So what do your customers really want?

So what makes you want to go back to a restaurant or café?

Is it the food, is it the ambience, is it the presentation?

No, it is the customer service.

Even if the food is only so so, you will go back to a place as long as the customer service is outstanding.

We probably already knew this but it has been confirmed in a recent survey by the Commonwealth Bank

The study found that 68 percent of those surveyed stated that poor customer service was the main reason for being unhappy with a food business.

More than half (53 percent) of those surveyed hated queuing, especially if they have to wait to pay their bill.

1000 consumers were surveyed in the CommBank’s Retail Therapy research, conducted by a third party market research firm.

If a café / restaurant knows what their regulars like, they are more likely to eat there often. The study confirmed this, with 74 percent of those surveyed saying they would be loyal to businesses that know something about them and remember it – in other words, personalisation. On top of this 82 percent of the consumer surveyed would spend more if they feel valued.

A particularly interesting result was that nearly half (47 percent) of those surveyed think that more and better technology used by a business shows a better understanding of their needs.

Loyalty programs also scored well with 77 percent more likely to go back to a business which has such programs or special customer offers.

Deakin University behavioural scientist, Dr Johann Ponnampalam, said “Much of our daily life involves habitual, autopilot behaviour. When in this mindset, we crave faster, simpler, easier service interactions and when we don’t receive them, we experience friction which often leads to us avoiding purchasing altogether. Our lives are more complex than ever before and consumers have an abundance of choice. This leads to choice paralysis, which in-turn leads to avoiding purchase decisions and buyer’s remorse. The study shows that businesses need to work harder to help customers make informed, confident choices by providing personalised and relevant information during the retail experience.”

One of the things which most annoy people at cafes / restaurants is when there is a sign saying “no splitting of bills” – more than 75 percent of those surveyed want to split the bill, 77 percent don’t like it when one person has to pay the bill, and 69 percent said they hate not being able to split the bill.

So what can cafes and restaurants learn from the study; make sure that your staff are brilliant at customer service, learn something about each of your customers and remember it for next time they come in (it might be their name as a start and their favourite drink) and (as much of a business pain as it can be) offer and encourage bill splitting.