Join us for a deep-dive into how to launch and implement your coffee shop Click & Collect order channel in the most effective way, and get the biggest results.
Despite the ongoing challenges that come with running a coffee shop business, the industry is still seeing growth in this competitive sector. In 2023, the UK branded coffee shop market exceeded 10,000 outlets for the first time , with sales growth above pre-pandemic levels.
And hand in hand with this growth? Innovation.
New ordering channels like Click & Collect are a great way to innovate and provide your customers with new, convenient ways to order.
In this guide, we provide some top tips for making sure your Click & Collect channel is a success for your business and your customers.
Increasingly, coffee shop operators are taking advantage of digital ordering to help drive their growth plans. Digital channels significantly reduce the queues that are deterring your customers at peak time. They increase throughput, and even provide a bonus rise in ATV.
Brands like GAIL’s Bakery and YOLK have launched Click & Collect for their coffee offering with Vita Mojo, perfectly complementing their ambitious growth plans. LEON, has seen a massive 233% increase in orders come from Click & Collect.
These channels work perfectly alongside beautifully branded loyalty and subscription schemes.
But as with any new channel or service, it’s not enough to simply turn it on and hope for the best.
Click & Collect works best with your regular customers. Focus your marketing efforts on your most engaged customers. After all, there’s more chance of you unlocking lifetime value from them.
You can use email marketing or social media to offer special online ordering discounts. For example, you could offer 10% off for a first order, promotions for specific days of the week, or incorporate any other discounts and promotions.
LEON encouraged customers to order through their new digital channels by offering a cup of coffee free the first time they ordered. Incentivising and rewarding customers to change their behaviour in this first instance can influence their behaviour and preferences for future purchases.
Points-based loyalty schemes should be completely customisable. This allows you to design your offering from scratch and control the economics, keeping your customers coming back.
This provides a great way to promote Click & Collect, as you can reward customers for every order they place online – firming up the habit.
Now that you’ve added incentives to your tactics plan, use email and SMS to promote the offers. Your operating system should integrate with your Marketing CRM platform to help build loyalty and keep your customers coming back.
All ‘opt-in’ data instantly feeds into your CRM account, making it easy to connect with your customers. From here, you can send personalised marketing messages to promote continued use of Click & Collect, like ‘thanks for ordering, here’s a 20% off voucher code for next time’.
Create a QR code that links to your menu and display it in your physical locations. You could print it on promotional leaflets in your coffee shop, display it on posters, or even add it to your next email newsletter.
Train your staff to remind guests that they can pre-order their next drink online to save time.
If they’re too busy for this, you could give customers a promotional card or leaflet with every order that breaks down the benefits. This could also offer an incentive like one free coffee or 10% off the first time they sign up and make an order.
Use your signage and promotional posters to tell your customers about the benefits of Click and Collect.
It’s important to direct your traffic to where it counts most – your digital menu.
We recommend forgetting the concept of being ‘too much’. Add your Click & Collect link everywhere online – if your customer can’t see it, they can’t click on it.
Claim your listing on Google My Business, which allows you to manage your business profile. Then, add your menu URL to the ‘menu’ and ‘place an order’ section — you can also share your online ordering site through the Posts feature of Google My Business.
You’ve done all the hard work getting your customers to use Click & Collect for the first time. Now it’s time to make the collection experience as easy as possible (this really is the make or break for encouraging that next order!).
Customers will get frustrated if it’s not clear where to collect their order from. HOP Vietnamese designed their entire restaurant experience around digital ordering, and the results speak for themselves. Around 30% of HOP customers now opt to order ahead, compared to just 3% pre-pandemic. How do they do it?
Customers in the queue will see people coming in and collecting their order in seconds. This in itself acts as an amazing advert for Click & Collect – coffee envy is real!
Train and engage your coffee shop team to become advocates of digital ordering. Training team members doesn’t end with a single training session at launch. The coffee shop industry is experiencing a staffing crisis, so it’s important to make sure that new starters have digital order training included as part of their onboarding.
The best way to get going is to start with the quick wins first, and then you can refine your process over time.
Want to chat more with an expert about how to make Click & Collect work for your coffee shop? We’re here to help you…
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