Kiera Blessing

With spring this year comes a renewed sense of hope that is a little greater than usual: the weather is warming, plants are blooming, and vaccinations are rolling out, signaling the beginning of the end of the pandemic that rocked the globe. 

While the pandemic itself is likely to stretch on for a few more months at the least, consumers, eager to take advantage of the optimism afforded by the rise in vaccinations and decline in cases, have been frequenting businesses more and more. 

In Massachusetts alone, restaurants have experienced a huge lift in indoor dining – up about 37% from the start of February through the end of March, according to Paytronix data. But that uptick is not coming at the expense of online sales, and it’s earlier than CEO Andrew Robbins expected.  […]

It’s well–known and well–documented that as the relevancy of a given marketing campaign increases, so does guest engagement. For example: a vegan is more likely to respond to a message promoting the new Impossible Burger than one for cheese fries.   

This is why successful segmentation is so critical. For a campaign to be as effective as possible, it needs to be targeted to the right group of guests, based on their behavior; but traditionally, segmentation tools were limited to a single factor, like visit frequency, average spend, or commonly ordered items. 

While this is better than a one-size-fits-all approach, these old methods of segmentation leave marketers with a one-dimensional view of their guests and provide little insight into what various segments have in common, or where they overlap.  

Now, Advanced Segmentation with artificial intelligence – part of the Paytronix AI to IA(sm) solution – is revolutionizing the way marketers segment guests by taking multiple factors into account at once. The proprietary algorithm, trained using 20 years’ worth of data collected across restaurant and convenience store segments nationwide, considers each guest’s total visits, average check size, average days between visits, and their likelihood to lapse.  […]

As the nation celebrates its 35^th annual Women’s History Month, Paytronix is reflecting on the brilliant female leaders across the company.

From software developers to sales account managers to product owners, women make up 33% of the Paytronix workforce – a figure on par with tech industry leaders like Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

Please join us in celebrating some of our esteemed colleagues who make Paytronix the most advanced digital guest experience platform.

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The National Restaurant Association announced this month its forecasted trends for the industry in 2021. The trends largely represent a continued reliance on off-premises services and indicate that the association anticipates the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to exert a heavy influence over the industry throughout the next year.

Restaurant brands that haven’t already found their ideal technology partner must do so now, as industry trends and shifting consumer preference both indicate that omnichannel digital experiences are the future of hospitality.

“Technology that might have been ‘nice to have’ before the pandemic suddenly became ‘need to have’ to enable touchless transactions,” the association wrote in its prediction. “Many of the innovations deployed not only helped keep restaurants afloat in 2020, they also signal the trends shaping 2021.”

Here’s the technology the NRA expects to define the restaurant industry this year:

1. Off-premises foodservice takes precedence

Pre-pandemic, 80% of FSRs’ traffic was on-premises, according to the association. Now, curbside pickup and delivery are the bread and butter of all service types, not just QSRs. […]