Before your customer even walks into your restaurant, there is an impression created about the kind of experience they are about to have. This impression comes from a number of external marketing activities as well as word of mouth from previous visitors. We call this impression the pre-dining experience. What is your customer thinking and feeling about your restaurant before they come in to eat?

Picture this; a potential customer calls your restaurant wanting to book, they tried to contact you online but no one responded to their emails or Facebook messages. When a staff member picks up, they are stressed from a long shift and the background noise in the restaurant is horrendous. They bark down the phone at the customer asking for details in an attempt to hear what they are saying.

Once the staff member hangs up, they realise they forgot to ask for the customers full name for the booking. Having not taken a phone number, they scribble down some question marks on the booking form hoping that the person on the evening shift will figure it out based on the time and number of people, then they hurry back to serving tables.

How do you feel the pre-dining experience went in this scenario? How do you think the customer feels?

Now consider this; a potential customer is scrolling through Facebook and sees your restaurant is recommended by one of their friends. They click on your page and send a message asking if you have a children’s menu, which will ultimately make their decision about whether to dine with you. Your restaurant chatbot, Feebi, responds immediately with a copy of the children’s menu for your potential customer to view.

They then ask if they can book a table, Feebi responds immediately and politely with options to select a time, number of people and asks for their full name and contact information. This information is sent automatically through to your booking system where the evening staff can direct your new customer to their table with ease.

How do you think this experience went?

Having a restaurant chatbot on hand to respond swiftly to all of your restaurant’s enquiries is a simple and effective solution to ensuring the perfect pre-dining experience. If your customer walks in happy with positive expectations, there are fewer chances for bad reviews or negative word of mouth being spread about your restaurant.

The team at Feebi are always thinking of innovative new ways to make communication between your customer and your restaurant as smooth and stress-free as possible. Find out more about the restaurant marketing process and what you need to be doing to size up to the competition in this crowded industry in Feebi’s Restaurant Marketing Guide.