With digital ordering dominating the industry, perfecting the online menu is more important than ever. Fortunately, there are some basic strategies you can adopt to have a real impact on sales.
Menu variant testing will play a huge role in helping brands find the best layout. You might be wondering, “How different can an online menu really be?” You’ll be surprised, and even minor changes can make a big difference. Menu variant testing allows you to set up multiple variations and test them all at once. And given that this tool enables you to try infinite combinations to bump up profits, why reserve it for a rollout every few years? Paytronix has found that that performing regular menu testing allows you to make the most of it.
AI will tell you which is most profitable. Say you operate a restaurant where pizza is a big draw. With AI to IA℠ menu variant testing, you can try one menu that puts pizza front-and-center, so guests don’t have to scroll the find it. You could also try putting pizza behind your appetizers to encourage guests to add another item to their order along the way. You could create another menu where you remove infrequently sold items to simplify your storefront and see whether the change impacts sales. You could run these different menus all at once and the system will tell you which is most effective.
Order aggregator integration tools are a huge help. Tools like Paytronix Handoff℠ make it easier to make the most of order aggregator marketplaces. Given that menu presentation is key, the limitations around updating your menu on aggregator marketplaces can frustrate customers and cut into sales. Handoff enables you to push menu changes to third party platforms and keep track of orders. The software collects orders from the marketplaces and streamlines them into the point of sale automatically.
Bonus tip: Many brands build in a markup to cover their costs when working through a third-party aggregator. One quirk with percentage markups is it might your items priced awkwardly —say, a sandwich priced at $8.07. Handoff’s markup functionality allows you to automatically round off to the number of your choosing, so your pricing can consistently end with 0, 5 or 9, for example.
Intelligent cross selling suggests smart menu pairings. Using AI is a great way to build up check sizes with smart suggestions. It enables you to identify items that are frequently sold together and ask the system to automatically recommend those items as a guest goes to check out. It even allows you to take into account what a guest is ordering — for example, suggesting a nice tea instead of soda to a guest ordering a healthy salad. AI provides an excellent way to make suggestions to guests when you don’t have an in-person server to upsell.
Creating a menu that’s easy to navigate, appealing, and accurate goes a long way toward attracting new guests and building bigger orders. Do you have questions about how to make customized menus work best for you? Get in touch at paytronix.com or by calling (617) 649-3300 ext. 5.