How above-store reporting can identify customer experience opportunities

The numbers don’t lie. You’ve probably heard that expression at some point in your life. That’s because whether it’s someone committing tax fraud, an employee stealing from the company, or someone lying about their age, a deep look into the numbers or facts usually reveals the truth.

But numbers aren’t just for catching people in a lie. They can also be very useful in helping you run your business more efficiently, and give you the knowledge to make improvements to your organization.

Looking at the numbers in your QSR can help you measure the differences in customer experience restaurant by restaurant. Above-store reporting also gives you the power to test changes in a small set of restaurants to see if they're worth rolling out to the rest.

Your Swiss Army business tool

Above-store reporting lets you see an entire data group in one report, which is a huge timesaver. You can then select what data you need and customize your reports. Here are some of the important areas to track as part of your above-store reporting in order to get the most out of this tool — and your restaurants.

Speed of service

Have you ever been stuck in an especially slow drive-thru? So slow that you end up leaving despite having already waited an annoying amount of time? The speed of service plays a big role in customer satisfaction. So, analyzing the speed of service can help you find ways to improve and keep customers happy.

To make these reports even more useful, you should segment them by location and daypart. When you have specific restaurant data that corresponds to a specific time of day, you can help store leaders set SMART goals for improvement. These detailed reports also help with sales forecasting, scheduling, training, and deployment/positioning.

Sales, labor, and POS metrics

Are you hitting your projections? Comparing your sales and labor reports with your forecasts can help you identify gaps. For example, if you have a large gap in your labor report and its forecast, it could mean your team was really short-handed. This ultimately affects your customers because the team is no longer able to function at its best. Conversely, if you are over-forecasted and over-scheduled and the team did not react accordingly, you will end up with a labor surplus that needs to be made up down the line to meet your targets.

POS metrics like deletions, voids, and refunds are all indicators that something might be wrong. They can indicate employee mistakes, long waits, and refunds. When’s the last time you were happy after having to wait in a line that was way too long? Your customers probably aren’t responding well, either.

Customer satisfaction metrics

Are you listening to your customers? Voice of Customer (VOC) metrics act as a direct line to what your customers are thinking. These include things like customer surveys, comments, etc.

In contrast to some of the other metrics, you don’t have to compare numbers to find out what’s affecting customer satisfaction. But you can still compare the frequency of certain comments to help prioritize what might be a genuine problem or just the personal preference of a customer.

Put it all together

Individually, all of these metrics can be useful. But putting them all together and comparing them side by side can really be eye-opening. For example, maybe you see that the speed of service is really bad at one location during breakfast. Then, you notice a big gap in the labor report and what you projected for that location. Finally, you see complaints from customers and a decline in visitors.

Using this data, you see that an understaffed crew is affecting sales and customer satisfaction. Now, you have the insights to make useful changes and help make your QSR restaurant more profitable.

So, the next time you're curious about your customers' experiences at your QSRs, look to the numbers. They'll tell you a lot.