This thesis focuses on the application of digital persuasion in the realm of food ordering, in a specific case of City Group Hospitality. City Group Hospitality is a restaurant chain from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that comprises many restaurants with different cuisines and target audiences. After engaging in food delivery with the Uber Eats platform, the chain has decided to set up its digital menu website and encourage customers to switch from one platform to another. To do so, the restaurants implemented nudging techniques. Being of both quantitative and consultative nature, throughout this work, the data about orders is explored to answer the research questions, and the literature sources are studied to propose a new nudging strategy. After performing the analyses, it is clear that the nudging techniques did not have a significant impact, more precisely, there hasn’t been a significant switch from Uber Eats to the Pop Menu platform. The variables that can differ between orders from these two platforms are the price of the order and the restaurant which the order comes from. Having a diverse target audience and menu offers, it is clear that the price depends on the restaurant. Therefore, each restaurant has had its nudging efforts, and they have resulted differently, but still not significantly. The first part of the proposed nudging strategy comprises efforts that specifically focus on visibility, positioning, design, and text of the promotional poster with a QR code that leads to the Pop Menu website. It also suggests considering incentives, fixing and preventing technical issues, and including staff in the nudging efforts. The second part of the strategy focuses on the design of the website itself. It bases its efforts on alterations and modifications to food pictures, and text, sticking to the restaurant’s mission and values, positioning, and introduction of a chatbot that would incorporate social roles and human factors. Additionally, it highlights the importance of facilitating the ordering process and 8 adapting the strategy to the target audience of the particular restaurant while nourishing the restaurant chain’s values. The restaurants are classified into two groups, based on their characteristics, and specialized additional tactics are proposed for each group. Key words: digital persuasion, persuasive technologies, nudging techniques, food ordering, customer behavior, decision-making process.
Questa tesi si concentra sull'applicazione della persuasione digitale nel campo del food ordering, su un caso specifico di City Group Hospitality. City Group Hospitality è una catena di ristoranti di Baton Rouge, Louisiana, che comprende numerosi ristoranti con cucine e target di riferimento diversi. Dopo essersi impegnata nella consegna di cibo con la piattaforma Uber Eats, la catena ha deciso di impostare il proprio sito Web di menù digitali e incoraggiare i clienti a passare da una piattaforma all'altra. Per fare ciò, i ristoranti hanno implementato tecniche di nudging. Essendo di natura sia quantitativa che consultiva, in questo lavoro i dati sugli ordini vengono esplorati per rispondere alle domande di ricerca e le fonti letterarie vengono studiate per proporre una nuova strategia di nudging. Dopo aver effettuato le analisi, è chiaro che le tecniche di nudging non hanno avuto un impatto significativo, più precisamente, non c’è stato un passaggio significativo da Uber Eats alla piattaforma Pop Menu. Le variabili che possono differire tra gli ordini di queste due piattaforme sono il prezzo dell'ordine e il ristorante da cui proviene l'ordine. Avendo un target di riferimento e un'offerta di menù diversificati, è chiaro che il prezzo dipende dal ristorante. Pertanto, ogni ristorante ha compiuto i propri sforzi di nudging e questi hanno prodotto risultati diversi, ma non in modo significativo. La prima parte della strategia di nudging proposta comprende sforzi che si concentrano specificamente su visibilità, posizionamento, design e testo del poster promozionale con codice QR che porta al sito Pop Menu. Suggerisce inoltre di considerare incentivi, risolvere e prevenire problemi tecnici e includere il personale negli sforzi di nudging. La seconda parte della strategia si concentra sulla progettazione del sito web stesso. Basa i suoi sforzi su alterazioni e modifiche per quanto riguarda le immagini del cibo, il testo, rispettando la visione e i valori del ristorante, il posizionamento e 10 l'introduzione di un chatbot che incorpori il ruolo sociale e il fattore umano. Inoltre, sottolinea l’importanza di facilitare il processo di ordinazione e di adattare la strategia al target di riferimento di un particolare ristorante, alimentando al tempo stesso i valori della catena di ristoranti. I ristoranti sono classificati in due gruppi, in base alle loro caratteristiche, e le tattiche aggiuntive specializzate sono proposte per ogni gruppo. Parole chiavi: persuasione digitale, tecnologie persuasive, tecniche di nudging, ordinazione di cibo, comportamento dei clienti, processo decisionale
PERSUASIONE DIGITALE NELL'ESPERIENZA CULINARIA: INFLUENZARE GLI ORDINI DI CIBO NELLE CATENE DI RISTORANTI
DINIĆ, SANJA
2022/2023
Abstract
This thesis focuses on the application of digital persuasion in the realm of food ordering, in a specific case of City Group Hospitality. City Group Hospitality is a restaurant chain from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that comprises many restaurants with different cuisines and target audiences. After engaging in food delivery with the Uber Eats platform, the chain has decided to set up its digital menu website and encourage customers to switch from one platform to another. To do so, the restaurants implemented nudging techniques. Being of both quantitative and consultative nature, throughout this work, the data about orders is explored to answer the research questions, and the literature sources are studied to propose a new nudging strategy. After performing the analyses, it is clear that the nudging techniques did not have a significant impact, more precisely, there hasn’t been a significant switch from Uber Eats to the Pop Menu platform. The variables that can differ between orders from these two platforms are the price of the order and the restaurant which the order comes from. Having a diverse target audience and menu offers, it is clear that the price depends on the restaurant. Therefore, each restaurant has had its nudging efforts, and they have resulted differently, but still not significantly. The first part of the proposed nudging strategy comprises efforts that specifically focus on visibility, positioning, design, and text of the promotional poster with a QR code that leads to the Pop Menu website. It also suggests considering incentives, fixing and preventing technical issues, and including staff in the nudging efforts. The second part of the strategy focuses on the design of the website itself. It bases its efforts on alterations and modifications to food pictures, and text, sticking to the restaurant’s mission and values, positioning, and introduction of a chatbot that would incorporate social roles and human factors. Additionally, it highlights the importance of facilitating the ordering process and 8 adapting the strategy to the target audience of the particular restaurant while nourishing the restaurant chain’s values. The restaurants are classified into two groups, based on their characteristics, and specialized additional tactics are proposed for each group. Key words: digital persuasion, persuasive technologies, nudging techniques, food ordering, customer behavior, decision-making process.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/3519