If you’ve done everything you can to up your restaurant’s sales but are still not seeing an improvement in profits, it may be time to think about psychological pricing for your menu. Designed to entice customers to spend more, psychological pricing refers to creating strategies that subtly push customers to dig deeper into their pockets.
When thinking about pricing for your menu, take into account what your customers would be willing to pay for each dish. Also take into consideration the cost of sourcing your ingredients, salaries, and other overhead business costs. Your pricing should make financial sense, allowing you to attract customers while being able to turn a profit.
These three strategies have been proven to influence customer buying behaviour.
Ace your Descriptions
When customers peruse your menu, they want to see more than just appetising pictures of your food. They may, at first, be attracted by the imagery, however, to help them place an order, your meal descriptions play a vital role. Instead of stating the mere facts about the meal, the descriptions should tell a story. They should describe the dish in a way that makes the customer want to discover how the ingredients taste when fused together.
Charm them with pricing
Reducing an item amount by 1 cent can have positive results. Research shows that adjusting the last digits on a price may encourage customers to make a purchase. For instance, instead of having a dish priced at €10, charm pricing would have you offer it for €9.99. Even though the difference in pricing is negligible, our minds tell us that it is more affordable, hence we would be more likely to order it.
Offer variations
Customers love being given options to choose from. The Good-Better-Best pricing strategy allows you to offer three variations of the same meal, with the price increasing as certain ingredients or cooking methods are added. Most people usually opt for the middle option, which is neither too cheap nor too expensive. They may view the basic option as too plain and would not mind paying a little extra for the better or best variation of the meal.
Involve your staff
When planning to make changes to your pricing, get as much input from your staff as you can. They may be able to offer some guidance since they interact with your customers more than you do. Involving them from the get-go will ensure they get fully behind the changes and are able to articulate the new menu effectively with customers.
Take the time to go through your current menu and, if need be, adjust it to incorporate the strategies mentioned above. Your restaurant may see an increase in customer orders, boosting your bottom line.
