One of the most attractive features of online or web ordering
is that it upsells for you. LaRosa's Pizza in Cincinnati,
Ohio states that their average online orders are $1.25 more
than their phoned counterparts. In the May/June 2005 issue
of Pizza Marketing Quarterly, Two Guys Pizza of Moreno Valley,
California, said their online orders averaged over $8.00 more
per order.
Why are online orders significantly larger than phoned orders?
There are probably several reasons for this. The online ordering
process itself is far more leisurely. Online customers have
no pressure to finish their order quickly. They can browse
the online menu and make selections at their own pace. This
alone could ensure the customers do a more thorough job of
placing orders. But the online menu itself makes a contribution
by reminding each customer to include beverages, appetizers
and extras.
A properly designed online menu will always display all the
menu areas on screen. So when a customer is choosing an entree
or pizza, there is a button or link somewhere on the screen
reminding him to include a beverage, an order of breadsticks
or a dessert. Best of all, it does this automatically for
every customer, every time, without needing to be trained
or reminded. No matter how well trained and patient your employees,
when a customer is talking to them on the phone, there is
always an unspoken understanding that the customer needs to
finish placing the order because the employee must serve other
customers or return to cooking. This need to finish is absent
from the online ordering experience. The lack of pressure
coupled with the online menu's subtle reminders, results in
larger tickets from web orders.
Rudy Vener is president and founder of Pizza Galaxy
Internet Marketing Services. Rudy has combined his more than
two decades of experience in software design with his love
of pizza to help pizza operators market their shops and restaurants
to their local communities on the internet with online ordering,
email marketing and other Internet strategies. Visit Pizza
galaxy at http://www.pizzagalaxy.com
to find out how he can help you.
