How to compete with 3rd party platforms
It’s no surprise that customers love using Deliveroo and other 3rd party platforms. But there are ways that you can make ordering directly with your business a more attractive alternative.
So if most of your customers aren’t ordering directly through your website, see if you are falling at one or many of these common hurdles:
Awkward ordering – customers are looking for the easiest possible way to order their meal. We don’t believe that consumers necessarily love Deliveroo or Just Eat more than ordering directly, but what they do love is convenience! Let’s be honest, their apps are so quick and easy to use, if the alternative is an old fashioned looking online ordering system, which one would you rather use? So if you want to convert customers you NEED to have a great online ordering experience! If you invest in this, you’ll pay yourself back tenfold by not being tied to Deliveroo and their ridiculously high commission rates!
Infrequent contact with customers – ever heard the phrase ‘out of sight, out of mind’? Let’s think about an example of this… when was the last time you received an email from Deliveroo (hint – I get at least twice a week!) and when was the last time you sent an email to your customer database? If the answer wasn’t this week, then there is your problem! If you’re not actively reminding your customers about your business and your offers, how do you expect to be at the front of their mind when they go to order? Oh and if you haven’t even got a customer database you need to fix that before you can even consider competing with the 3rd parties.
Repetitive deals – consistency is great (everyone knows Domino’s Two for Tuesdays offer) but it can also be quite boring! You need to create excitement and give people new and exciting reasons to order from you. Do you have too much of a certain ingredient this week? Create a special dish and advertise it as a limited menu item! What about offering a promotion on a seasonal special to tie in with a big event? Keep people engaged by mixing it up!
Personalisation – if you’re a small takeaway, it might seem impossible to compete with a giant like Deliveroo, but being small actually means that you can add personal touches that big businesses simply couldn’t do! People engage with people, so educate your customers about the story behind your business and make them want to support you and order directly! This could be as simple as learning the first names of your regular collection customers or sending a voucher when it’s a customer’s birthday or they’ve made their 10th order with you!
Do any of these sound familiar? If you can start implementing at least some of these points, you will immediately start seeing results!
If you’re looking for an easy way to manage your customer database, send emails & WhatsApps and manage your social media accounts all in one place, then why not get the Really Social App where you can do all this and more!
