability Bias: Out of fear of judgment, respondents choose the answer that best agrees with the current societal norms. And the most tricky of all… Demand Characteristics: People change their opinions just because they’re taking a survey. So how do you get survey answers that you can rely on? 🧐 Inside Your Diner's Mind 71% of diners expect personalized interactions from restaurants (like getting tailored suggestions for their favorite dishes). 76% of diners reported feeling frustrated when they didn’t get such experience. So if you have a loyalty software that can track what your clients are ordering: you’re ahead of the game. [Non personalized communications pose a business risk in a low-loyalty environment.] [SOURCE]( Yikes—the time to personalize your restaurant marketing is apparently now 😬 Survey results showed Pastreez that buyers purchasing pastries for events [spent an average of 100% more]( than other buyers. Well-timed surveys tell you exactly where and how to personalize your visitors' dining experience. Survey results might reveal that diners celebrating special events are likely to spend more on average than others. This golden nugget insight could inspire you to cresate personalized dining experiences for these special occasions. Surveys are a peek into your diner's minds and preferences. But, they only work if you strategically avoid the above biases. 🤑 How To Apply This Alright, so how can we apply this right now to improve your restaurant's experience? Time your survey carefully. Add your survey to key moments in the dining journey that already involve action from your diners. Their Action Bias will give you a higher chance of getting those valuable responses. Key moments include: - Right after ordering - While waiting for desert to arrive - After paying the bill - And more... You should consider providing feedback cards or QR codes linking to surveys during these key moments of the dining journey. Struggling to get responses even though you’re timing your survey request well? Incentivizing diners with discounts or vouchers might result in a 7% increase in survey response rate (without decreasing the quality of the data!). Amazon emails its customers to let them know their product was delivered. Check out how they sneak in a chance to get customer feedback during this exciting moment of the buying journey. Avoid asking biased questions Biased questions lead to biased results. Avoid skewing your data by strategically wording your survey questions. ❌ Don’t say: Did you order our special dish because it’s the best? ✅ Do say: Which dish on our menu do you find most appealing? Grab questions for your survey from [Fairing’s Question Bank]( (they’re free!). Utilize well-crafted questions to ensure unbiased results. Use surveys to personalize the dining experience Diners cherish personalized service and recommendations. Strategically crafting your restaurant's marketing (and even menu) based on diner preferences can do wonders. Use survey data to create personalized dining experiences that cater to their dietary preferences, occasions, or favorite dishes. Use surveys to personalize the customer experience Customer segmentation is a hot topic in the marketing world right now. It goes hand-in-hand with personalizing your marketing channels based on buyers’ needs. Acquisition .com has turned its landing page into one big customer survey that segments customers based on current and aspiring business owners. Instead of leads figuring out which information is most relevant for them, Acquisition .com does the job for them. The funnel is personalized by status (business owner or aspiring), the biggest challenge, and preferred learning medium. What you could do: As a restaurant, you can follow a similar approach to personalize your guest's journey. Start by adding a question when they book a reservation, asking for their favorite dish type (pasta, pizza, meat, etc.) or specific cuisine preference. Instead of leaving your guests to browse through the entire menu, use their preferences to suggest a few dishes tailored to their taste. Include these recommendations in the follow-up email sent after successfully booking a reservation. This personalized approach will not only make your guests feel valued but also elevate their dining experience by offering dishes they're likely to enjoy. Remember, a delighted guest is a loyal guest and will likely recommend your restaurant to others! 💥 The Short of It Surveys can be tricky. When poorly designed, surveys can be misleading. But when done right, they can help you create an outstanding dining experience that feels like... ✨magic✨ Use surveys strategically to get the most responses and accurate results, so you can confidently enhance your restaurant's ambiance and service. Until next time, happy dining, Bogdan Bogdan Patynski Head of Marketing @ WISK.ai [WISK.ai]( Follow us on social! [Facebook]( [Linkedin]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( This email was sent to [{EMAIL}](. You are receiving because you have signed up for our service. If you wish to no longer receive emails from us you can [unsubscribe](. WISK.ai, 488 Wellington St W , Suite 304, , Toronto, ON M5V 1E3, Canada