Playbook
Turning first-time delivery customers into direct-ordering regulars
The marketplace brought them once. Whether their tenth order pays 25% commission or 5% is up to you. Here's the conversion system, step by step.
January 6, 2026 · 5 min read
- The box insert that converts
- A direct-only offer that costs less than commission
- Building the customer list the apps won't give you
The delivery apps' real product isn't delivery — it's owning the customer relationship. They don't share the diner's contact info with you, which means every reorder happens on their terms at their commission. Converting a marketplace customer to direct ordering is the single highest-leverage retention move a restaurant can make.
The math is friendly: a customer who orders twice a month at $40 costs you roughly $240 a year in commissions on a marketplace. Converting them costs a printed insert and a one-time incentive worth a few dollars.
The conversion system
Every marketplace order leaves your kitchen with an insert: a card with a QR code to your ordering page and a direct-only offer — 'order direct, get free baklava' or 10% off the first direct order. Price it below the commission you're avoiding and it's profitable on order one.
When they order direct, you finally get what the apps withhold: a name, a phone number, an email. That list becomes your cheapest marketing channel — a Tuesday-special text to 500 past customers fills slow nights for the cost of nothing.
Make direct genuinely better
The offer gets the first direct order; the experience gets the rest. Your ordering page must be faster than the app — saved reorders, no account wall, accurate quote times. Add a simple punch-card loyalty mechanic and the tenth order becomes automatic.
Elevaro's direct ordering platform ships with the QR assets, first-order incentives, customer list capture, and reorder flows built in — and our team runs the insert-and-offer program as part of setup.