Why restaurants must benchmark guest experience to stay competitive
In today’s hyper-competitive and price-sensitive dining landscape, delivering great food, drink and service is no longer enough. The modern guest expects a seamless, memorable experience – and they’re not shy about sharing their opinions online.
When you consider that data from our 2024 Pulse study of nearly 55,000 consumers showed 89% of diners find Google reviews ‘very important’ or ‘important’ when deciding where to eat or drink out, you start to understand how important it is to know how your guest experience stacks up against competitors.
The power of guest experience benchmarking
Platforms like 125 Data & Insights empower hospitality operators to compare their guest experience performance against key competitors and sector benchmarks. By analysing over two years of guest feedback across platforms like Google, TripAdvisor, and Facebook, you can identify where your brand stands out and where it falls short.
Using our ‘Market Insights’ solution, this data-driven approach allows you to:
- Track performance against up to three competitor brands and your sector segment (e.g. Casual Dining or QSR).
- Analyse sentiment and topics to understand which aspects of your customer experience are driving ratings versus your competitors.
- Identify long-term trends to uncover clear opportunities or threats.
- Access two years of data to review and analyse for both you and your competitors.
By leveraging these insights, you can make informed decisions to enhance your customer experience and differentiate your brand in the market.
Why it matters: Experience is the new differentiator
As highlighted in a recent Deloitte study and backed up by our own data, food quality, value, and cleanliness are now baseline expectations. What sets brands apart is their ability to consistently deliver engaging, personalised experiences that resonate emotionally with guests.
Competitive benchmarking helps you pinpoint where your experience lags behind rivals, whether it’s speed of service, staff friendliness or ambiance, and to take targeted action. It also reveals where you’re leading, so you can double down on what works or use it in your branded marketing campaigns.
From insight to action: Turning feedback into loyalty
Using the full suite of tools available at 125 Data & Insights enables you to go beyond surface-level metrics. From within the platform you can:
- Respond to all reviews in real time across platforms, managing your online community and reputation using ‘Social Reputation’.
- Create cases for every piece of feedback, allowing teams to investigate complaints and communicate with guests directly using ‘Case Management’.
- Analyse and categorise feedback into key topics, highlighting their sentiment as positive, neutral or negative using ‘Topic Analysis’.
- Discover how customers experience every part of your business, from NPS down to dish-level feedback, and track trends over time using ‘Smart Surveys’.
This holistic approach ensures that every guest interaction is an opportunity to enhance satisfaction and build loyalty.
The bottom line: Stay ahead by staying informed
In an industry where guest expectations are constantly evolving, staying informed about your performance relative to competitors is crucial. By leveraging comprehensive guest experience analytics, you can make strategic decisions that not only meet but exceed customer expectations.
Embrace the power of our Market Insights platform, alongside our full suite of products, to transform insights into action, and ensure your brand remains a leader in delivering exceptional dining experiences.