96% of customers prefer visiting locations that offer free Wi-Fi. Venues with free Wi-Fi also see greater rates of return customers. Providing good restaurant Wi-Fi is an important part of the dining experience.
Offering Wi-Fi hotspots in your restaurant can have many advantages. While it may seem like a costly investment, a solid internet connection for your customers could help your business stand apart from the competition and generate more customers.
This guide explores some of the benefits of offering restaurant Wi-Fi, and how your restaurant can use Wi-Fi to achieve the best results.
Benefits of Offering Free Wi-Fi in Your Restaurant
Thinking of offering customers free Wi-Fi but you’re not sure if it’s worth the investment? Let’s break down some of the main advantages of providing free internet access for all of your customers.
Helps You Attract More Customers
First and foremost, the biggest reason to offer restaurant Wi-Fi is that it helps draw more customers to your business.
These days, everyone spends vast amounts of time online. We crave an internet connection wherever we go. So, when it comes to choosing a restaurant to visit, places that offer free Wi-Fi always gain a competitive advantage.
Whether it’s customers who want to work on their laptops or people who just want to connect to social media while dining, offering free Wi-Fi access can be a major drawcard for your business.
People want to be connected wherever they go, so when they see a restaurant that offers free Wi-Fi access, it instantly makes that restaurant a more attractive option.
This is also incredibly important for staying ahead of your competitors. The vast majority of restaurants these days offer free restaurant Wi-Fi to their customers. If you’re not offering this too, then you could be losing customers to your competitors.
Promoting your free restaurant Wi-Fi is straightforward. You can include it in your Google Business Profile, mention it on your menu, or place a sign on your door saying “Free Wi-Fi”. These are simple tactics, but they can make a significant difference in how many new customers your business attracts.
Helps You Learn More About Your Customers
A well-set-up restaurant Wi-Fi network can help you learn more about your customers.
This works if you set up a customized captive portal for your restaurant's Wi-Fi. Before anyone can log in and access your network, they need to fill out a short form - which can be a short survey.
You could also request guests to log in via their Google or Facebook accounts, which can help you gather valuable email addresses and birthday information. You could even automatically prompt guests to leave a review before accessing your Wi-Fi space - helping you generate valuable social proof for your business.
Whatever approach you take, offering guests Wi-Fi logins like this helps you keep track of your daily traffic and collect valuable customer insights.
This can help you understand a lot more about your customer base, such as the busiest times of your restaurant, as well as customer demographics. This information can help you create more powerful marketing campaigns.
Improve Guest Experiences With Discounts and Promos
Offering Wi-Fi access points in your restaurant doesn’t only attract customers, but it can also help you retain your existing ones. You can achieve this by offering special promotions or discounts through your Wi-Fi network
For example, you could offer a group discount on your Wi-Fi network, encouraging guests to invite more people to join them. You could also run a loyalty program in your restaurant, where customers who enter their email address when logging in qualify for the program. You can reward customers with loyalty points for each repeat visit, helping you drive up customer loyalty.
Another great customer loyalty tactic is to run a promotion tied to your social media. Guests will log into your Wi-Fi network, and a captive portal automatically sends them to your social media page - where customers see the promo.
You could run all kinds of social media promotions, like photo or hashtag contests and giveaways. This is another valuable social proof driver and can help you make the most of every person logging onto your Wi-Fi network.
Make Guest Experiences More Convenient
Just about everything can be done online these days. By offering accessible Wi-Fi networks, restaurants can offer a few extra options that make guest experiences more convenient.
One of the most popular options here is contactless payments. Many customers today rely on contactless payments via their mobile devices.
If you have Wi-Fi freely available in your restaurant, then you make it easier, and more convenient, for guests to use their payment method of choice.
Another way you can use Wi-Fi to enhance guest experiences is by offering digital menus. This is when guests scan a QR code to access the menu, which you host online. By providing a reliable Wi-Fi connection, customers can access these menus far more easily. This is also a great solution if you have strong outdoor Wi-Fi, as guests can independently place orders from outside.
Helps You Attract Different Types of Customers
Implementing Wi-Fi in your restaurant can help you drive business growth in many new directions.
Instead of only catering to one type of customer group, Wi-Fi can help you diversify your customer base.
For example, a strong Wi-Fi connection could help you attract large groups of business people, visiting your restaurant for their meetings. You could also attract freelancers and individuals who work remotely - which can be a useful way to fill seats during quiet periods between your main shifts.
Having a strong Wi-Fi connection could also be a great way to attract more tourists and travelers to your restaurant.
All you need to do is offer free Wi-Fi, and you’ll soon see all kinds of different customers frequenting your restaurant
Lets You Utilize Restaurant Wi-Fi Marketing
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of offering restaurant Wi-Fi is that it lets you utilize restaurant Wi-Fi marketing.
As mentioned earlier, you can gather information from guests when they access Wi-Fi in your restaurant. This is most commonly their email address - which lets you add their details to your email marketing platform to keep them informed about your restaurant.
You could also use your Wi-Fi setup to keep guests informed. Inform guests on your Wi-Fi about current special offers your restaurant has while they wait. Or, promote your bestsellers to customers as they log into your network. You could also encourage guests to engage with your restaurant on social media when they log into your Wi-Fi network.
This is an effective marketing opportunity because people who log onto your Wi-Fi are already in your restaurant and ready to spend money. So, by targeting them with the right promotions at the right time, you could increase the value of each guest pretty easily. Think of it as a kind of digital table talker.
Improves Brand Awareness
There are many different things your restaurant can become known for - like great food or outstanding service. Well, offering a solid Wi-Fi connection is now also a major selling point.
Guests will talk about your great restaurant Wi-Fi, which could help you generate word-of-mouth referrals. This means good Wi-Fi could become something your restaurant brand is known for - helping you spread brand awareness.
Best Practices for Managing Your Restaurant Wi-Fi
Now that you know why offering free restaurant Wi-Fi is so beneficial, you’ll need to know how best to utilize your Wi-Fi. If you don’t manage it carefully enough, people might start taking advantage of your internet. This could have negative effects on your business.
Here are a few tips and best practices for managing free Wi-Fi that your business offers:
- Consider adding a time limit to internet usage, for example, two or three hours. This should give customers plenty of time to use the internet without taking advantage of it.
- Consider limiting bandwidth use or download speeds.
- Limit your restaurant’s free Wi-Fi range by setting up a geofence or wireless perimeter.
- Be sure to advertise your free Wi-Fi and the password.
With all that said, don’t just limit free Wi-Fi usage unless it becomes too costly for your business. If your business can afford to offer uncapped free Wi-Fi, then do so. Otherwise, customers might choose other restaurants over yours.
Conclusion
It may seem like a small detail, but offering free restaurant Wi-Fi can make a big difference to your customer's experiences. This has become an essential element for many restaurants, so if you’re not offering it, there’s a good chance you're falling behind the competition.
And if you’re not making the most of your restaurant wi-fi, you’re missing out on some great opportunities for engaging your customers.
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