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5 questions for diners making the digital switch

August 3, 2016 by Jackie Berg — mArketing director, olo

As we cruise through 2016, with nearly 80 percent smartphone adoption, there is little debate: A restaurant brand's digital program is now of paramount importance. With restaurants enjoying higher average ticket size and increased visit frequency due to digital ordering ease, some restaurateurs want to know how to convert analog customers over to the restaurant's digital ordering system. Freeing employees from distracting call-in orders and congested cashier lines means they can focus on the food and delivering a great experience.

As we push ahead in the technology adoption curve each day, it is important for brands to evaluate how their own customer base currently interacts with their app and website. The introduction of a digital ordering or loyalty program isn't going to transform all customers' habits on its own. Marketing teams must work to ensure digital is core in the brand's experience. How can that be done? Fortunately, the applications can be done in an infinite number of ways and are unique to every brand — but there is a universal playbook to uncover what that means for every restaurant.

In 2010, Unilever set out to change handwashing behavior in areas with high rates child mortality, where deaths might often have been prevented through use of a better hygiene routine. 

To be successful, Unilever had to focus on changing daily routines and habits of handwashing - not a light task. Unilever Chief Marketing Officer Keith Weed worked with his team to understand what it would take to introduce routine handwashing in at-risk areas. Alongside a team of psychologists, they created  five levers for change, a set of marketing principles that can change behavior over time. These include:
•    Make it understood. 
•    Make it easy. 
•    Make it desirable. 
•    Make it rewarding.
•    Make it a habit. 

These five principles continue to help Unilever in the mission to deliver accessible hygiene to one billion people.

In reading about Unilever's mission, I was reminded of the psychological hurdles we jump through before changing any behavior. Specific to restaurant ordering, here are five common questions customers ponder before using a new technology - and how a team can think about using these psychological levers to make an impact on customer perception and habits. 

• Question 1: Will they receive my digital order and fulfill it properly? 

Unilever principle 1: Make it understood. Do people know about the behavior, and do they think it is relevant to them?

Prior to the learned behavior of placing a successful order, customers often have no evidence to realize the app or website is fired directly into the point of sale and is therefore more accurate than saying it to a cashier or server who manually types the order into the POS. 

Making it understood:In-store materials are great reinforcements that the brand is in support of the program, helping to build confidence that it actually works. When Starbucks introduced its mobile order and pay program, you couldn't walk into one of their coffee shops without seeing messages all over the store, including take-overs of the eye-level menu boards where customers were conditioned to look at seasonal offerings. 

• Question 2: Will this be easier than ordering in-store?

Unilever principle 2: Make it easy. Do people know what to do and feel confident doing it?

If customers envision the process to be difficult — from any part of the app interface to the hand-off — they may hesitate and fall back to regular habits. For example, they may know they will have to spend time standing in line, but at least they know what to expect.  
 
Making it easy: Customers need signals throughout their exploration that the experience will be easy. Seeing a clean, speedy interface upfront signals that the ordering process will be painless. Offering clear messaging throughout the entire process that pick-up will be easy is also important. Finally, give them confidence by showing a VIP pick-up experience in-store — that way those who haven't even looked at your app yet will witness the ease.

• Question 3. Is it worth it?

Unilever principle 3: Make it desirable. Will this new behavior fit with their actual or aspirational self-image?

Competition for a customer's attention and engagement is high. But giving someone a bit of their time back and making their day easier is hard to top.

Making it desirable: I think about this one every time I visit a nearby restaurant and see the wonder on people's faces when I breeze past the line, exchange a smile and thank you with the cashier, and walk out with my pre-bagged lunch. In the past nine months of using this service, I've noticed the pre-order bags stacked high as more people become aware of the program and skip the waiting, ordering, and payment parts.

• Question 4: What else is in it for me?

Unilever principle 4: Make it rewarding. Do people know when they're doing the behavior right? Do they get some sort of reward?

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but worth noting that brands can segment their customers based on where they are in the digital path to purchase.

Making it rewarding: There are various ways to reward new customers with promotions that range from first-time rewards for trial, to continued loyalty rewards. Think about where customers fall on the spectrum. One question to think about is: How can we use our data to figure out how to move customers along the digital funnel with 1:1 marketing?  

• Question 5: How frequently will I use this?

Unilever principle 5: Make it a habit. Once people have made a change, what can we do to help them keep doing it?

The first online ordering experience with an app or website is crucial to shaping a customer's future habits. Afterward, customers need reinforcements and repeated reminders to solidify the new behavior.

Making it a habit: Part of this one is written into the product design language. By offering re-orders in a few clicks and showing features like favorite orders/locations, the customer is first assured that habitual change is easy. Savvy brands continue this into the in-store experience, just as Starbucks does when it calls out "mobile order for Jackie" audibly to others waiting in line.

Any brand can start the process of taking an inventory of digital intelligence and habits in their own locations. Visit a mix of locations and dayparts to see how customers use the technology today. Paired with digital data on ordering habits, every restaurant brand team has the tools to cross their next hurdle in digital adoption. 

About Jackie Berg

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Jackie Berg is the Vice President of Marketing of Olo. Since 2005, Olo has helped restaurant brands increase revenue per square foot through faster, more accurate, and more personal service with digital ordering.

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