After several months of research on customer relationship management, my friend still did not have a clear idea about it. He shared about his restaurant needs and asked for tips on retaining customers. As I have long experience with customer management software, I decided to share some insights with him.
I shared all the basics and core functionalities with him. It’s been two years since then, and he is successfully running his restaurant business.
In this blog, I am going to explain all the basics of customer relationship management (CRM) software that I have shared with my friend. I will explain how CRM software works, why it is so important for restaurant businesses, and what its key features are.
What is Customer Relationship Management?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a process of interacting with customers using data insights and analysis. Businesses use customer relationship management strategies to increase customer satisfaction.
With CRM, restaurant businesses can provide a more personalized dining experience to their customers. If a customer likes certain foods or has specific preferences, restaurants can use this information to make their experience more enjoyable and tailored to their tastes. Restaurants can also create loyalty programs that reward customers.
What is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a tool that helps businesses manage and keep track of their customers to improve their relationships with them.
CRM software manages all customer interactions and relationships. Businesses can use it to organize, manage, and track customer interactions to build strong relationships and improve service. CRM software stores important information like customer names, contact details, purchase history, and communication records in one place.
The CRM system collects customer information whenever a customer interacts with the business. This could be during purchases when they send inquiries or give feedback. The software organizes this data in an easy-to-understand way so the business can see the details about each customer.
Businesses can send personalized emails, messages, or offers to specific customers based on their preferences or behavior.
You can send personalized emails, text messages, or special offers based on the information you have gotten from your customers’ interactions with your restaurants. For example, if a customer usually orders takeout on weekends, you can send them a discount for their next weekend order.
If it’s a regular customer’s birthday, you can offer them a special treat. These personalized messages will make your customers feel special and appreciated, and they will come back to your restaurant again.
The CRM software can provide reports that show trends, such as which customers buy frequently, what products they prefer, or how satisfied they are with service.
CRM Software for Restaurants
Now, you may ask this question: how do restaurant owners use CRM software?
Well, this is how they do.
Restaurant owners can use CRM software to gather and store customer information. They can provide personalized service and send targeted promotions or discounts by remembering customer preferences, like favorite dishes or preferred seating.
CRM software helps restaurant owners track feedback and reviews from customers. With all the information in their hand, they can quickly respond to complaints and maintain strong customer relationships. For example, you can store complaints from customers based on the CRM data and then offer those customers a personalized apology or discount when they visit your restaurant next time.
Additionally, it provides insights into customer behavior and trends. Restaurant owners who are well aware of these trends and customer behavior can make informed decisions about menus, promotions, and overall customer service strategies.
CRM Software for Small Business
Like restaurants, small businesses use CRM software to collect important customer information. With CRM, businesses can remember what each customer likes so they can offer a more personal experience. They can also keep track of conversations with customers and send special offers to them. The software also helps the business see which products are popular among their customers. Small businesses can make better choices about what to sell or promote next to grow.
CRM Software for Enterprise
Enterprise businesses, or very large companies, use CRM software even more. They gather customer data from many places, like online shopping, social media, and customer service calls. They use this software to send out huge marketing campaigns, but the messages can still be personalized for each customer group.
Enterprises also use CRM to manage complicated sales processes and to make sure their sales teams don’t miss any opportunities. They can analyze customer trends to make big decisions about new products, pricing, and entering new markets.
Additionally, they can connect CRM system to other business systems in order to help their sales, marketing, and customer support systems work together smoothly.
Read: Restaurant Websites: Why They’re Essential for Success?
Why is CRM Software So Important for Your Restaurant Business?
A restaurant benefits from a CRM system in several ways. A CRM system works not only on customer management but also on digital ordering, loyalty programs, and online reservations. Let’s explore how CRM software can benefit restaurant businesses:
Improved Customer Retention
Customer experience is everything in the restaurant industry, and a CRM system will help you deliver a more customized dining experience to your customers. By collecting and analyzing customer data, you can better understand what diners like and serve them accordingly.
For example, if a customer frequently orders vegetarian dishes and enjoys a particular type of dessert, your CRM system will note these preferences. When they return, the staff can recommend new vegetarian options and remind them about their favorite dessert using the CRM system.
Data-Driven Marketing
Another key advantage of a CRM system is data-driven marketing. A CRM system allows restaurants to segment their customer base and run targeted marketing campaigns. If a customer frequently orders something, the CRM system will collect that data and suggest you send offers based on that item.
Increased Operational Efficiency
A CRM system can increase your restaurant’s operational efficiency by integrating it into your restaurant’s POS system. If a customer books a table, their information will automatically be synced to the CRM system. When your staff has all the information about customers and bookings, they can prepare food and tables on time and arrange them according to the customer’s needs.
Upselling and Cross-Selling
With a CRM system, you can easily identify your customers and increase revenue through upselling and cross-selling. When customers frequently order a particular item, your CRM system can recommend complementary menu items that might appeal to their tastes. For example, if a customer often orders a certain drink, the CRM system can recommend a dessert or a snack that goes well and complements it.
Additionally, with the CRM systems, you can promote special events to customers who are likely to be interested in your restaurant. By using data-driven insights, you can maximize each customer’s value and create more opportunities for sales.
Building Stronger Customer Loyalty
One of the most powerful benefits of a CRM system is its ability to build stronger customer loyalty. A CRM helps you to create and manage loyalty programs that reward your best customers. Whether it’s through points, discounts, or exclusive experiences, a well-managed loyalty program will encourage your customers to come back. Customers who feel appreciated and rewarded for their loyalty are likelier to return.
Key Components of Customer Relationship Management Software?
A customer relationship management system offers several key features to make restaurant business maintenance easy. Below are some of the key features that make CRM software an essential tool for restaurant owners.
Customer Profile Management
Efficient customer profile management is essential for your restaurants to maintain strong relationships with your customers. All customer data will be stored in a centralized customer profile, including contact information and interactions from various sources.
Keeping the customer profiles well-maintained will improve direct customer communication and make your marketing efforts fruitful for your restaurants.
Tracking and analyzing customer interactions across all digital touchpoints, such as table bookings, orders, pay apps, and guest Wi-Fi, can give you a clear idea of your customers’ needs and preferences.
Accessing the history of previous interactions with your customers will allow you to engage with them in the way they mostly prefer.
Cross-Platform Performance
You can manage client data and operations from anywhere with CRM solutions that support mobile access. You can access your CRM on any device, including computers, tablets, and smartphones.
Workflow Automation
To further improve efficiency, CRM systems offer workflow automation for routine tasks such as customer follow-ups, marketing campaigns, and reservation reminders. For instance, your restaurant might set up automated emails to send birthday discounts to customers without needing your staff to manually track dates.
By automating these processes, your staff can focus more on core operations, such as improving the customer experience or managing daily tasks. Automation also ensures that important customer interactions aren’t missed, enhancing both service quality and operational flow.
Sales and lead Management
When someone shows interest in your restaurant’s services, like catering services for an event or reserving a space, they might reach out to you through phone, email, or social media. A CRM system helps you record and keep track of these inquiries in one place. The CRM also reminds you to contact the leads again to see if they want to book your services.
A “lead” is someone who is interested but hasn’t yet made a purchase. By keeping in touch and providing helpful information, you can actually convince interested customers to book your catering service or event space.
Read: The A to Z of Restaurant Delivery Management Systems
Customer Segmentation
A CRM system segments customers into different categories. You will be able to identify your customers based on their behavior. For example:
- Regular customers (those who visit often)
- New customers (those visiting for the first time)
- Customers who only come on special occasions
Marketing Integration
A CRM solution should have an integrated marketing feature. With the help of this marketing integration in your CRM system, you can send email and SMS campaigns to your customers to improve communication. The CRM system can segment customer data and utilize these data to segment customers for more personalized campaigns and promotions.
Marketing automation, such as automated email and SMS campaigns, has become increasingly popular. These campaigns can improve operational efficiency, as your restaurant can focus on the core tasks of maintenance without thinking about marketing. Automated texts, emails, and notifications will take care of marketing and deliver personalized content to customers.
Report and Analytics
As restaurant businesses grow, understanding the impact of each initiative on your restaurants’ growth becomes increasingly important. Reporting and analytics will provide a clear overview. You will get insights on essential metrics like return on investment (ROI) and tracking performance across different outlets. You will also have a clear picture of the number of repeat customers.
Third-Party Integration
Your restaurant will be able to collect more information about your customers if you connect your CRM with other third-party systems. For example, you can connect your CRM with reservation systems, delivery apps, and payment systems. You will be able to get more details about your customers, like what they order, how they pay, and how often they visit. By combining all this information, you can understand your customers better and build stronger relationships with them.
Customer Support Management
Mistakes can happen, even in the best restaurants. What matters most is how your restaurant responds. A CRM system with customer support management helps you track and address customer complaints effectively. By logging issues related to customer dissatisfaction or discomfort, the system allows you to resolve problems quickly.
List of CRM for Restaurants
There are many restaurant customer relationship management software that are good solutions for restaurant businesses. Among all these solutions, here are the top five restaurant customer relationship management software. Let’s have a look at all these CRM software and see how much these software costs.
Eat App
With the Eat App, you can keep track of all your reservations, tables, and customers in one place. This cloud-based CRM system automatically creates and tracks customer databases with details about customers’ preferences and how they act. If you divide your customers into groups, you can send them personalized marketing messages right from the database. To get people more involved, you can use the personalized marketing tools of this CRM system.
Eat App pricing: the free version is $0/month. Advanced packages start at $34/month.
Toast
Though Toast is known as a point-of-sale system, it provides strong CRM features. Like many other restaurant CRMs, Toast lets you save customer information in their database. You can set up gift cards, customer loyalty programs, and email marketing campaigns with it.
Toast pricing: the starter pack is free. Advanced packages start at $69/month.
Tock
As a reservation system, Tock works for the hospitality industry. With Tock’s CRM solution, you will get ticketing and pre-payment capabilities. Tock provides access to visitor data such as food allergies, notes, special events, and visit history as a customer relationship management system. Additionally, you have the option to establish a predetermined set of guest tags according to their eating patterns and preferences.
Tock pricing: starts at $79/month
SevenRooms
You will get centralized guest profiles from SevenRooms CRM for a unified view of your customers across locations and departments. Depending on the preferences of your customers, you can give each customer a unique guest tag (for example, VIPs, critics, regulars, big spenders, wine lovers, etc.). You can use SevenRooms’ marketing automation and email marketing tools to make the customer experience even more personalized during and after service.
SevenRooms pricing: for specific pricing information, you have to book a call with the sales team of SevenRooms.
OpenTable
Popular reservation platform OpenTable provides customer relationship management features. With OpenTable, restaurants can access their customer databases with notes and tags. Restaurants also can set up automated email campaigns. You can send personalized messages based on specific customer characteristics using the data of its reporting and analytic tools.
OpenTable pricing: starts at $149/month
Choosing the Right CRM for Your Restaurant
As there are many options available in the market, it can be challenging to choose the right CRM for your restaurant business. I’m sharing some factors that you need to consider while choosing the right CRM for your restaurant business.
1. Does the CRM software meet your specific needs?
You should look for a CRM software that has the ability to meet the needs and goals of your restaurant. To identify these needs, ask yourself these questions:
- Does it integrate with your current systems?
- Can it segment customers based on behavior and preferences?
- Does it provide rewards, coupons, and loyalty programs?
When you have identified which functionalities and features your restaurant must have, then you can easily choose a CRM based on those features and functionalities.
2. How much does it cost?
Pricing is a very crucial factor in choosing a restaurant CRM. To avoid any unexpected surprises, you should look for customer relationship management software with an honest pricing structure. If you are not looking for an affordable CRM, then you should look for one that won’t hurt your pocket. To find out the most cost-effective CRM software, you should compare their prices, plans, discounts, and any other deals.
3. Is the CRM software scalable?
It is important to find customer relationship management software that can expand to meet your restaurant’s future needs in terms of users, features, and locations. If the software is not scalable with your restaurant’s growth, then you might face difficulty in the future while expanding your restaurant businesses and services.
4. Does it provide security?
A CRM software that provides security should be your priority. To protect your reputation, you need a customer relationship management system that protects your restaurant and customer data from any kind of outside breach.
5. Is the system easy to use?
Ease of use is one of the most important things to look for To make sure your team can access, update, and analyze customer data with ease, you should look for a CRM software that is easily accessible and can be easily navigated and customized.
6. Check it’s support system
If you run into problems or have questions while using the CRM software, you should be able to rely on the helpful and quick responses from the customer support team. It’s important to know how well the CRM software is supported to avoid future issues.
7. Check ratings and reviews about the software
To understand the quality and performance of the CRM software, you should look for positive and consistent feedback from customers and industry peers. To further verify its legitimacy and authority, you should look for CRM software that has won awards from respected publications and organizations.
Read: Restaurant Table Management System: A Complete Guide
Conclusion
In this blog, we’ve explored the basics of customer relationship management software (CRM) and how it benefits restaurant businesses. You’ve learned how CRM software stores important customer data and tracks their interactions with restaurants. I strongly believe it will help you to provide a better customer experience and increase your restaurant’s operational efficiency.
Now that you understand the importance of CRM software, it’s time to start using a CRM system for your restaurant business.
Best wishes!
FAQs
How can I use CRM software to remember my regular customers?
CRM software stores information about customers in a central database, so you can easily identify them by their names, contact details, and past orders. As CRM software tracks every customer’s details, you can easily find the list of customers who frequently visit your restaurant.
How will the CRM software help me to retain my customers?
Yes, CRM software can definitely help you retain your customers. You can create promotions and campaigns targeting your customers. You can also run a loyalty program to encourage them to come back to your restaurant again and again.
Can I integrate my CRM system with my restaurant’s POS system?
Yes, you can integrate your CRM system with your restaurant’s POS system. Many customer relationship management systems have integration capabilities to run with a restaurant’s own POS system.
How soon can I expect to see results after implementing CRM software?
How soon you will get these results can vary. However, many restaurant owners have started noticing improvements in customer engagement and retention within a few months of implementing a CRM system.
