Calculate Weekly Revenue

Restaurants should be aware of the baseline number of online orders. By calculating a weekly sales projection, restaurants can get a sense of how well online ordering is performing, what to expect and how to optimize the experience to drive more revenue. It is important to know the weekly visitor traffic, the checkout conversion rate and the average order value. 

While online traffic and average order values are easy to calculate, the checkout conversion rate requires two steps. To find the checkout conversion rate — how many visitors are placing orders — divide the average number of orders per week by the number of weekly online visitors. From there, restaurants can identify the best way to optimize the online ordering experience and adjust marketing strategies to increase revenue per week. 

Optimizing The Online Ordering Experience

Online ordering is a virtual window into the restaurant, its offerings and as important as the on-premise experience. How items are displayed, listed and described are all important factors in increasing the number of orders that are placed. With direct online ordering through the restaurant’s website, a prospective customer is already interested in dining, but a bad experience can end in an abandoned cart. Since 70% of those diners would rather order direct than through a third-party, optimizing the ordering experience will increase orders and attract loyal diners. Here’s how restaurants can get started.

Invest in High-Quality Food Photography

Restaurants should include high-quality food photography for each menu item. Images provide direction and inform diners of what to expect of their purchase. For restaurants that do a lot of takeout, it’s best to show how the food will be delivered in packaging for transparency and awareness. These best practices will not only increase the checkout conversion rate but will also increase the likelihood of repeat orders.

Write Appealing Food Descriptions

Another strategy for increasing the average conversion rate per visitor is to write appealing and alluring descriptions of each food item. Be sure to include what each dish comes with and list the hierarchy of ingredients. It’s a combined method of showing and telling that pays off. Get creative with language and use appealing adjectives to describe the ingredients.  

When writing menu items, use these steps as a guide. 

1. [Item Name] - First, add the name for the dish. In the above example, it’s simply listed, “Carne Asada”. 

2. [Main part of the dish, and how it’s cooked] - Taco Madera writes “cilantro-jalapeno marinated skirt steak. 

3. [Addional items & Ingredients] - This example cites the main item is served with cilantro-lime rice, black beans and house-made blue corn tortillas.

Include the Restaurant’s Logo to Drive Brand Loyalty

88% of visitors to Bento Ordering — our online ordering solution — place an order. This shows the power of a direct online ordering system for restaurants. Unlike third-party marketplaces such as GrubHub and Seamless, Bento Ordering prominently displays the restaurant’s logo and brand throughout the online ordering experience and is built with SEO best practices, including a unique URL so that diners are able to find the restaurant in search results more efficiently. Visitors to a restaurant’s website are already interested in dining with them. By displaying the restaurant logo and branding, diners know they are directly supporting the restaurant — empowering them to become loyal, repeat customers.

As restaurants seek to drive more orders and increase sales, they should first understand their checkout conversion rate and weekly revenue. Then, restaurants can optimize the online ordering experience to boost sales and attract more diners. For more information on how to increase online ordering revenue, get in touch with your account manager or sign up for a free demo today.