You serve great food at your restaurant and you have a great ambience.

Do you think it’s enough?

Are customers satisfied with what you have to offer them so far?

I don’t think so.

Customers are expecting you to go this extra mile for them, showing them that their business with you is valuable to you and that they aren’t just a number.

Having distinctive customer service is your way to set yourself apart from your competition.

But you don’t just guess what best suits your customers, you simply go to the main source, your customers, to know what brings them the ultimate satisfaction and leads them to loyalty.

How to do that?

You can easily get that through questionnaire and surveys. 

Benefits of surveys

Gain valuable customer feedback

You can’t imagine the amount of detailed information you might get from conducting surveys.

You see that one customer that visited your restaurant and never came back? 

If you’re wondering about the reason, then the answer will be found in surveys.

The surveys will clearly tell you what’s missing in your service or what needs an adjustment.

Only 1 out of 26 unhappy customers complains about a bad service.

And let me tell you something, this is not a good thing. 

You need to hear back from your unhappy customers to know the source of the problem.

Increase customer loyalty 

Sending out surveys to customers shows them that they are valued and that they matter.

It builds strong relationships with them so whenever they have a complaint they will inform you instead of stopping their business with you. 

Even without a complaint, asking customers their opinion about the service you offer, the food you serve and the overall experience matters to them. 

Meet the ever changing needs of customers 

Customers change their taste and preferences constantly. 

Asking them about specific choices keeps you on top of their changing behavior. 

Adding vegan choices, following social media trends or adopting certain trending social issues for instance, affects your business and your relationship with your customers.

They are expecting you to adapt fast to these changes so they don’t feel neglected.

Make better business decisions

All the decisions you make affect your customers and should be affected by your customers. 

Removing an item, adding a category or discontinuing a certain service are all decisions you make depending on customers’ behaviors. 

The decisions that you’re making based on your customers’ feedback will more likely get you to reach customer satisfaction.

In such a competitive market, you can’t just guess on the next steps you will be taking.

You need tangible data straight from customers that helps you understand them and make decisions accordingly. 

If you’re serving a dessert or coffee with inconsistent flavour, it means that you’re away from your customers’ likes so you have to make adjustments to the flavors so you don’t lose customers.

How does technology help you in customer feedback?

Your POS software takes your overall business performance to a whole new level.

From operations to customer service including feedback, the features of a well chosen POS software are the answer for most of your concerns.

Flexsurv

Flexsurv is one of the ways you can benefit from your software to learn about your customers and transparently hear their feedback.

Customers can talk to you through a digital platform that’s directly linked to your CRM and point of sale.

They can either file a complaint, a suggestion or a recommendation using the comment cards available.

You can send them questionnaires asking them about specific service, meal, event or flavour. 

If you’re thinking of adding a category or open a new branch for instance, you can create a questionnaire on the platform and send it to concerned customers.

Once you have the required data, you collect it and analyse it to improve or alter a certain service.

When customers finish their food and order their bill, the waiter hands the tablet to fill in the sections of the survey. 

This way, you make sure that the customer’s voice is heard because the waiter cannot throw the paper away if they don’t like the feedback.

Even in a take out restaurant, customers can fill in the survey answering questions through different smileys rating the service from good, average to bad.

Customer feedback is the key to continuous success and technology is the way to do it.