Commentary

How restaurants can attract diners by preparing for voice search, the intelligent future

Lee Zucker, head of Industry for food service at Yext, gives insight to the future of fast casual restaurants with the evolution of smart devices and voice searches.

June 25, 2018

By Lee Zucker, head of Industry for food service, Yext

We're in the midst of a shift in the way consumers find and engage with restaurants. Smart devices, voice search, AI and intelligent services are quickly becoming the norm — not just in our daily lives, but in our search habits, too. Consider this: 50 percent of all searches will be completed by speech or image search by 2020. Plus, the use of voice-enabled devices is expected to grow by 120 percent in the next year.

The way people decide where to eat has changed. Take for instance that 68 percent of consumers either search by cuisine or food item, rather than by restaurant name. For a restaurant to succeed in this new landscape, let alone thrive, it's essential to have a strong search presence and to attract consumers in their micro-moments of need. The following are a few ways restaurants can ensure their online customer experience is optimized for the intelligent future.

Leverage rich details to boost discoverability

In today's world of voice assistants and connected devices, the digital footprint spans far beyond a restaurant's website. Instead, facts about hours of operation and menu information live in maps, voice search, knowledge cards and beyond.

The rise of AI-powered services also have created hyper-mobile consumers who perform searches in the moment and expect immediate answers. In fact, half of consumers most often search for food when they're on the go, and searches for ‘open now' are on the rise. Consumers now expect that search engines will factor in relevance, distance, and prominence for every search a consumer performs.

But beyond the immediacy factor, consumers want to be well-informed before stepping into a restaurant. They look for rich attribute information like price range and meals served, so they can choose the restaurant that's right for them—so much so that we have found 76 percent of consumers say they're more likely to choose a restaurant that gives them in-depth attribute information in search results. This means that restaurants and attribute information need to be optimized to come up in searches relevant to the business, especially considering that 63 percent of searches end up purchasing within a day.

Requests like 'drive-thru open now' or ‘nearby burger place good for kids with wifi and outdoor seating' are reigning supreme. These rich details consumers care about are restaurants' secret ingredients to showing up in search. Intelligent services need these details, known as structured data, to answer consumers' queries, and restaurants must ensure that this digital knowledge is organized and available.

What this means for fast casual restaurants

The way consumers search is evolving quickly as a result of smart devices, voice search, AI and intelligent services, which make it easier for people to make a quick decision.

With a direct correlation between speed of food and speed of dining decision, the impact on quick service and fast casual restaurants is immense. Unlike fine diners who demonstrate a lower engagement rate and lengthened time for research, when looking for a quick service option, consumers want convenience and proximity, and they'll make their decision off of the results within the search. For instance, most consumers searching for a restaurant end up completing a purchase within 24 hours and more than 30 percent do so within the hour. Therefore, it's critical restaurants are able to reach hungry searchers in these moments of high intent.

While AI-powered search tools are smart, they still rely on restaurant brands to provide them with rich, accurate information. To help with this, restaurants should keep in mind the following:

● Ensure menu items are accurate and up-to-date. The number of unbranded restaurant searches continues to grow, and consumers are more likely to choose a restaurant that provides in-depth information around things like menu details. This information must be in a structured format and optimized to appear in search. By indexing menu and attribute data, restaurant brands are able to optimize themselves for search with the terms consumers are already using.

● Manage structured data from one central system. By doing so, brands ensure that information is consistent for both intelligent services and customers. This unified foundation ensures that details needed to make a dining decision are accurate—and most importantly, in front of consumers at the moment of intent—regardless of how they're searching.

The competition for share of stomach in the food industry is becoming more complex. Now more than ever, restaurants must make sure their online customer experience is optimized for the intelligent future. It's simply the new table-stakes.