Archive for the “Guest Engagement” Category

Happy New Year!

The changing of the years always gives us a chance to look ahead. As the Paytronix team enters 2023, we asked our experts what to look for. Here are some of the responses from those with their fingers on the pulse of loyalty, online ordering, and the overall world of guest engagement.

Jeff Hoover, Director of Convenience Store Strategy

I think convenience stores will focus even more on loyalty in 2023 as more guests will be looking for value in a commodity (gas) during periods of high inflation. I also think convenience stores will begin to see even more value in the ability of loyalty to segment audiences and engage with customers in a personalized manner, with the ultimate purpose of driving both traffic and sales.

Also, reduced demand for gas due to higher prices and the growth in electric vehicles will force more retailers to focus on food service and other in-store convenience items. As these offerings come on the market, loyalty will provide a great tool to connect with customers, drive awareness, and encourage them to try new items. Overall, it’ll boost the longer-term sales of non-gas items.

Kristin Lynch, Director of Restaurant Strategy

Restaurant brands will continue to focus on loyalty in 2023 and will make guest engagement a priority.  They will look to answer the question “how best can I communicate, recognize, reward, and overall engage with my most loyal guests to drive their behavior?”  They might do this via program design (i.e. Bankable Points), guest recognition layers (i.e. Tiers, Badges) or Segmentation driven by AI (i.e. Individualized campaigns).

Marc Schultz, Head of Data Privacy and Security

Consumer sensitivity to Privacy and Security will continue to grow in 2023, as will the number of laws and regulations affecting how companies manage financial and personal data. This is a time to review what data is collected, how it is used, how it is protected, and how long it is retained. California’s CCPA/CPRA has redefined “Personal Information” and “Sharing” which is making companies re-evaluate the need to update their Privacy Policies and the opt-out links being presented to consumers.

EJ Van De Vegte, Director of Software Development

Loyalty accounts and programs are becoming more and more important for restaurants and convenience stores, but also for guest users. Where people were less concerned with the security of their loyalty accounts before, it is getting more important to the brands and their guests. The consumer threat is losing their data but also losing loyalty points or even gift card balances. Loyalty points represent value because an individual can use them to get free products or discounts. And eGift cards are straight-up money. All and all, aspects of a loyalty system become more akin to a banking system and need to be well protected. That protection has an impact on the user experience, so it becomes a balance between UX and security.

It’s gift card season.

Restaurants sell the bulk of their gift cards during the holiday season and the big change this year is that Cyber Monday has become the new Black Friday. When the Paytronix data specialists looked at the numbers, sales of eGift cards outpaced physical cards when it came to year-over-year growth.

Of course, the big news of 2022 remains inflation, and that’s what brought Rachel Wolfe at the Wall Street Journal to look at gift cards.

“Long viewed as impersonal by some, gift cards have taken on a new shine this season as a way to help givers maneuver around rising prices and let receivers buy what they actually need,” Wolfe wrote.

She also looked to Paytronix for commentary on gift cards and inflation. Said Chief Data Officer Lee Barnes: “… if I’m going to spend $50 on my brother-in-law, I may as well give him a gift card rather than get him that T-shirt I had been planning, which now may cost more.”

Read the full article over on WSJ.com (subscription required)

Two decades ago, the only item in a food service establishment’s tech stack was the point-of-sale (POS) system. Such an arrangement is nearly unthinkable today, as a thriving modern restaurant relies on a dizzying number of advanced solutions. Technology impacts every customer touchpoint, every interaction between front and back of house, every accounting decision, and every supply concern. 

As an industry leader in ordering-and-delivery and loyalty software for the past 20 years, Paytronix has helped optimize the tech stack of thousands of clients. These simplified tech stacks limit the staff actions required to complete a task, integrate more smoothly across platforms, and empower a better guest experience. What do we recommend? Give these tips a try:

1. Slim Down Your Tech Stack

Paytronix reduces your restaurant’s tech stack through an all-in-one customer experience platform that integrates with your current POS. The platform enables you to create and deploy omnichannel campaigns in five minutes or less while combining your services. And clients that combine their online ordering and loyalty programs increase order frequency by an average of 18%.

No tech stack is too complex. With over 450 integrations, Paytronix has you covered.

2. Integrations:   

A lot has changed over the last 25 years. Restaurant tech stacks now encompass nearly every aspect of front- and back-of-house operations, making the integration of disparate technologies critical for efficient operations. 

Paytronix has handled hundreds of integration projects ranging from the simple to the complex, and those haven’t been limited to in-house systems. Many involve third-party delivery platforms like DoorDash and Uber Eats. You no longer need to sweat multi-platform updates in the middle of a Friday night rush because the Paytronix platform automatically pushes menu changes to all of the third-party platforms to which your business subscribes.

Interested in integrations for your company but not sure where to begin? The Paytronix Integrations Playbook gives you the inside scoop.

3. Master the Art of Delivery.

Once the pandemic took hold, millions of Americans who had never considered delivery as an option found themselves using ordering platforms for the first time. That trend seems here to stay, as recent surveys indicate that 93% of restaurants have or plan to offer the ability to order online. Millennials and Gen Z have also shown a tremendous willingness to order from home. When those generations visit your ordering site, will they like what they see?

Paytronix brings its best-in-class Order & Delivery product to restaurants of every category type, both through customizable first-party ordering and simplified third-party integration. Your restaurant will be easily able to support both platforms through the integrations mentioned in the previous section. 

Moreover, the delivery experience can be taken to the next level with a custom bundle of other Paytronix products, such as loyalty and feedback tools. Giving your guests the ease of ordering, getting rewards, and providing feedback on one easy-to-access digital platform will result in more orders and larger basket sizes. 

Is an inflated tech stack taking the wind out of your IT group’s sails? Paytronix is ready to make your day. Request a demo of Paytronix Order & Delivery or consult the great tech resources on the Paytronix website.