Just after 4 weeks of having our point of sale system up and running we are ready to start online ordering.
We are doing box toppers and window signage to alert customers that we now do online ordering … BUT … the $64,000 question is how do we reach those who like online ordering but aren’t current customers.
A few points to look at that is differennt here in Australia compared to where you guys are.
Door hanging is a no, no as it is classed as littering ,plus most people enter their homes via the carport / garage, not the front door.
Letterbox drops have had their day and the majority of people just dump them in the trash. You get 14 or 15 bundled together with single ones inside supermarket catalogues. Plus dubious results are experienced on how many actually get delivered vs what you pay to get delivered, so this option is WAY down the list.
TV, too expensive and not localised to the area.
Ditto with radio but costs cheaper.
The only real option is the local free newspaper with either an advert or insert. 10,000 costs around $500 plus $350 for printing the leaflets. Coverage is good, but how many people read the newspaper these days is unknown.
We are in a shoping centre on a major road but the centre is raised up aboout 20ft above the road level and back about 30 - 40 metres so shop visibility is not so good. The ex service yard next to our shop is currently being transformed to more food shops with works well under way and this has reduced our traffic flow and visibility a fair bit ( sales are still strong though).
Some things we are considering are: Local free newspaper advert / insert
Roadside banner - illegal but might be worth a risk for exposure until the local council rangers takes it down and fines me.
Hiring some young people to stand roadside with advert boards
Facebook advertising and posts on our Facebook and those of staff highlighting the online ordering.
Asking other retailers in our centre to put flyers in their bags they give customers.
I am also looking at the possibility of getting a company who does our loyalty program to SSM their total data base of cardholders (not just ours) in our catchment area (I think it is about 20c per send), but not too sure if they will do it or not.
Any ideas no matter how wacky would be appreciated as we not only want our own customers to use online ordering but want to reach others that are currently not.
Thanks in advance.
Dave
Internet advertising seems a good way to drive web-savvy customer to your gateway.
Google Adwords (or its Aussie equivalent) is one avenue. Your online-ordering provider may have means to connect so that you can track conversions/ROI. Be sure to ask them!
Facebook ads can be targeted at people who are not already fans/followers and you (well, maybe someone you pay) can set up Google Analytics to track conversions and ROI as well. Maybe your online-ordering company has a tech that could set this up for you also?
Both of these allow you to spend as much or as little as you want - I used to set a budget of $100 (US) for each per month.
The best driver of new online customers for us has been direct mail. We put four offers on the card, the BEST offer is a very agressive offer that is ONLY valid online and can only be used once per account.
The second best driver has been the same offer (with a different promo code) that we advertsied on Facebook with a link to our page (which has a link to online ordering)
In our first year of online ordering we have had 1200+ unique users order online.
This is the way to go in my opinion. Nothing is more direct, faster, or proven to deliver better results both short/long term.
Adwords sounds like a good idea in theory - but is not possible for pizzerias. By the time you added up the CTR costs vs. Profit, you’d be hundreds of dollars (if not thousands) in the hole. Yikes!
put it on every marketing piece you have. It will take time to build, but its a wonderful low cost employee to have. 
Thanks for the great responses guys.
Dave
Once you capture an online user, you can email them for free… so it is worth spending some $$ to get them into the system to begin with.
Thanks for the heads up Steve. Just printing up box toppers as I post and then doing artwork for large window posters.
By the way, does anyone do special offers available to online orders only and if so how do you manage them.
We are just running our menu based deals to start with but may look at one off deals for online later on once we get it established.
Dave
I always feature a special on-line only deal…generally promoted thru Facebook invites and a post on the wall & a message…messages tend to get unread tho…