Get a Snapshot of Customer Behavior with Restaurant CRM Software

It’s a simple fact that your customers are fundamental to your restaurant or catering business. In order for your business to thrive, customers need to like your food, come back for more, and tell their friends. You may think you know your regulars well enough to keep track of their preferences. But if you’re only storing that information in your head or in written notes, you’re missing out on an important opportunity to get the most out of your customer interactions. Luckily there is a technology solution to help you get started in building better customer relationships. Restaurant CRM software can help you centralize your customer interactions and grow your business—and, as Entrepreneur notes, ultimately create a better experience for customers, old and new.

Can Restaurant CRM Software Fuel Business?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. The software is used widely across industries to track sales leads. Why is this software important? For you, prospective sales leads are practically paying customers; you have an opportunity to close the deal with them at every stage of the sales process—sometimes even daily. Restaurant CRM software will help you to track when your customers visit your business and what they order. Through loyalty programs you can learn even more about your customers and gain information like birthdays, anniversaries, and email addresses. Connect this data to your email or text list, and you can begin sending customized offers based on the data you’re tracking.

Get a Snapshot of Their Behavior with CRM Software

You’re already collecting data about your customers. You remember certain facts about them from daily interactions. Your POS system knows what they order. Your waitstaff learns about special occasions, like wedding anniversaries and birthdays, when your restaurant is booked for celebrations. Maybe you have an online-ordering tool, too. Restaurant CRM software brings all of this together to track your customers in a consistent, scalable way.

How does the CRM software work for you? Customers may interact with you in different ways, and restaurant CRM software gives you a streamlined view into their behavior and preferences. With the data and insights culled from this software, you can now greet these customers by name. Even new team members can get to know these customers before they step foot into your restaurant. If some of them normally order burgers, you can send them exclusive promotional offers for your new special burger. Or if it’s someone’s birthday, you can have a complimentary glass of wine waiting for that person’s arrival. The CRM data you gather only grows over time, so you are constantly getting to know your customers and strengthening your connection with them.

The Case for Big or Little. CRM Options for Your Business

Searching for the right restaurant CRM can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips for picking the right one for you, based on the size of your business.

Small: If you’re a new business, or a small operation, you need something affordable that can get you started. You’re looking for practical features to track your customers and send email offers. HubSpot offers a free version of its CRM so you can test the waters.

Medium: You have a bigger customer base, or maybe you’ve even franchised. You need your restaurant CRM software to help launch full-scale email and text marketing campaigns. Salesforce allows you to create a dashboard customized for your restaurant’s needs, to track and understand your leads.

Large: Once you’re more established, you have a lot more customers to keep track of. Look to integrate your systems into one enterprise. That way your POS, online-ordering, and CRM data is all feeding into the same analytics system. PosIQ is made for restaurants and brings all of your systems together to maximize your data collection.

No matter which restaurant CRM software you choose, you’re making an important investment to understand your customers and provide the best possible service.