If COVID has taught us anything, it is that if your business doesn’t have an online presence, it may not even exist. This is also true for the restaurant industry. With an increased number of people ordering food online, it’s now crucial that your restaurant has a fully functional online ordering system.
But maintaining an online ordering system isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. If you look around, you will see lots of restaurants have lost their business just because they failed to manage their online ordering platform.
So, if your restaurant’s online ordering system isn’t delivering the desired results, it’s high time you check what’s going wrong.
Don’t worry. We’ll make it easy for you. In this article, we’ll explain some of the common reasons for an unsuccessful restaurant online ordering system.
Reasons Your Restaurant’s Online Ordering System is Failing
Let’s look into the following reasons that usually cause online ordering systems to fail.
Quality of Foo
Maintaining the quality of the food ordered can be challenging sometimes when customers order online for both takeaway and home delivery. Unless someone opts to dine in at your restaurant, you cannot serve them fresh food right from your kitchen. Depending on the distance between your restaurant and the target destination, the wait time may be longer than usual, which may cause your food to spoil.
If your customers find that the food is rotten or smells bad once they unpack, you will likely lose them forever.
You’re Unresponsive to Customers
Not every platform is perfect. Your customers may face poor support from you, which can be fixed. However, things may worsen if they can’t reach out to you or don’t get any response from you regarding their complaints.
So, if you’re losing customers and can’t figure out why, check if you’ve received any complaints regarding issues. Two things can happen: Either they complained about a problem that you didn’t address, or the system is too complicated for them to file a complaint.
Your Online Ordering Platform isn’t User-Friendly
Does your online food-ordering platform take forever to load? Or is it too complicated to place an order with just a few clicks? If any of these answers is yes, then you shouldn’t be surprised if there’s no order at all.
Customers tend to be in a hurry when they place orders online, be it for food or something else. They want a seamless platform to place orders without any hassle.
With so many options out there, the last thing you can expect from your customers is to come back or place an order in the first place if they face any trouble navigating your platform. So, if your website or online ordering platform isn’t user-friendly, you’re one step away from losing your business.
Failed to Provide Customised Menu for Delivery
Are you receiving many complaints about drinks getting spilt or the cold coffee not being cold enough? Or are you receiving orders for items that are not suitable for delivery or takeaway? If such things occur regularly, then there’s something wrong with your delivery menu.
Not every dish is suitable for delivery or takeaway. Given that your online order has to travel a certain distance and time, it’s crucial to remove some items from the menu. Failure to do so will only upset the customers.
Messy Packaging
So, you’ve opted for online ordering for your restaurant but haven’t upgraded your packaging yet. This might be one of the many reasons your online ordering platform fails.
Bad packaging can cause food to split or even spoil, especially if you deliver soup or broth. Moreover, it may create a bad impression on your customers and ruin your reputation.
Difficult to Reorder
Imagine this scenario. One of your old customers revisited your website or app and planned to order the same item they previously tried. After a few minutes, they left without ordering because they couldn’t find the item they wanted to reorder.
Customers tend to order the same item repetitively, so it’s crucial to have a reorder button on your site. If your site is missing that button, you may lose a potential customer.
Payment Options are Limited
So, you’ve got an amazing food ordering platform. Customers are placing their orders. But when they are trying to make payments, there aren’t enough payment options for them.
In this digital era, multiple payment options are essential for any online platform. Customers will not wait and will go to another platform if they can’t make a payment at their convenience.
So, next time you see a lot of abandoned checkout at your site, you know what happened.
Final Thoughts
The success of your restaurant’s online ordering system relies on understanding and addressing several critical factors that can make or break customer satisfaction. Whether it’s ensuring that food arrives fresh and in good condition, optimising the user interface for easy navigation, or offering a well-adapted menu for delivery, each element plays a vital role in retaining customers and encouraging repeat business.
Moreover, attention to details like packaging quality and the availability of multiple payment options can significantly impact the value and convenience of your service. Finally, being responsive to customer feedback and continuously improving the online ordering experience are essential strategies to avoid common pitfalls. Since you know why your online ordering system is a failed project, it’s time to implement these insights to turn potential failures into successes that keep your customers returning for more.
If you can successfully do that, your popularity among customers will increase, and you may even get nominated for the upcoming food industry award, Asian Restaurant and Takeaway Awards. To find out more, visit artauk.com.
