Every moment of contact with a customer is a moment to create better, happier customers, and to learn even more about them. That’s why Maitre'D offers so many different ways to gain strategic insight into your customers. Sales reports, online orders, loyalty, gift cards: these and other Maitre'D features capture, analyse, integrate and present the information you need to know your customers: when they eat, what they eat, how much they spend, and more.

In fact, every one of our customer-facing features help you understand, manage and better serve your customers. The one I want to talk about today is our online reservations and table management interface with ResDiary.

A critical point of contact is when the reservation is made. This is the first, best opportunity to recognise and acknowledge a valuable customer—no matter where, when or how the reservation is made. That’s where ResDiary comes in—or I should say, that’s where it begins. Because it’s more than a reservations tool. It handles table management, yield management, coverage optimisation, and a great deal more. ResDiary helps you determine who your most valuable customers are—and helps you make them even better ones. That’s how online reservations systems make you money.

A great customer is measured by how many times, how recently, and what they spend when they come to your restaurant. That’s the Recency, Frequency and Monetary Value model of identifying best customers. Integrated with Maitre'D sales data, ResDiary uses this formula to identify which of your customers are your own VIPs.

Of course, that lets you “remember” your best customers: storing information about their preferences so you can make their experience even better. It does something else too: it reveals new segments for smart target marketing. After all, your own VIPs are a great place to spend your marketing money. These are the people where focused messages and promotions deliver the highest return per marketing dollar. And ResDiary not only pinpoints those high-value people, it provides a full set of marketing tools to get those messages to them.

Absolutely, Maitre'D's online reservations interface automates the entire process of taking a reservation and managing table allocation. But look beyond that, and you’ll see another powerful way to gain insight into and to reach your customers.

Click here to learn more about how ResDiary and Maitre'D can help you delight your customers.