How to track restaurants conversions?

Do you have some ideas on how to track restaurants conversions?

[adamjax]

Dear professionals,

I would like to set up a ppc account for one of the restaurants.
I would like to have some of your ideas on how to track restaurants conversions, as obviously If you aren't tracking your ppc conversions, then it's virtually impossible to determine if your advertising is paying off for you in any tangible way.

Please help.

A

[edited by: jatar_k at 5:16 pm (utc) on Feb. 26, 2007]
[edit reason] no urls thanks [/edit]

[Eric_Lander]

One idea that comes to mind if you're using an online reservation system would be to use a special reservation code or prefix based to a reservation number on the referral source.

Alternately, you could offer a coupon or similar offer that is unique to the PPC campaigns.

[adamjax]

Pretty good ideas, thank you.
There is no online reservation system yet in-place and we wouldn't like to start off with discounts right away. Rather my idea is to show how it can be profitable without going into the discounts right away!
A

[seth_wilde]

You could get an 800 number that you only use with the ppc account (landing pages etc).. If you think a lot of your visitors are just coming in to the store rather than calling, the coupons is probably your best bet.

[adamjax]

Good idea, thanks.
Any different thoughts?
Maybe some success stories?

[rharri]

Low-tech.

Why not have the hostess/greeter ask each customer group, "Have you seen our ad on the interrnet?" If there is a website, have cards with the URL that the hostess/greeter can hand out so they can "check on our specials and special events".

rharri

[Eric_Lander]

Low tech ideas are always fun... Great suggestion from rharri on that one.

Rather than even processing online reservations -- you could have a contact page (or something similar) that you consider to be a point of conversion.

From there, just use code relative to your PPC provider or your web stats program to determine the number of clickthroughs that actually reach the point of conversion.

It'd be simple, and perhaps a bit skewed since people may review the page and never come in -- but it's another idea to consider.

[rj87uk]

Would Google Analytics not be able to track the conversions?

[adamjax]

How?

[LifeinAsia]

The problem with low tech solutions is that they are often not very reliable.

Oops, the new waitress wasn't properly trained to ask the question, and the party of 5 that came in because of the ad wasn't counted.

Oops, the disgruntled waiter who really hates his job just made up a bunch of numbers instead of wasting his time asking the customers.

Oops, customers came in had seen the site because they found it through organic listings, but they misunderstood the waitress and told her they saw the ad.

Discount coupons are about the best way to track. It's the best motivation to get people to communicate to you that they saw the ad.

Reservations are also good, but requires the infrastructure to support it.

AN 800-number would also work, but requires the expenditure for a dedicated 800-number.

[shorebreak]

OpenTable.com is a San Francisco-based company marketing
a)a website from which consumers can make online restaurant reservations. I've used them dozens of times in SF, NYC, Chicago, etc and it works great.
b)a back-end CRM 'reservation management' system that they sell to restaurants on a per-cover basis.

It's too bad they don't offer some sort of free [light] version of their backend reservation system along with an integrated tracking pixel. That way you could track everything perfectly through them.

-Shorebreak

[GeoffDSEO]

Does the restaurant deliver? I know we have done promotions when a restaurant launched delivery capabilities and were able to track by keywords what they ordered online, it's tricky tracking offline, but perhaps a dedicated reservations number only on the site, that way you know when someone calls that number, they got it from visiting the site.

G.