Restaurant chatbots: How they can drive online orders

Chatbots have become a staple in the hospitality and restaurant industry as off late. While this is a fairly new concept, it’s been widely implemented by online restaurants as bot technology continues to improve. With the aid of bots, restaurants and online food businesses are able to easily engage with their customers by sending them personalized messages and notifications. In this blog, we will look at how restaurant chatbots can help drive more online orders.

What is a restaurant chatbot?

A restaurant chatbot is a bot that is specifically designed to help restaurants communicate with their customers and interact with them on an ongoing basis. Chatbots are a great way for restaurants to help boost online orders/direct orders because they allow customers to connect with the restaurants and browse their menus through a user-friendly, chat-based interface or even a catalogue of items. Restaurant chatbots can help build trust by generating authentic user feedback that can help improve business operations. In addition, most chatbots also provide payment options that help customers pay for their orders then and there.

How restaurant chatbots can help you engage with customers better

Much like chatbots in other domains, restaurant chatbots are able to act as an excellent communication platform for customers. By using a chatbot, both brick & mortar restaurants and online restaurants will be able to quickly showcase their dishes to potential customers. Unlike traditional menus, chatbots can help customers actively search, highlight and order dishes on demand. Moreover, restaurants can also attract customers through a wide range of rich media content like pictures and videos that are integrated into the chatbot interface.

In addition, chatbots can also help restaurants increase customer service responsiveness by automatically replying to a certain percentage of all messages received. Chatbots can also be programmed to detect certain keywords or trigger phrases that can help improve customer service and help customers find their desired dish.

Chatbots can also drive the conversion of browsers into paying customers. As soon as the customer receives the bot’s initial notification, they are incentivized to engage with it. Once the customer begins interacting with the chatbot, they are prompted to select their preferred options such as payment and delivery location. This means that the chatbot is effectively managing the entire order from start to finish.

Suggested Read: WhatsApp Chatbot for Business: How to Create a WhatsApp Bot in 2023

10 ways restaurant chatbots can drive more online orders

We’ve seen how restaurant chatbots have revolutionized the industry and continue to push boundaries by helping restaurants reach more online orders. Here are 10 ways chatbots can help drive more online orders for your restaurant:

Help people find your menu faster.

We live in a time where customers demand faster and smoother services, especially in regards to their online food experience. As such, it is critical that customers are able to search and browse your restaurant’s menu in the best possible way. With chatbots, you'll be able to instantly showcase your menu to the customers and provide them with the information they need in a quick and interactive way. This will allow them to quickly decide what to order.

Give people accurate and up-to-date information instantly.

As we mentioned, chatbots are able to easily interact with customers. This means that they can deliver relevant, accurate & up-to-date information instantly to their customers. Chatbots can also offer their customers information like opening hours, delivery information, and reservation information. This is important because it helps the restaurant build trust and credibility among its customers.

Help customers choose what they’re going to eat (Offer personalized recommendations).

Chatbots are intuitive in nature and they help generate insightful customer data from generic information like name & contact details to specific data like ‘past orders’. This allows restaurants to offer personalized recommendations to their customers. When customers see their most liked dishes prominently displayed on the chatbot screen, they're more likely to order them immediately.

Take orders any time of day.

As a restaurant owner, you should ensure that your restaurant is able to take orders at any time possible. Customers might look to pre-book catering and online orders even when your business is not operating. Therefore, it is important to utilize a chatbot that is able to take orders at all hours of the day, including late at night. A good restaurant chatbot can even help automate your restaurant ordering process to allow the restaurant to take orders without the assistance of a human.

Be available on your customers’ favourite platform.

To grow your restaurant’s revenue, it is important to make sure that it is available not only on your website but also on other social media platforms. However, many brick & mortar restaurants are not accessible through social media because of low traffic. As such, chatbots can easily be integrated with multiple platforms to help drive more online orders. The restaurant chatbot can be customized to provide restaurants with the most popular social platforms. This will allow restaurants to drive the maximum online orders possible.

Deliver personalized promotions to customers

It is important to timely deliver personalized deals and promotional offers to customers to nudge them toward a sale. Chatbots allow restaurants to instantly deliver this information to customers right on their desktop and mobile screens. Restaurant chatbots are also able to automatically detect when a customer has signed up for their special deals and promotions, encouraging them to take the next step and order more.

A one-time setup fee can mean a higher ROI in the long run.

One of the most beneficial factors of integrating a chatbot is that there is no long-term investments required. A chatbot can be set up with a single integration fee with low initial investment, allowing them to reap a higher return on investment. This means that a restaurant chatbot can actually save costs required for marketing and support by significantly reducing the number of the restaurant staff that needs to be hired.

Enable mobile ordering with a chatbot.

Mobile usage has skyrocketed in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue into the future. Since the average restaurant customer tends to have a smartphone and the usage of smart devices is on the rise, it is crucial that your restaurant can seamlessly provide order options on mobile devices. Chatbots can help restaurants provide mobile ordering because they're able to integrate with popular mobile operating systems like Android, IOS, and Windows.

Automate delivery tracking updates with a chatbot.

Chatbots can help drive online orders by allowing the customer to track their delivery. Chatbots are capable of quickly and effortlessly updating the customer about their tracking information, customers can remain calm and happy throughout the whole delivery process. As soon as the delivery is confirmed, the restaurant’s chatbot will immediately inform the customer about their tracking details and the arrival time.

Drive repeat orders and keep customers coming back for more.

Chatbots are easy to operate and they can effectively build relationships with customers. Because chatbots can help drive more online orders, the likelihood of repeat customers visiting the restaurant is increased. Once the customers become familiar with your business, they’re more likely to return for more. In this way, chatbots can help you attract and retain loyal customers and help them order online and visit your restaurant more frequently.

Read: All you need to know about WhatsApp Business API

Restaurant chatbot examples to inspire you

The following five restaurant chatbot examples will showcase how these chatbots can provide excellent benefits for restaurants:

Order a pizza via Domino’s Chatbot

The Domino’s bot named ‘Dom’ will guide customers throughout the whole order and collect all the necessary information like phone and address to place the order. In addition to helping customers, it also helps the brand to lessen the load on their site and mobile app.

Starbucks Chatbot provides voice assistance

The ‘My Starbucks Barista’ provides voice assistance in addition to text-based support to the customers. The chatbot provides customers with the ability to modify and customize their orders based on their preferences.

Burger King’s Chatbot makes ordering food fun

Burger King’s messenger-based chatbot offers carousel menus and other advanced options for customers. This makes the ordering process more fun.

Panda Express' Chatbot collects customer feedback

Panda Express’ messenger-based chatbot is capable of helping customers place their orders swiftly and efficiently. It also allows the restaurant chain to collect customer feedback in the chatbot.

Anyone can build a restaurant chatbot. Explore our no-code chatbot builder or book a demo with us!

If you are a restaurant owner who is looking to implement chatbots to help drive more online orders for your restaurant, you can partner with us at Gallabox to build a customized no-code chatbot. Our team has extensive experience in chatbot implementation and will walk you through the process of building the perfect chatbot for your restaurant. We can also offer you a restaurant chatbot demo so you can see how it works right away. In addition, we’ll help you integrate the chatbot on the most popular messaging platform - WhatsApp, so that you can enjoy maximum ROI. So, why wait? Contact us now!

Further Reading:

In case you missed our articles,

• Looking to Opt-in More Customers to Your WhatsApp Business? Here are a few tips
• Seven Ways Chatbots Can Revolutionize The Educational Sector
• How to Setup WhatsApp's No-Code Chatbot