How to Boost Diner Traffic and Increase Order Volume

You don’t need a big-chain budget to attract new diners and increase their spending at your restaurant.

In fact, I bet you’d be surprised to learn that you already have everything you need to make a massive impact on your restaurant’s profits, and you can start today.  

In this guide, you’ll learn how to use ChowNow tools along with a handful of other effective strategies to increase order volume, boost your current customer traffic, and grow your overall sales. 

1. Leverage Automated Email Marketing

ChowNow’s Automated Email Marketing helps your restaurant bring customers back and increase orders with minimal effort. 

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to stay top-of-mind with customers and remind them it’s time to order again from your restaurant.

The key ingredient to every successful email marketing campaign is timing and relevance—automation makes that significantly easier. To get the timing right, you need to send out emails at strategic moments, such as:

• After a first order: Send a welcome email thanking the customer, followed by a series of other emails reminding them to order again and then other ways they can place orders with your restaurant. Returning customers order up to 25% more after receiving these emails.
• When a customer hasn’t ordered in a while: These Bringback emails go out to diners who haven’t ordered anything in 21 days—here’s an example below.

• To announce promotions: Announce limited-time discounts to drive more traffic. With ChowNow’s Automated Marketing, you have scheduled monthly promotions to share with customers.

Automated email marketing is one of the most effective ways to ensure a steady flow of customers, and once set up, it runs on its own, so you only need to check on it periodically.

2. Optimize Your Menu for More Orders

Your menu is one of your most powerful sales tools and can drive higher order volume and increase revenue with just a few tweaks. 

Small changes in menu layout, descriptions, and pricing can encourage diners to spend more and order more often. 

Start by making your best-selling and most profitable menu items front and center. For example, this is from Renegade Burrito’s menu on their branded app, and their “Customer Fav’s” are the first menu items diners see: 

Whether on your in-house menus or your online ordering systems, highlight these dishes with detailed descriptions and high-quality photos that draw attention. 

A well-optimized menu guides customers toward choices that benefit both them and your bottom line without feeling pushy or “salesy.”

3. Make the Most of Your Restaurant Website

Your restaurant website isn’t just a handy place to post your business information—when used correctly, you can turn online visitors into immediate customers with a few strategic adjustments.

Start by placing a clear, high-visibility “Order Online” button on your homepage so visitors can start an order with one click. Don’t bury the link in menus or footers—make it stand out with bold colors or eye-catching text.

Outside of your website, add your ordering link to your social media bios and posts (also, Stories if you’re using Instagram). With 90% of consumers going to social media to research restaurants before going out to eat, your bios on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Google Business Profile are prime real estate for driving free traffic to your direct online ordering page. 

The easier you make it for customers to order, the more likely they are to start and complete an order. 

4. Encourage Repeat Visits with a Reward Program

Restaurants depend on their regular customers, who make up as much as 80% of yearly profits, and offering them a rewards program is one of the best ways to keep them coming back. 

When customers know that each order brings them closer to a discount—whether a percentage off or a dollar amount, these incentives make it much more likely they’ll order from you over a competitor. 

If you’re using ChowNow’s Rewards Program, you may already have a system in place to reward customers automatically, but you need customers to know about it for it to grow your profits. 

Tell customers to sign up through:

• Email marketing: Send emails that promote your rewards program, and after they sign up, send them reward updates so they know how close they are to receiving a discount.
• Receipts and order confirmations: A simple message at the bottom, like “Earn $5 off after 5 orders!” can boost traffic.
• Social media: Create posts sharing the perks of your rewards program and how easy it is to use and earn.

With ChowNow’s Rewards Program, you set the minimum order value that qualifies for a sticker, so you are always in control of protecting your bottom line. 

Reward programs increase repeat orders, but by using simple, attainable incentives, you’ll also build brand loyalty and bring more traffic to your restaurant.

5. Use Social Media to Drive Free Traffic

We’ve already touched on social media a little bit, but you need to understand just how powerful social media is for your restaurant and two ways it’s good for your business.

• It’s FREE: This alone should be enough to get every restaurant operator to post on it every day. A free place to market and promote your restaurant as much as you like, any way you like. 
• Everyone is on it:239 million people, that’s 70% of the US population, are on social media—you should be too. 

Start by posting content customers want to see, like your food, your restaurant, and behind-the-scenes kitchen and bar moments. Restaurants are very fortunate that what they sell is extremely visually appealing. We eat with our eyes first, so make sure you use high-quality images. 

For more information on food photography, read our article on How to Take Menu Photos Like The Pros.

To really see a boost in engagement, run a “Tag Us and Win” contest—ask diners to share their meals, tag your restaurant, and use a branded hashtag for a chance to win a prize, like an app or dessert. 

This not only increases visibility on the app, it also creates social proof of the highest level, showing potential customers that others love your food. 

6. Offer Limited-Time Specials to Create Urgency

Nothing motivates diners quite like a deal that won’t last forever. 

Limited-time specials create a sense of urgency, encouraging customers to order now instead of waiting. When people feel like they might miss out, they’re more likely to take action.

One of the best ways to implement this strategy is through short-term promotions, such as:

• Weekend-only dishes: Feature an exclusive menu item available for just a few days.
• Buy One, Get One Free (BOGO) deals: Offer this on slower days to boost midweek sales.
• Flash discounts: A limited-time 10% off promo for online orders can drive a quick surge in traffic.

To see the biggest impact from these limited-time specials, promote them through email, social media, and your website. Highlighting the deadline—”Only available this weekend!”—adds urgency and inspires customers to act fast. 

7. Simplify the Online Ordering Process

If placing an order there’s no faster way to turn away customers than a complicated or frustrating ordering experience. 

If placing an order takes too many steps or the process isn’t intuitive, diners might abandon their order and look somewhere else. The smoother your online ordering process, the more likely customers are to complete their order and come back for more.

If your restaurant has a ChowNow branded app, make sure you’re actively letting your customers know about it. 

Mobile apps offer a faster, more convenient way for customers to reorder their favorite dishes, increasing the volume of food you sell. Encourage app downloads by offering incentives, like discounts on first in-app orders or a percentage off their next order. 

Like your rewards program and special promotions, share your direct ordering app through email, social media, and your website. Be sure to include an incentive, and you’ll see significantly more downloads. 

Small Changes, Big Impact, Without The Extra Costs

Boosting diner traffic and increasing order volume doesn’t have to mean spending more—these simple strategies can drive real results with little to no extra cost. 

If you’re interested in using ChowNow’s features to grow your restaurant without the added cost, book a demo. If you’re a current customer wanting to explore adding these features, reach out to your Restaurant Success Manager.