With people celebrating special occasions, hosting out-of-town visitors, and looking for memorable dining experiences, your restaurant stands to benefit from heightened interest and foot traffic during the holiday season. This surge in activity puts your brand top-of-mind among diners who may be more open to joining your mailing list to opt in for special offers. By capturing their contact information now, you’re investing in long-term relationships that extend beyond a single meal. The right restaurant technology tools can make this process seamless.

Read on to learn how restaurants can collect more contact information from customers during the holiday season.

Online ordering

Online ordering is a no-brainer for restaurants nowadays, as 63% of diners order takeout or delivery two or more times a week. However, if your online ordering system doesn't live directly on your restaurant's website, you could be missing out on long-term gains for your business, like increased revenue and stronger guest relationships. In addition to reducing spend on third-party commissions, direct online ordering lets you own the guest contact information captured at the order button so you can build relationships with customers through marketing and special events in the future.

Online ordering for events

With many consumers leaning on restaurants for all or part of their holiday meals, ordering events are the perfect way to quickly increase sales while making your restaurant a part of guests’ holiday traditions. Ordering events are limited menus available for a specific timeframe and are often tied to seasonal celebrations and social occasions. You can create special holiday menus or bundles for guests to order online in advance (capturing their email in the process), schedule a pick-up date, and send emails to promote the event or remind guests of their orders. 

Digital gift cards

While sending someone a gift card might seem like an easy way out of holiday shopping, a digital gift card to their favorite local restaurant can actually be pretty thoughtful—oh, and it’s good for your revenue too! Digital gift cards drive users to your online ordering; once there, your menu can entice and upsell with featured items and holiday specials and, if they’re not a follower, collect their contact information, opening the door for marketing opportunities in the future.

Waitlisting

With 72% of the highest sales days happening between November and December for restaurants, the holiday season can often come with long waits for guests. However, with the right waitlisting tools you can turn what used to be a frustrating experience for guests into an engagement opportunity. Restaurant waitlist tools can text or email guests to let them know when their table is ready, collecting their contact information on behalf of your business in the process. Additionally, waitlisting can send customers a link to your menu in advance, so your staff can turn tables faster since guests arrive already knowing what they want to order.

Automated phone answering

An influx of hungry holiday diners likely means your staff will be too busy to answer the phones. With 42% of guests moving on to another restaurant if they call and get a voicemail, unanswered calls can mean missed reservations and orders. Fortunately, with tools like Popmenu AI Answering, your restaurant can automatically answer the phone 24/7, fielding common questions from guests using custom responses and sending guests a link to make a reservation or place an online order. This makes it another great way to grow your restaurant's contact list!

PopTip! See how Popmenu client, Dos Salsas saved their staff over 240 hours on the phone with AI Answering.

How owning guest data makes a difference

It goes without saying that the more guest data you have, the more you know about their preferences and behaviors, the more effective your marketing will be. 

It’s also important for tracking your progress. Measuring the impact of your restaurant’s marketing efforts during the holiday season can be tricky, that’s why it’s important to make the most of every interaction (and to ensure you’re capturing and owning your guest data!). For example, when you manage guest contact information from the same place you manage online ordering, you can see how much revenue your messaging earns your restaurant from orders placed on your website—making it easier to track your return on investment from marketing efforts.

Popmenu offers all of the aforementioned tools in a single platform, and lets restaurant’s own the data that they collect—making it the perfect stage for restaurants to market and grow their business year round, not just during the holidays.

Want to kickstart your marketing this season? Check out the Popmenu Holiday Handbook!