Convenience remains the key to retaining customers and having repeat business besides the marvelous cuisine that attracts people to your restaurant. Restaurants are embracing the digital world at the same time and people are preferring stay-at-home and ordering options.

But what has convenience to do with this?

Well, to start with customers have more options for putting their delivery or pick-up orders since they’re no longer limited to calling in and speaking to a customer service representative.  

They can easily order directly from the website or through your application or a third-party application like the most common ones, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, or Doordash.

It makes sense that these companies are increasing in count, size, and wealth with all the concurrent increasing demand on delivery orders with the expectation that the food delivery industry is expected to grow to $320 billion by 2029.

Call-in orders versus online orders

Call-in orders

The restaurant phone system was and is still used to take customers’ orders.

It’s a simple process where customers call and place their orders with the help of a customer service representative who takes the order and manually enters it in the POS then it gets directed to the kitchen for preparation and delivery.

It’s a simple process yet risky. The line might be busy, the customer service representative might take the wrong order due to many reasons including misunderstandings that occur over the phone.

Online orders

We all know that online orders have soared during the pandemic and continue to prosper.

It occurs through three different options depending on the system you’re using:

• Customers order through your website.
• Customers realize their orders using your app.
• Customers escort to a third-party app to place their orders.

It’s evident that in online orders, human contact is far less that call-in options which immediately reduces the chances of errors and misunderstandings.

Should you choose online orders over call-in orders?

Order Accuracy

Call-in orders are far less accurate. First, you have the human factor involved that increases the chance of mistakes in order taking process, mishearing, and misunderstandings even if the POS is recording the order. But, the verbal message is still transmitted to the POS through an employee which automatically increases the chance of errors.

While in online orders, customers make all the steps including the checkout and they are urged to confirm their order for additional accuracy.

Customer experience

Usually, when people call to place orders over the phone, they have no menu in their hands meaning that they will be asking way more questions to your employees who will have to explain the ingredients of the menu items. Customers can’t also see a picture of the item, so it’s harder for them to make decisions.

The result is longer calls spent on order taking resulting in fewer callers.

In online ordering, customers have all the information to make the correct choice, especially when ordering an item for the first time. They can easily view the offers as well.

 Revenues and order volume

The increasing revenues from online orders result from different reasons.

 Orders inaccuracy caused by the call-in orders often leads to customer dissatisfaction meaning you’ll be receiving fewer calls from these customers, unlike online ordering.

Upselling is far more successful in online ordering than call-in orders because usually people feel rushed to place their orders during the call with all the accompanying inconvenience that comes with a phone call. In online orders, they can thoroughly choose their meals and then optimize their orders through suggested add-ons or combos.

Particularly, pizza orders placed online are 18% higher than orders taken by phone. Generally, revenues generated from online orders are 23% higher than in-person orders.  

Pictures viewed in the application or website are appetizing enough to urge you to add more items to your order since graphics impact people’s choices and decisions.

The answer is quite obvious now. Make the switch to online ordering for more efficient and more profitable, and more convenient orders while saving costs on labor.

Bottom line, always choose technology for your operations and get a fully integrated POS system.