In this article we’ll be taking a look at:
- Why more orders are not always better for your QSR
- How uneven demand affects individual QSRs
- How to target the right QSR, time, customer and offer
- Why campaigns should sometimes be stopped when your QSR is busy
- Measuring incremental revenue rather than just voucher redemptions
Most QSR marketing focuses on getting more orders. But more orders are not always better. An extra 50 orders at 6.30pm on a busy end-of-week Friday can overwhelm a kitchen, stressing staff, delaying deliveries and creating unhappy customers. Those same 50 orders at 3.00pm on a Wednesday afternoon could make better use of staff and kitchen capacity.
The real opportunity is demand orchestration where you match customer demand to the times and locations where your QSRs can benefit from it most.
Why more orders are not always better
Demand is rarely evenly spread across a QSR network. One outlet may be quiet during weekday lunch while another is already struggling to keep up with orders. So let’s say you now decide to run a national promotion. All good and well in theory, but in practice it could make this imbalance worse for your stores by sending more customers to QSRs that are already busy. Instead, first look at your ordering data to find which of your QSRs have potential spare capacity.
Five questions every campaign should answer
Before launching a promotion, ask:
- Which restaurant? Find the locations with a genuine demand gap.
- Which time? Focus on quiet periods such as mid-afternoon, early-week evenings or late breakfast.
- Which customer? Target people whose behaviour suggests they are likely to respond.
- Which offer? Use the smallest incentive needed to change behaviour.
- Which capacity? Reduce or completely stop campaigns when a QSR is already busy, understaffed or struggling with availability.
Turn quiet periods into opportunities
Let’s say you have a suburban QSR that regularly struggles on Monday evenings. Instead of sending a single discount to all your QSRs, rather identify customers near that QSR who have ordered on Mondays before, offer a relevant meal or add-on, and limit the promotion to a specific time. Job done!
Thanks to the power of YUMBI, Insights can help your QSR understand ordering trends, customer behaviour and differences between locations. Engage can activate targeted audiences through campaigns and notifications. And StoreFront then converts that demand into an order.
Measure profitable demand, not just redemptions
It's good to bear in mind that a successful campaign is not simply one that generates vouchers. Measure incremental orders, revenue, margin, customer frequency and operational measures such as preparation time and cancellations. Your end goal is not to fill every minute by bombarding customers with promotions left, right and centre. It’s to put the right customer, in the right QSR, at the right time! That’s the secret sauce to creating profitable growth without putting unnecessary pressure on your busy stores!