Bobby Khaleghian

The restaurant <> guest relationship is constantly changing and evolving. Even with normal employee turnover, it’s nearly impossible for operators to keep their staff abreast of who is coming through the doors and what their relationship is with the brand.

Traditional methods of knowledge sharing like written guest notes or even manual profile tagging in more advanced systems are hard to keep up to date and present too many opportunities for lost knowledge capture. And as off-premise revenue streams like online ordering continue to play a large role, it becomes even more important to identify your existing regulars and cultivate new relationships with those diners.

That’s why operators looking to learn more about every guest, elevate their hospitality and increase their guest retention automatically turn to SevenRooms to capture, access and centralize this information using Custom Auto-Tags.

Custom Auto-Tags fully unlock all of your guest data — and we really mean all of it, even itemized POS data — so you can surface up critical guest insights without lifting a finger. These insights, in the form of guest tags, can be used to deliver truly personalized service and hyper-targeted marketing offers.

Get your creative juices flowing! With more than 75 different tagging conditions combined with “and/or” logic, the possibilities are limitless.

These tags allow you to automate email campaigns to these highly specific customer segments and empower your front-of-house team to tailor interactions and experiences.

So, how can auto-tags be used in practice? Let’s take a look.

On-Premise Applications 

Nothing drives guest satisfaction higher than feeling like they are known at a restaurant they love. Auto-tags allow operators to know who is coming through their doors ahead of time and personalize the experience for each guest. Here’s how it’s done:

• Visit Frequency – You know your long-time regulars, but what about the couple that’s on their 3rd visit in 2 months? Use frequency tags to quickly identify your new regulars.

• Spend Thresholds – Instantly identify big spenders as they are walking in, know what they like to order and identify areas to upsell.

• Frequent No-Shows – Learn who often skips out on their reservations and work to fix that pattern.

• Big tipper – Go the extra mile for guests who take extra good care of your staff.

• Feedback – Understand your guests’ previous experiences and work towards exceeding their expectations today (and every day).

Off-Premise Applications

Using a third-party for online orders can make it near impossible to know your customers. Coupling SevenRooms’ direct online ordering offering with intelligent auto-tagging will result in an unprecedented amount of data that you can use to elevate your off-premise experience and retain customers:

• Order Frequency – Identify and acknowledge your online ordering “regulars.”

• Order Volume – Identify and reward big spenders by leaving a little something extra in the bag.

Re-Marketing and Retention  

Strategic auto-tagging doesn’t only result in better experiences for your guests; it also results in more dollars for your business. By applying these tags to guest profiles, you automatically create customer segments that can be used to build personalized marketing campaigns that encourage diners to book or order through direct channels. The options here are limitless, but some common use cases are:

• Re-engagement – Automatically tag and reach out to guests who haven’t ordered or visited in a given period of time, in an effort to bring them back.

• Abandoned Waitlist – Identify guests who joined your virtual waitlist but did not get seated, and offer them a reservation for next time.

• Cancellations – Reservation cancellations can be common, but they also show positive intent. Target these guests with automated emails to get them to re-book.

• Booked Through a Third-Party – Convert every customer to order or book direct.

• Feedback – Automatically thank guests who leave positive feedback, and when needed, buy yourself time to follow up with guests who leave negative feedback.

Auto-tags are the key to providing an elevated guest experience and are data gold for your marketing team. Register for a demo to learn more about how you can enable your team with this valuable guest data.

Already a SevenRooms client? Set up a Strategy Session to set up or check your tags!