Supersizing transactions with the power of payments data

The days of “drive-through or counter?” are long gone. True to a market where convenience reigns supreme, the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) sector has been marked by a widespread adoption of new ordering options including self-service kiosks and order-ahead mobile apps, all of which are designed to reduce wait times and drive customer convenience.

But that technology is only one piece of a bigger puzzle. All these different touchpoints generate different pieces of payments data, and what’s often missing is a unified approach that knits this data together to tell a single customer story.

Using data to understand your customers isn’t new and QSRs have been doing it for decades, typically using loyalty programs. However, tying together your in-store and online data and storing information in one place can help you get an easier, quicker, deeper understanding of your customers – whether they have a loyalty card or not.

A positive customer experience with a side of personalisation
Payments technology and self-service options are crucial for creating positive customer experiences. According to the 451 Research retail report commissioned by Adyen, 51 per cent of customers have made a purchase as a direct result of a business offering a cross-channel buying option. The research also found that two out of three shoppers have abandoned a purchase due to long lines, illustrating the importance of queue-busting technology like self-service kiosks.

But unified payments data can help you ensure a positive experience is a tailored positive experience. Linking earlier transactions, even if they happened online or in different physical locations, enables a seamless cross-channel experience regardless of how the customer interacts with your store. For instance, payments data can tell you where customers come from and help you offer local payment methods or optimise communications for international shoppers.

This doesn’t just benefit the purchasing stage, either. With a unified view of data, QSRs can improve loyalty by analysing visit frequency, order preferences and average bill amounts to surface the right messages for the right customers at the right time.* Why offer an early-morning breakfast discount as a loyalty reward for a customer who only places orders with you between 6:00pm and 8:00pm? The right data can help you make an offer that actually matches purchasing behaviour.

Optimising performance and opportunity through actionable insights
Along with greater personalisation for customers, payments data provides a richer understanding of your business performance and better evidence for future strategic decisions.

For instance, QSRs can drill further into a single store’s performance by analysing payments data from new versus returning customers. Or, to improve your store location planning, you can analyse whether your newly opened stores are cannibalising any of your existing, neighbouring stores. You can also start segmenting customers based on factors like visit frequency or omnichannel behaviour, helping you focus on your most lucrative customers.

Making the best use of payments data
QSRs are no strangers to innovative payment and self-service technology. The right payments technology can increase sales and improve customer loyalty through reduced wait time and improved cross-channel purchasing options, making it tempting to rest on your laurels once the right technology is in place.

But, to stay competitive, QSRs can’t neglect payments data – they’ll need to find ways to unify this data and use it to incorporate actionable insights as part of their overall strategy. Integrating with the Adyen platform can help ensure that you aren’t missing out on the power of unified payments data, especially with tools like ShopperDNA, which link clustered transactions to identify a single customer profile across devices and networks. And the more sales channels you connect with our platform, the more complete your understanding of customer needs will be.

*Under applicable data protection laws, consent from your customers might be required for the above-mentioned use of personal data of your shoppers. We recommend consulting your legal or privacy department. If you have any questions about how data can be consumed and what technical solution would work best in your situation, please reach out to our support team. For the docs and to set up notifications, see payments api documentation and set up notifications.