Getting and holding onto your customers’ attention with a cleverly designed online menu can result in an increase in orders, a boost to the average value of an order, and can help promote brand awareness and loyalty. Let’s have a look at some nifty tricks and tips you can easily incorporate into your menu design to achieve this.
Importance of Images
When it comes to pretty much every aspect of marketing, image is king. For food marketing in particular, imagery is especially important. People eat with their eyes first!
Ensuring that there are images for at least 80% of your online menu items will serve you well. These images should be high quality, crisp, and give your customers as clear an idea about the deliverable menu item (and what it comprises) as possible.
Delectable Descriptions
Ensuring your menu is typo free, deploys correct grammar and uses consistent punctuation throughout will convey a sense of professionalism that promotes trust with your customer. Using evocative descriptions for each item can help entice new customers to click “order”. Carefully consider wording when it comes to describing each item: paint a word picture for your customers that makes the menu item sound appealing while correctly describing key components of the dish.
Harness Menu Scanning
Research has shown that the majority of customers scan a menu rather than reading each section consecutively; make this work for you by using clearly defined menu categories and ‘eye magnets’ for popular dishes. An eye magnet, in marketing, is a visual draw that can be deployed to great effect. A lot of delivery platforms will automatically do this for you by tagging popular items on your menu with a banner or label.
In essence, make it easy for your customers to find what they want. Even if they didn’t know they wanted it.
Modifiers and Add-Ons
Want fries with that?
An ‘add-on’ is an item that is suggested based on the menu item a customer has chosen, while a ‘modifier’ allows a customer to customise the item selected. Offering the option for a dip on the side of wings, or to remove a topping from their pizza allows for a “personal touch” - giving the customer control and transparency in their order. I’d advise not to go too crazy with these add-ons and modifiers, though, as too many order notes can make things complicated for your kitchen staff, and too many options can make things complicated for the customer.
Use these tips to supercharge your online menu’s attention-grabbing credentials, present a consistent, cohesive brand message and – most importantly – help your customers place their perfect order every time.