So, you have free online ordering up and running — that’s great! Now, how do you market it to hit your business goals? And how do you make it the best it can be?
Here are 4 tips for marketing your online ordering system.
1. Announce that you offer online ordering
Sounds like a no-brainer but letting customers know it exists is half the battle! Make a quick list of all your customer touchpoints and start from there.
Here are 6 places to let your customers know about online ordering:
- Publish a banner on your restaurant website
- Include a direct online ordering link in your restaurant social media bio
- Post a sign on your front door and at the counter
- Write a note on a receipt
- Stick an online ordering QR code onto to-go bags
- TELL your customers whenever you speak to them
You don’t need to do all of these at once. Prioritize where you have the most interactions with customers, then add on as you can.
Keep your menu up to date
With the uptick in online and contactless ordering, you need a tool that can seamlessly sync takeout, delivery and onsite ordering. It’s also essential to keep your digital menu up to date — and to know it can be modified easily, at any time.
With proper menu management, you can make all menu updates at once, in one place, and:
- Generate interest in items with limited availability
- Mark items as sold-out
- Showcase events and seasonal menus
- Feature top-sellers and limited-time menu items
- Set the hours dishes are offered
- Modify and remove menu items in real-time
- Tag dishes with labels and warning labels
- Instantly update pricing
This paves the way for marketing your online ordering on social media. (More on that below.)
Make your menu searchable
When people search for a place to eat, about half the time they don’t know which business they’ll order from. So, it’s important that your menu is searchable — and to know it will appear in results when someone searches by craving (think “Croque madame in Chicago” or “cheeseburger near me”).
Search engines use a crawler to scan and analyze the content on a webpage. Google uses them to “read” web pages to determine their level of usefulness for the user. A PDF is essentially an image on a page, so it isn’t searchable. However, HTML text — text that’s directly typed onto a webpage can be read by crawlers. That means it will appear in a search.
Update your Google My Business info
Placing an Order button across multiple Google properties — Google Pay, Maps, Assistant and more — is essential. Then, when you’re integrated, anyone who searches for “best shawarma near me” can order takeout directly through the tool. Again, you want to make sure your Google Business Profile information is up to date.
To enrich and add flexibility to the user experience, there are also features like order ahead, menu search, popular items, reorder and suggested related items.
Push specials on social
Since foot traffic and word of mouth alone don’t cut it anymore, add a call to action button on your social media, prompting customers to order online. Be sure it goes straight to your (up-to-date) online menu.
Update your social daily with specials, updates and messages of customer appreciation. Post about a seasonal ingredient you procured on Instagram and Facebook stories.
Advertise online-ordering-only dining deals on your restaurant’s website and push them out on social media, too. Create a bit of FOMO with a limited-time-only menu. Or offer convenient, family-style meals for four-to-six people is a great way to offer small catering orders for families who are looking to order to go.
Try the Table Needs POS System
Online Ordering becomes even more efficient when you use Table Needs POS System. With Table Needs, you can manage your menu, accept online orders, process payments, and track orders all from one dashboard.
Sounds pretty good, right? Schedule a hassle-free demo today to see the Table Needs POS System in action for yourself!
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