Strategies for Restaurant Web Sites
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Mannequin American
Strategies for Restaurant Web Sites
When you check out a restaurant website, what kind of information do you expect to find?
- What's on their menu?
- How much does it cost?
- Where are they located?
- When are they open?
- How to reach them for a reservation?
Pretty simple stuff, right? So how come 50% of the restaurant websites I go to waste my time and their money on irritating flash animations, music, movies, and pages of stuff that potential customers don't care about?
Take it from a Mannequin American marketing professional ... here are some things that should not be part of a restaurant's website:
- Flash animated intro pages. Please, I just want to check out your menu or get your phone number. I don't need to see the logo assemble itself letter by letter, or be greeted with a soft-focus slide show of dishes cycling painfully slowly with misty transitions.
- Automatically playing any music or any type of sound ... ever. It's annoying. And it busts people at work who want to fantasize about where they're going to eat later.
- Listing basic info under "clever" navigation headings. Make it easy to find your address and phone number on the first page without making people guess what to click.
- Not listing prices. At least provide a sample menu with sample prices so people can gauge what they're getting into when going to eat at your place.
- Info that's not in a format that can be cut and pasted so that I can easily email the address and phone number to my friends inviting them to join me for dinner.
If you're a restaurant marketing consultant, please feel free to copy this list and use it to improve your clients' web sites. You're welcome. Better yet, go to Barnacle Buds website and see how simple it is to get it right.
While We're on the Hospitality Industry
Dale was sitting at a bar last weekend (surprise) ... actually he was nursing a 7 Up killing time before we performed at a company's awards banquet. A former bartender himself, Dale asked the lady behind the bar what her pet peeves were when it came to inappropriate customer behavior. Not surprisingly, we learned that bartender irritants haven't changed much over the years.
According to surveys here is a list of the top 5 things that annoy bartenders.
- Don't snap your fingers or pound your glass on the bar to get the bartender's attention. These actions consistently top the list as a way to quickly get on a bartender's bad side.
- Don't use your phone to order a drink. Apparently some people shove their phones in the bartender's face and ask them to make drinks off apps. Don't do that if you want to keep your phone in working order.
- Don't bark orders. Be considerate. When a bartender asks, "How are you?," don't answer "Manhattan."
- Don't flag down the bartender until you know what you want. Here's a big pet peeve. The bartender is called over by a group of customers and then none of them are ready to order. Service to all other patrons is put on hold because the group is self-absorbed and rude.
- Don't dig your mitts in the garnishes. Bartenders constantly wash their hands. You do not.
There's an App For That?
App developer MEDL Mobile has just released an iPhone app to help men and women evaluate prospective sexual partners.
The app lets users draft profiles based on six categories of sexual likes, dislikes, positions, kinks and fetishes. Would-be sexual partners can then "boink" their phones together (using the same technology as the BUMP app, which lets users exchange contact information by bumping phones) to determine whether or not they would be good together in bed.
The best part about the app is that users' preferences remain entirely private; it simply reveals whether or not they would make good sexual partners with cheeky messages like "Drop what you are doing and get to a hotel right now" or "Turn and run away."
A Free Gift from Me to You ... Sort of
Are you in the need of a thong but don't have the extra cash required? You're in luck because I'm going to score you some underwear for free ... or rather American Apparel will give you a thong for free.
All you have to do is A) be over the age of 13 (isn't that a bit young to be thonging it?) and B) sign up for the American Apparel mailing list on their web site. Then you'll get a follow-up e-mail where you can tell them your size (available in XS to XL) and where the thong needs to be shipped. Go to American Apparel Newsletter Sign Up Form. You're welcome.
Mercedes Knows How to Use Humor to Sell Cars
Click here to see a rather funny Mercedes Benz commercial for the auto-maker's new BAS braking system. Once again, humor does a great job of getting the point across in about 20 seconds.
Say it Aloud
"Fred, you have acid reflux disease. I want you to try prescription ‘ass effects'." The creatives who came up with the name for heartburn drug "Aciphex" seem to have forgotten to read their work aloud to catch any "odd sounding" phrases or words. Click here to watch the ad and you'll hear what I'm talking about.
She'll Want to Thank You 3 Times a Day ...
Apparently in the 50's all it took to get lucky 3 times a day was an In-Sink-Erator ... the "Everlasting gift." If only it were that easy today ... or ever. (And look at the way his wife is dressed while at home. Things sure were different in the 50's.)
