How can the hospitality industry improve customer satisfaction?

No matter your vision, as a hospitality business owner, you need to innovate to keep customers feeling satisfied. And sometimes that’s a hard task; you’ll have to learn to market yourself, inspire good feedback and generate loyalty. But once established, customer satisfaction creates endless benefits for your venue.

Ultimately, generating enough ‘positive vibes’ leads to repeat business, while word of mouth remains one of the most powerful forms of marketing. This is especially true in the digitally connected world where social media allows for messages to spread rapidly.

So, here are some simple tips for your hospitality business to kick things up a notch – improve customer satisfaction and grow your business at the same time.

Give more to get more

Customers are always receptive to businesses that go the extra mile when it comes to service and support. Recognising needs and offering to fulfil them will get you a long way. Consider these simple but effective gestures:

• Provide a child seat or high-chair before being prompted;
• Offer a bowl of water if your venue is dog-friendly;
• Provide promotions and giveaways to increase loyalty;
• Ask for feedback and engagement.

Implementing even a couple of these tactics will reward you with repeat business. In the end, you’ll have satisfied customers under your belts who are impressed by the lengths you’ve gone to.

Handle negative feedback quickly and appropriately

The digital age has made every business in the hospitality sector accountable, with multiple platforms now available for customers to review and critique the level of service offered. This includes your own social media platforms and search engines like Google – both of which are often targets for negative feedback that can detract from other potential customers.

These negative reviews cannot be avoided – every hospitality business will receive them at some point in time, but it’s how you handle them that matters the most. For example, we recommend getting on the front foot and addressing the customer’s issues immediately when you see feedback of this nature, and in the same public forum they reviewed you on.

Keep it professional, apologise for the inconvenience and display a positive response in return. Above all, show that you care about their experience and provide reassurance that you will try to rectify the issue. This will not only help sway a disappointed customer; it will also prove you’re willing to take their words as motivation to improve your operations.

Embrace your social media presence

No business is complete without a digital footprint, and the hospitality industry is no exception. To really hone in on your ability to influence your target audience (and potential prospects) it pays to have readily available information about your venue across your social channels.

Think up-to-date menus, special offers, loyalty programs and key events – all of this amounts to another reason for your potential customers to hit your doorstep.

Tip: Ever seen a  customer whip out their phone when you serve up their cup of Joe? There’s a reason for that, and it’s called user-generated content. This is a goldmine for venues able to spread word-of-mouth and content about their products. It allows for free publicity across social media, so embrace it!

Improve your point of sale system

Are you using an outdated POS system, or don’t have one embedded in your business? This can cause enormous delays and complicate the ordering process for your customers.

Impos provides a range of digital POS solutions that are cloud-based. These are designed to act as a central processor to your venue, allowing operations to be simpler. Focus more on your customers, rather than wrestle with technology.

Contact the Impos team on 1300 780 268 or email [email protected]  to learn more about how we can help you streamline your operations.