The main levers
Physical 🏪. The customer waiting at the counter, the one unwrapping their burger holding your kraft bag, the one hesitating in front of the window: they are already with you. A QR code on the bag, the flyer slipped into the order, the sticker on the window, and the next reflex is set: one scan, the conversation starts. See Links & QR codes. Your online presence 📍. Someone searches “pizza” on Google Maps and lands on your listing; a regular checks your hours on your Instagram bio; a curious visitor browses your website. Each of those moments should offer an “Order on WhatsApp” button: Google Maps listing, Instagram bio, pop-up on your website. Social networks 📱. First, organic: your posts and stories with the ordering link, a mouth-watering photo. Then, if you have budget, paid reach: Meta ads in the “Click to WhatsApp” format, where the customer clicks the Instagram or Facebook ad and lands directly in a conversation with your restaurant. WhatsApp campaigns 💬. Once your customers are in your base, talk to them directly: new items, offers, reactivating customers who dropped off. It is the most-read channel in marketing. See WhatsApp campaigns.Where to start?
1
Create your links and QR codes
With a pre-filled message per medium, to know where your customers come from.
2
Cover your touchpoints
Use these links and QR codes for every touchpoint you create, with a dedicated link per medium: for the website for example, a pop-up with its own QR code and its own link. Same for Google Maps, the Instagram bio, flyers, packaging.
3
Launch your first WhatsApp campaign
If you already have a customer database, for example through a loyalty program, that is what you should use. Mind the opt-in: you can only recontact for marketing purposes the customers who agreed to be recontacted. An opt-in base of 500 customers beats a file of 5,000 contacts who never asked for anything.
4
Run your social networks, then invest
Continuous organic: a pinned story and a pinned post with your ordering link. Punctual organic: every promotion or campaign gets pushed on your networks. And reach when there is budget: Meta “Click to WhatsApp” ads.