Route Planning Software: What it is and Why You Need It

July 23, 2020

Guest Management, QSR Blog, Restaurant Technology

The biggest problem facing any industry required to travel to the customer’s location is that customers are becoming increasingly impatient. A survey sponsored by the UK’s Interparcel found that 50% of Brits admitted to becoming less patient in the past five years. While it’s no surprise that patience is waning in our society, you can monitor and measure customer satisfaction and improve the accuracy of your daily schedules. In this brief article, we’re going to discuss route planning software and how it can help your restaurant. If you’re a restaurant delivery company or a field service provider, you promise to provide quality service and to arrive in a timely fashion. The only thing worse than being late is not to show up at all! “Failure to deliver goods” or “failure to perform the service” rank in the top 10 complaints about retails sales and service companies (including restaurants).

Customer Expectations

Measuring customer satisfaction gives you insight into trends and your current performance amongst those who pay for your service. To a certain extent, most customers understand that you can’t deliver perfection every single time. But as Warren Buffett once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” One mistake can create a ripple effect that stifles growth and hinders marketing. Per MarketingCharts, the bad news is that 95% of customers will tell at least one other person about their bad experience with a company. The worse news is that 54% of customers of disaffected customers will spread the word to more than five people (this includes negative reviews!). While marketing and customer acquisition are challenging, the cheapest and most beneficial remedy lies in the good news. That news? 70% of customers will continue patronizing a company — if the company resolves their issues. There are various methods and even some software that can help you measure customer satisfaction, which can create a better overall experience for the customer. The most common method is a simple survey. Software like SurveyMonkey and Client Heartbeat makes it easier to collect restaurant customer feedback. This feedback can pinpoint some of the successful aspects of your business and those bottlenecks that need improvement.

The Human Factor

Creating routes and schedules that are both efficient and accurate is nearly impossible by hand. There are so many distances to calculate, not to mention variables like traffic and road closures. However, quality route planning software can help you easily plan accurate routes and schedules. In turn, you provide a predictable and reliable service to your customers. Look for route planning solutions that can provide customers with a selection of time windows: specific time slots that best suit them. Good solutions will be able to import these time windows and can adhere to them during planning. Using technology, capable of factoring distances and figures instantly, you can construct a genuinely optimal route. Route planning software helps you spend that time where it matters most, serving your customers.

Off-Premise and Beyond

Even with the vague promise of post-lockdown re-opening, customers are wary of dining out. Many restaurants are expending more and more resources into their off-premise capabilities. Measures that help your drivers, be they in-house or third party, be more efficient, will strengthen your operation as uncertainties deepen. Subscribe to the blog for more interesting restaurant content!

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About the Author

Matt Mesic is the head of content marketing at Optimoroute, an online route planner for delivery and field service. A version of this article originally appeared on optimoroute.com.

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Route Planning Software: What it is and Why You Need It

By: Matt Mesic

Route Planning Software: What it is and Why You Need It

Customer Expectations

The Human Factor

Off-Premise and Beyond

About the Author

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