Wisely Personalizing the Guest Experience

How Leading Restaurants Personalize the Guest Experience to Drive Profit

by MIKE VICHICH

Imagine recognizing regulars upon arrival or knowing exactly who’s behind each curbside order — regardless of which employee is working the host stand. With the rapid adoption of technology across the hospitality industry, that dream is becoming a reality for restaurant brands of all types.

With the right integrated tech stack, restaurants have access to more guest data than ever before. All team members can view guest preferences, items ordered, lifetime spend and visit-frequency data at every customer interaction, creating endless opportunities to tailor the dining experience and foster long-term loyalty. But to remain competitive, brands also have to harness and act on that data.

Before we get into how, let’s look at why.

Historically, restaurant success didn’t require that you knew who was dining with you, why or how often. But as consumers’ needs and expectations evolve, personalization is non-negotiable.

Leading brands are rising to the challenge by transitioning from transactional thinking (i.e. obsessing over same-store sales and cover counts) to customer thinking. By focusing on individual customer behavior — guest frequency, recency and monetary spend — restaurants drive transactions and profitability.

Here are a few ways that restaurants are utilizing data to personalize the guest experience and increase sales:

Operations: Recognizing each guest in real-time — at the host stand, curbside or table. (i.e. Alerting managers which table touches to prioritize, having a regular’s favorite drink prepared upon arrival, etc.)

Marketing: Communicating with guests at the right time, with a relevant message, through the optimal channel. (i.e. Sending tailored emails based on order history, targeting lookalike audiences for high-value guests on social media, etc.) » Culinary: Identifying which items cause high guest-repeat rates and optimizing the menu accordingly. » People: Figuring out which team members produce the highest guest repeat rates for employee recognition and training. » Real Estate: Discovering viable restaurant locations based on where highvalue customers live, work and play. » Finance: Uncovering which investments drive customer lifetime value (estimated profit generated from each customer from the first visit through the last).

Innovative brands like P.F. Chang’s, Sonny’s BBQ and bartaco are paving the way by successfully leveraging Wisely’s Customer Intelligence to find and retain high-value customers. From front of house to culinary and marketing, every department can make data-driven business decisions that boost revenue, loyalty and operational efficiency.

P.F. Chang’s, for example, uses its data to better understand the end-to-end customer journey, provide an elevated guest experience and increase retention. Sonny’s BBQ relies on data to power hyper-relevant marketing automation that drives repeat orders and brand loyalty. And bartaco uses its data to find opportunities to delight guests with personalized service and make strategic real estate decisions.

In three years, harnessing the power of guest data will be table stakes. Today it differentiates. Ultimately, the brands that know their customers best — and do something with that intel — will come out on top.

Visit GetWisely.com/frla to find out how Wisely can help your brand leverage data to build a profitable future with marketing intelligence (all-in-one CRM with marketing automation), operations intelligence (reservations, waitlist, table and order management), and decision intelligence (restaurant-specific CDP and guest sentiment).

Mike Vichich is the CEO and co-founder of Wisely.