Breakthrough In Restaurant Marketing, Lead Generation
A new report
highlights the switch from print coupons to online marketing,
showing that American restaurants are turning away from newspapers
and direct mail to the Internet to win new business and reach
younger and more prosperous customers.
A review of
online restaurant promotions shows that one-third of
restaurant-goers now use the web to check out menus. The arrival of
�virtual discount� coupons for meals is predicted to drive the
number rapidly higher.
The humble,
money-saving, discount coupon has apparently arrived in the online
era. And many believe it promises to revolutionize the way customers
choose where to eat in every sector of the restaurant market...just
like it�s changed the way we find the news and do much of our
shopping.
Coupons are
used not only to bring in more diners but also as a key source of
leads for future business, enabling restaurants to collect contact
details and stay in touch with consumers...to maintain higher
volumes and increase profits.
The majority of
coupons, offering customers annual savings of $331 billion, are
currently printed and distributed with newspapers, but with
redemption rates tumbling, the Internet is seen as a much more
flexible and attractive discount route. This year, an estimated 2.6
billion coupons are available on the web, with online redemptions
running up to 11 times the level of those from print.
In place of
lengthy lead times, complex print management and costly logistics,
the report says, the Internet allows restaurants to offer coupons
instantaneously and at low cost. Customers simply find the
restaurant discounts they want online, and print out the coupons at
home.
Alex Makarski,
outspoken editor-in-chief of Restaurant Commando, welcomed the new
study. �This unique and rare special report provides the crucial
data restaurateurs need to maximize their coupon campaigns,� he
asserted.
One company in
the vanguard of online restaurant couponing is rolling out a
nationwide, city-by-city service allowing restaurateurs to manage
their discount promotions in real time...effectively turning them on
and off to control the flow of customers.
Restaurants
simply log on to CouponCuisine, key in the details of their special
offers, instantly generating up to five different coupons�for
example to test new dishes or fill seats on a quiet night. They can
show their full menu, link to the restaurant web site, control how
many coupons are printed, change them as frequently as they want,
and track details of who is looking at them and using them.
�It�s a massive
marketing advance for the restaurant industry,� says CouponCuisine
founder Nathan Gilder. �Instead of the shotgun approach of
newspapers, restaurants using online coupons can target customers
with precision and at low risk. If one offer doesn't work it can be
instantly changed.�
Long-time
restaurateur and consultant Troy Authement of Texas-based Strategic
Profits is excited to see restaurant coupons on the Internet:
�Having spent 24 years owning and running restaurants and three as a
restaurant consultant, I believe services like CouponCuisine are the
answer to attracting new customers and keeping current ones active,�
he affirms.
Two interesting
findings highlighted in the study are that middle and high income
groups are among the biggest users of coupons, and that more than
half of 20- to 30-year-olds use them. These groups are also among
the most avid web users and a key target for restaurants.