Speed of service is the biggest determinant of customer satisfaction. | Illustration by Nico Heins/Firefly
There’s a lot that can go wrong with a third-party delivery order.
The driver might show up late to the restaurant, or get stuck in traffic en route to the customer. The food could arrive spilled or soggy or lukewarm. And god forbid the driver sneaks a couple fries along the way.
Common issues like these can make or break the experience for the customer. A new secret shopper study from researcher Intouch Insight found that delivery speed is the biggest determinant of customer satisfaction. Speed is closely linked to food temperature, which was also an important factor for satisfaction.
The study, which was conducted exclusively for Restaurant Business and sister publication Nation’s Restaurant News, analyzed more than 300 restaurant delivery transactions on both third-party and first-party apps.
Customers who said they were happy with the speed of their delivery rated their overall satisfaction 55 percentage points higher than those who were not, according to the study. And customers whose food arrived at the correct temperature were 42 percentage points more satisfied overall.
Third-party delivery has become a must-have for many restaurants due to its ability to reach more customers. Demand for delivery has continued to grow even as restaurants in general struggle to generate traffic. But it can present a host of issues that operators have little to no control over.
Both delivery speed and food temperature suffered in this year’s study compared to last year. Satisfaction with speed of service fell 3 points, to 91%, and food temperature declined 5 points, to 89%.
The good news is, there are some important elements of delivery service that restaurants can control, and they would do best to focus on those, said Sarah Beckett, VP of sales and marketing at Intouch Insight.
“They are fully in control of what is in that bag,” she said, “not necessarily how it arrives.”
While delivery customers are laser-focused on speed, they also care about whether they get what they ordered. Overall satisfaction was 45 points higher when orders were accurate compared to when they weren’t, Intouch Insight found. So restaurants that hone in on accuracy may be able to soften some of the blow of a late-arriving order.
Overall, 89% of orders were accurate in the study, indicating that operators are doing a good job, but could do even better. Last year’s figure was 90%.
Operators can also improve the customer experience by doing the little things. This can be as simple as honoring special requests, like light ice or chopsticks, or ensuring that packaging is properly secured.
“The bag was neatly sealed with a sticker, and the straw was neatly inside,” one customer wrote. “Knowing that the food was not tampered with en route made me feel good.”
Even something as small as extra sauce packets can go a long way with customers. “I was pleased to see my order came with six extra packets of sauce, four napkins, and two straws,” a customer wrote.
There is room for restaurants to do more of this: Just under 23% of orders featured a personal touch such as extra sauce or a note on the bag.
Of course, freebies like those can add up at a time when restaurants are watching their bottom lines closely. “But those little extras absolutely are recognized by customers,” Beckett said.
Overall, customer satisfaction was 4 points higher when their order was personalized compared to when it was not.
The Intouch Insight study was conducted from April to June between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. Shoppers were spread equally across the U.S. They were not allowed to use a paid account to get discounts or preferred delivery.
Intouch Insight will present results from the full study at this year’s FSTEC restaurant technology conference, which will be held Sept. 14-16 in Orlando.
Check out the study here.
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