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How restaurants can get more from their guest data

The following is a guest post from our friends at Venga.

Guests can be defined across several metrics, all of which are specific to the individual needs of the business and their guests. In this report, we focus on four metrics that impact the DC Restaurant Group guests, and distinguish the guests at each location from one another:

How often do guests visit the restaurant?
Do guests also visit other restaurants?
Do guests dine with large parties?
Do guests provide feedback to the restaurant?

These identified metrics help Venga to build unique profiles of every guest visiting each restaurant in the DC Restaurant Group. Our direct OpenTable POS allows Venga to also unlock any additional actionable visit, purchase, social data so your restaurant can nurture every guest experience.

These profiles drive restaurants like DC Restaurant Group to develop more targeted marketing campaigns. Here’s more on how they did it….

Guest profile analysis: Asking the right questions for your business

Let's dig in (pun intended, of course) on how DC Restaurant Group analyzed the trends in their guests’ profiles, resulting in a streamlined engagement strategy that included segmented and focused messaging.

Guests who make multiple visits yearly

Restaurants that see more guests return during the year have a larger base of “regulars." On one hand, regulars are great—they drive more business with fewer marketing dollars. More regulars can be driven via targeted email marketing campaigns to your existing marketing lists. On the other hand, it may be a sign that fewer first-time guests are being brought through the door.

Guests who visit multiple locations

Regulars to the ABC group are some of your most valuable guests. Expanding your marketing pool to include guests at all six restaurants can create a huge boost in targeted marketing. The Chinatown corridor attracts the most guests loyal to the ABC brand—over 20% are visiting more than one location each year!

Guests who dine with large parties

Large parties are some of your most valuable guests. With higher cover averages and lower per cover turn times, driving more large parties correlates directly with driving more revenue. Large parties are more frequent at ABC locations outside of central DC.

Guests who provide feedback

Two-way communication is a sign of an engaged customer base. Guests who leave feedback are going to spend more time socializing their experience and perhaps inciting others to visit.

Tying it all together

DC - Concept 1: The Loyalists

Guests love DC Concept 1. They come back for a second visit, they visit other restaurants in the group, they talk about their experience online and with friends. In marketing emails, you can strike a more familiar tone with these guests and strengthen your base of regulars.

Bethesda, Maryland: Neighborhood Spot

Bethesda sees more regulars than any other restaurant, but the guests tend to stick to the neighborhood and venture to other locations less often.

The store is average in the customers it attracts and has more large parties and guests leaving feedback.

Crystal City, Virginia: For Your Big Event

More large parties are dining at Crystal City than any other location. And they are socializing their experience, too! This location is a bit of an outpost, so driving guests to dine more than once a year —particularly those bringing in large groups—will boost loyalty and sales

DC - Concept 2: The Standby

DC Concept 2 does not have as many regulars as other restaurants, but it is still being visited once a year by those who visit other downtown locations. These guests may be the most interested in marketing about other Group restaurants.

DC - Concept 3: An Older Crowd?

DC Concept 3 is engaged online less than any other restaurant. This may mean less tech-savvy patrons and an older crowd. Since the location is still sharing plenty of guests with other downtown restaurants, this is the one spot where in-store brand marketing may help drive more loyalty.

DC - Concept 4: In Need of Some Love

Despite being a five-minute walk from other downtown locations, the store sees 25% less traffic than the other stores. There are also fewer large parties and not much chatter online. Put together, these factors suggest a heavy dose of marketing can boost Atlanta covers.