Diner Relationships

How to Use Restaurant Waitlists for Happier Diners

June 20, 2024

Looking to improve the guest experience, increase diner satisfaction, and simplify your operations? Here’s the answer.

Manual waitlist management can be a burden for hosts. It’s time consuming, prone to errors, and takes up energy that could be spent on more important tasks. Plus, it often results in inaccurate wait times for diners, which creates mistrust and frustration.

With Digital Waitlist, the hospitality experience is improved for all. Not only can it help you run a more efficient host stand, but it also creates happier walk-in diners. They’re able to join the waitlist online, receive an algorithm-powered wait estimate, and sign up for an SMS notification when their table is ready.

Read on for more details on how Digital Waitlist works within the BentoBox Marketing & Commerce platform and how to use the tool to drive repeat business.

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How to Use Diner Data to Drive Sales

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What is Digital Waitlist?

Digital Waitlist is a virtual queue management tool that allows hosts to manage walk-in requests, track wait times, capture guest data, and communicate with diners.

It includes the following functionality:

SMS communications: Two-way SMS communication and notifications
Diner profiles: Guest profile system notes and tagging
Surveys: Post-dining surveys sent through automated text messages to gather feedback
Email and SMS Marketing: Custom and pre-built segments to generate return visits

All of this information is centralized in the BentoBox Marketing & Commerce Platform to give you a complete view of a diner’s lifecycle, unlike third-party waitlist management apps where your diner data sits in a silo and stays disconnected from other customer touchpoints.

Product

Digital Waitlist for Restaurants

Move away from manual lists to a digital table and guest management solution that helps restaurants turn tables faster – and deliver better guest experiences.

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How to Use Digital Waitlist To Drive Repeat Diners

Supporting front-of-house operations with better technology is just the first step. The next move is using your waitlist tool to encourage customers to return and generate repeat business. This is critical for growing your revenue — here’s how it works.

1. Capture diner data through Digital Waitlist.

Instead of using pen and paper to manage your waitlist, collect all the information you need digitally like name, phone number, and email address. Guests have three ways to add themselves to the waitlist: in-person at the host stand, by phone, or directly on your website.

If a party shows up in person or calls ahead, your host can use the platform to quote an accurate wait time and gather guest details. Wait time estimates are based on the current number of seated parties, total table capacity, table turnovers, and the number of parties on the waitlist.

Alternatively, diners can add themselves to the waitlist and view their place in line before even arriving at your restaurant. In order for your guests to access your Digital Waitlist, it needs to be toggled “on” through the Marketing & Commerce platform and there must be an active shift with at least one party on the waitlist already.

When a diner joins the waitlist, they will be prompted to provide their name, phone number, and email address, similar to if they were making a reservation.

Once the diner is added to the waitlist, they will receive an SMS message confirming their place in line. This message will also include a link to the confirmation page where they can check their place on the waitlist, which updates in real time. Diners can also remove themselves from the waitlist by replying CANCEL.

2. View a diner’s full profile.

Once a diner’s information is captured through Digital Waitlist, it feeds into your Diner Database. If this same guest orders takeout, buys merchandise, or books a reservation, you can see a complete view of all their interactions with your restaurant.

3. Re-engage walk-in diners after their visit.

To incentivize guests to return, send emails and text messages with special offers like a free appetizer at your next visit or 10% off an order. Download copy-and-paste email and SMS templates. In the Marketing & Commerce platform, use a pre-built segment like “Digital Waitlist Diners'' or build a custom campaign based on selected criteria.

Consider gathering guest feedback as well. Send post-dining surveys through automated text messages and get notified of feedback instantly. Use negative feedback to learn and improve; use positive feedback as an opportunity to thank diners and encourage them to share online about their experience with your restaurant.

4. Deliver more personalized dining experiences.

Each individual diner profile has a notes section where you can record preferences like “enjoys chocolate desserts” or “prefers a booth.” Use these insights to elevate future visits.

The more information you have about your diners, the better you can customize your marketing and hospitality to them. Digital Waitlist data enhances your diner profiles and helps you send more targeted campaigns to increase guest engagement and loyalty.

BentoBox Marketing & Commerce Platform