According to a fast food chain case study done by a leading firm, customer service is just as important as the taste of the food in a restaurant or fast food chain to have a good customer retention score! Customers visiting your QSR are willing to pay a little extra provided they get a good experience. That makes you bound to hear your customers out and give them what they want to achieve customer satisfaction.
How do you as a QSR/fast food chain administer a program that gives you intel on what do customers want from quick service restaurants?
Through a thorough voice of customer program (VOC) done meticulously and frequently as a customer experience management procedure. It is now common for every industry including the F&B industry and even the largest fast food chains in the world to adhere to the voice of customer research as a standard process to grow and provide quality food and service. This is your chance to get ahead of your competitors.
VOC results can also help you understand where to successfully invest money and make cuts to attain optimal results. One of the primary issues the F&B industry is dealing with today is reducing labour costs. Many fast food chains have been able to reduce labour costs through VOC finds. Labour costs average around 1/3 of total sales and restaurant operators are feeling this hit them more than ever, now. They are looking at reducing their labour costs while still trying to keep up a good customer experience. In such a case VOC has been able to guide them perfectly with insights on what is truly important to the customer as opposed to what can be ignored or handled digitally with lesser human involvement!
If you have a good voice of customer score in fast food industry and want it to remain that way or if your VOC scores have dropped from the last one administered then this blog can tell you how to raise your VOC scores; which can be a challenge for many fast food companies.
Read on to keep your F&B VOC scores at an all-time high:
- Lead by example
The dynamic setting that a fast food chain has can easily become exhausting for employees that are facing customers constantly. They are constantly on the go and dealing with customers who are not necessarily right or nice all the time. Keeping this setting in mind it is incredibly important for you as a fast food chain owner or restaurant owner to create a positive aura around them. This will not only boost their morale but also allow them to face day-to-day challenges with a smile on their face. Make sure you greet them merrily each day when they enter and leave. Showcase interest in their daily lives, personally and become a part of their lives. This will make them want to keep coming back and you will notice that there is patience and positivity when it comes to handling your customers too. This workplace management training should become a part of managerial training to make sure every manager on the floor is making the employees under them happy and thanking them for their efforts.
- Be customer-centric
Simply providing good food is not enough, you must be intrinsically customer centric and provide incredible customer service. Make sure that your customers are happy at every step. Your training programs must include role-playing ideal customer interaction in QSRs. This will set a standard in front of your future and existing employees and you will notice lesser unhappy customers.
- Get your numbers right
Performance metrics that can give you daily, weekly, quarterly and yearly updates on what is going on on the floor are imperative if you want your voice of customer scores to increase. Addressing issues, driving improvement and reinforcing good behaviour through data that you share with your employees regularly transparently will ensure that your employees are at par with your goal and standard for the upcoming days. There are multiple softwares that you can use available in the market currently for you to invest in specific to QSR requirements!
- Train your cashiers
Your customer’s first interaction is with the cashier at the register and that is your chance to set things right for yourself. A friendly cashier that knows the menu perfectly, can solve queries at the counter, has order accuracy and has a good pace at transaction clearance is what is going to make your customer happy. Another thing that can add to your revenue with apt training is convincing skills for up-selling products available. This initial interaction can set a positive customer experience undertone at your QSR or fast food company.
- Do it right
Mistakes are unavoidable but they can be decreased. Do not give your customer the chance to complain about something or have to ask for basic requirements. Present their order neatly in a tray or bag and provide them with the requested condiments like straws, napkins, etc.
- Make it personal
Give your customer the attention they deserve to make them keep coming back to you. Get your employees to greet them and ask them for their name. Addressing people by their names is a great way to connect with the customer while still keeping it professional. If you want your fast food chain to be on the list of which fast food chain has the best customer satisfaction then you must include basic questions like how do you greet a customer in a fast food restaurant or how do you talk to customers in fast food in your training programs. Offer the customers free samples of new items and desserts, to make them feel important but also make them try out new products that they may want to consume the next time around. Provide drink refills, clear out the space and keep it clean, ask the guests for their feedback on the meal and apologize whenever necessary. Your customer wants to be heard and as a QSR/fast food chain, you must adhere to their requirements.
These 6 strategies are a fool-proof way to make sure that your QSR is the best and you will notice pleasing your customers, training and indulging in good softwares you can increase your voice of customer scores every time you administer them!
Leading customer experience companies like Sonata CX are here to help out your fast food chain with 9 dynamic customer experience services. Good customer experience and customer experience management are truly inevitable currently and you as a fast food chain need it more than ever now. Customers are not waiting around for you to set the record straight. They are headed over to your competitors that provide better and bigger. With analytics and insights from customer experience surveys like the voice of customer surveys, you can be ahead of them.
Our CX solutions are focused on transforming the total customer experience through surveys, metrics, analytics and auditing by using the CXM framework to combine physical measurements with digital Platformation™ capabilities. We are committed to finding the right customer experience strategy that can lead to a competitive advantage.
Sonata CX is a global technology company specializing in customer experience CX measurement, platform-based digital transformation, supporting businesses to become connected, open, intelligent and scalable. Global coverage of more than 105 markets with over 27 years of market leadership through extensive measurement capabilities, powerful and intuitive reporting and analytics platforms give us the leverage to improve customer experience. It has presence across USA, Canada, EMEA and APAC regions. If you would like to know more about how we can assist you, please fill out the business enquiry form below.