Vol. 6: A New Take on Takeout

As stability has increased, we’ll be shifting to provide more strategic insights and recommendations for brands to optimize their multichannel communications going forward.
To that end, last week (week ending in Sunday, April 5), we took inventory of over 100 brands’ primary messaging tactics, methods for customers to place a takeout or delivery order, promotion offers and prices, and more.

• An area of significant opportunity is curbside pickup:
  • Only 35% of brands are promoting this convenient service.
  • Altering operations to allow customers to remain in their vehicle when picking up a takeout order can increase affinity and frequency – and reduce risk and perceived risk.
  • Several concepts have established makeshift ‘drive-thru’ functionality, cueing drivers to pull up adjacent to the front door.
• Some brands have started promoting Easter offerings. Start now by clarifying your service modes and hours, and encourage or even incentivize your customers to order a bundled offering ahead of time, so that you can plan inventory and staffing accordingly.
• We were surprised at the number of brands that touted delivery as available but did not offer a direct link to order.

Consumer Media Consumption

Brands are using all forms of media to make off-premise ordering as frictionless as possible, but consumers are gravitating to two formats in particular, per Nielsen:

• Americans streamed 85% more minutes of video in March 2020 than in March 2019. Redefine your brand’s role in “dinner and a movie” during this season.
• 83% of adults are listening to as much or more radio as they were before coronavirus – listeners are also more likely to order takeout from a restaurant vs. the average adult.

Our next note will include content marketing concepts we’ve observed to be resonating with consumers across all media formats – an exhaustive list you can brainstorm from to plan your creative content for the days and weeks that follow.