Speed and efficiency have always been pretty important to success in the fast-paced, highly intense world of Quick Service Restaurants. Today, those principles are more important than ever, especially as QSRs face a rising number of global challenges - including inflationary pressures, labor shortages, and evolving customer expectations.
To meet these challenges, more and more QSRs are turning to digital ordering solutions. US companies are spearheading this change - in fact, North America is currently the world’s leading regional market. That’s due to a couple of different factors in play, including a highly competitive QSR sector with some of the world’s biggest brands (such as McDonald’s), as well as tech-savvy consumers who are exceptionally comfortable with mobile apps, contactless payments, and self-service technology.
Coupled with a strong infrastructure that's characterized by high smartphone penetration and widespread use of platforms like Uber Eats, and let’s be honest, it’s no wonder that the majority of QSR interactions now involve digital at some point along the customer journey.
All this goes some way to explaining why it’s always a good idea to schedule regular reviews of your own digital channels and hardware. It can help you to identify opportunities to increase your average order value, strengthen loyalty from your customers, and gather valuable data for long-term strategic decision-making.
The first and most obvious reason why digital order solutions are becoming the norm in hospitality is because they’re now becoming a baseline expectation of customers. This is being driven in part by a broader shift towards on-demand digital experiences across other aspects of everyday life; examples include the rise of the streaming era for TV and music, or the gradual change to mobile-first online banking.
Now, customers want convenience, speed and control when they place orders at QSRs, especially younger generations of diners. They expect to be able to browse menus, customize their orders, and complete their transactions with minimal friction across every touchpoint. This shift in behavior is supported by recent usage data - research from Ipsos shows that 65% of QSR visitors have used an order-ahead app, and that figure rises to nearly 90% amongst diners aged 18 to 24. The same study found that one in three customers consider order-ahead functionality essential when choosing a QSR, which itself highlights how strongly digital access is now influencing their purchasing decisions.
Digital ordering solutions - such as self-order kiosks for restaurants - also provide a variety of practical, valuable ways to improve the customer experience, which is a key factor in strengthening their loyalty to the brand. To start with, they can help to reduce wait times and shorten lines, especially during busy periods.
Plus, clear interfaces on kiosks and ordering apps can give customers more control over their order, and allow them to browse various options without feeling rushed. They can customize their meals and explore add-ons or upgrades at their own pace without feeling pressured as they might in a face-to-face interaction. As well as making things easier for the customer, it can also boost average order value for the business (which we’ll come onto in a moment).
The clear interfaces and greater control also provide better order accuracy for customers, who will be able to check everything before confirming, reducing the risk of mistakes or misunderstandings. This convenience carries through to payment, which QSR digital ordering solutions can turn into a simple, seamless experience with straightforward checkout options and saved payment details - helping customers to quickly complete their order.
Saved payment details also feed into the idea of personalization, which can be a reliable way to build loyalty from repeat customers - remembering their preferences, making it easier to order their favorites, and presenting relevant suggestions or offers. One study suggests that 79% of consumers are more likely to engage with brands that offer individualized messaging.
As we’ve touched upon above, many of the same elements that improve the customer experience are also directly tied to growing average check and revenue for QSRs, helping them to drive higher revenue per transaction.
Most digital ordering solutions provide customers with a highly structured journey, with upsell prompts, modifiers and bundle options. Not only do these result in an easier and more pleasant digital guest experience for the customer, but since the suggestions are often tailored specifically to them, this increases the chance that they’ll spend more, generally increasing the average order value. Further personalization elements like order history and account-based incentives can also help to encourage repeat purchases, and compound revenue growth over time.
Another invaluable aspect of digital ordering solutions is their visual menu layout. As well as soft advantages like reinforcing the brand’s identity, it can also be used to highlight high-margin items, position popular combinations, and present limited-time offers with strong visibility. Its digital nature means that it’s easily adaptable too, and can be quickly updated in response to changing seasons or events, such as a newly released summer menu. All this plays a big part in influencing buyer behavior, and boosts the instances of higher-value orders.
At the heart of every digital ordering solution is data, and the most successful QSRs are those that take care to analyze and leverage this data to make more informed strategic decisions. Data from digital systems can provide information about every stage of the transaction, including the popularity of certain options, time spent browsing, favorite customization choices, and average spend. QSRs can then use these insights to inform key commercial decisions, including menu engineering, pricing strategies, promotional activity, and site selection.
Digital ordering analytics can also be used as the basis for continuous test-and-learn programs to improve specific commercial outcomes, such as driving uptake of higher-margin items. This can involve testing changes to menu layouts, pricing, and upsell prompts, before measuring the impact using clear metrics like conversion rate and average order value. Regional managers and marketing teams can carry out these tests across different locations, time periods, or customer segments, with results compared in near real time. This provides a clear way to identify what works, refine their approach, and roll out changes that deliver measurable results for the brand as a whole.
If you’re looking at how best to implement digital ordering solutions into your own QSR locations, or considering an expansion of what you already have, there are a few universal principles that it’s useful to bear in mind.
Know your non-negotiable platform capabilities - make sure to define (and periodically review) the essential features that you’ll need, such as order-ahead functionality or location-based menus, so that your digital channels can meet your immediate requirements, but remain scalable for future growth.
Set clear performance metrics across the wider team - defining and sharing clear KPIs can help you to ensure that your digital solutions are collecting the right data, and that your internal teams are effectively using it to work towards your specific commercial goals.
Build a phased roadmap for growth - a phased approach helps you to meet your customers’ expectations across your digital ordering channels, as well as prioritizing the rollout of features, integrations, and improvements that deliver maximum benefit to your business.
Treat digital as a core part of your brand - rather than treating digital as a separate add-on, all your digital ordering solutions should instead be fully integrated into your business so that they actively support your physical stores, and vice versa. The result should be a seamless customer experience that consistently reinforces the quality of your brand.
With almost 20 years in the hospitality and retail sector, at Evoke we create engaging digital experiences for your customers using the best-in-class technology - including intuitive self-service kiosks, powerful digital signage, and more. Our in-house expertise means we can offer an in-depth consultative approach, so we can deliver a solution that’s tailored to your specific commercial goals - helping to shorten wait times, increase average order value, and transforming the customer journey.
You can find out how we helped McDonalds increase their average order value by 30%, or simply get in touch with our team to discover what we can do for you.