The Secret to Driving Foot Traffic to Your Restaurant

Every restaurant owner wants to know the secret to driving more foot traffic to their restaurant. What if there was a way to drive new customers into your restaurant while increasing the loyalty and retention rate of current customers at the same time? Secrets out, there is a way! Introducing special offers and promotions at your restaurant will do all of that and more! 

Do restaurant offers help drive foot traffic?

Yes, they do! Restaurant offers and promotions supply the full package! For your guests, they act as an incentive and provide a great deal. For your business, you’ll be building strong customer relationships while augmenting your current marketing strategies at the same time! 

No longer are offers and promotions only in the form of paper. Digital offers are changing the game for restaurants! They’re easily accessible and can be used by anyone whether they’re ordering online or in-store. That means restaurant offers will help drive traffic from all angles of your business! When offering special promotions and deals to your guests, it’s important to stay on top of things. With a flexible marketing suite you’ll be able to target the right guests with the right offers at the right time! Keep reading to learn 5 ways you can use restaurant offers and promotions to benefit your restaurant! 

5 Ways Restaurant Offers Are Beneficial 

1. Encourage New Customers

Hosting promotions and special offers at your restaurant open the door for guests who may have been on the fence about eating at your business previously. About 67% of consumers are more likely to visit a restaurant for the first time if there is a special offer. Since most promotions have an expiration date, it will create a sense of urgency for new customers to visit. You can even create more targeted offers to reach a specific audience. This can be done easily with data-driven restaurant marketing technology! The best part is, that you have full control of what you’ll be offering and when it’s available!

With well over 80% of customers searching online for a place to dine, your restaurant needs to make a good first impression. A diner is much more likely to choose your restaurant over another if they see a special offer pop up when they’re browsing online. Your restaurant offer just might be what wins you the business over your competition!

2. Grab Guests Attention

On average 77% of consumers say they use promotional offers at restaurants, so it shouldn’t be too hard to grab their attention when you’re offering one. Restaurant promotions are extremely helpful for reaching a larger audience of diners. They can be offered through your website, email marketing, SMS marketing, social media, and in-store! Make sure to take advantage of push notifications and SMS marketing to reach a high engagement rate with your promotions! With them being distributed from all of these places, you’ll likely gain the interest of some new and current guests. 

When consumers are saving money it makes it easier for them to justify a larger purchase. This means higher check averages, as well as more frequent visits! A report found that guests who use restaurant offers visit restaurants 7 times per month on average, while non-restaurant offer users eat out just 4.8 times per month. Bottom line is that restaurant offers are an incentive for guests to visit your restaurant, and it works!

3. Grow Your Email List

It’s likely you already have an email marketing system set up for your restaurant. If so, you may want to consider sending out offers and promotions in your emails. This strategy is a cost-effective way to get more people talking about your business as well as increase your email list! With the right technology, you’ll be able to use offers strategically to drive guest behaviors. When your guests find out they can get access to special offers through their emails, they’ll want to sign up to keep receiving them. Four out of ten consumers say they want to receive special offers or promotions from a restaurant at least once a week. 

You can also use email to share restaurant offers for special events and promotions. For example, when someone signs up on your mobile app you can automatically send them a customized offer welcoming them. This would also work as a birthday gift or as used in a holiday email promotion. No one will want to miss out on those deals!

4. Boost Social Media

When you start offering promotions in your restaurant, you’ll want to make sure your entire audience knows about the amazing deals you're having. One of the best places to market these deals is through your social media! Not only will this increase engagement with your audience, but it will also give you valuable content to post. 

Offering exclusive deals through your social media is an effective way to boost your accounts and gain new followers. About 71% of consumers follow brands on social media to get access to more offers. Promoting your new deals on social media will help spread the word fast. Posts can go viral quickly and can spread across a large audience. Posting your deals on social media will also provide the opportunity for people to easily share the news with their audience. 91% of Americans said they would share an exclusive offer with friends and family. Shareable deals are a great way to grow your audience!

5. Increase Loyal Customers

In the restaurant industry, it's important to keep a high customer retention rate. A majority of diners would choose to revisit the same restaurant, but 20% of these diners would switch restaurants based on restaurant offers and promotions. By offering promotional deals in your restaurant you’re ensuring that your loyal customers will stay loyal while gaining new ones at the same time! Restaurant offers are a great asset to have in a loyalty program! As many as 84% of consumers say they will stay devoted to a brand that offers a loyalty program. That's a whole lot of customer retention!

Make sure you’re using your restaurant offers to target the right audience to increase your foot traffic. It’s also important to pay attention to how much of a deal you’ll be offering. As long as you still have a good profit margin, by utilizing offers and promotions in your business you’ll be on the road to success!