Conversational Ordering

Point-of-Sale (POS) application vendors are embracing a concept called Conversational Ordering for their Quick-Service customers. To my knowledge, Starbucks was the first to deploy this at scale when they deployed a customized version of Micros Simphony in 2010-2011.

There are three ordering models typically used in a POS solution: 1) traditional ordering, 2) partial conversational ordering, and 3) conversational ordering. Let’s take a look at each ordering model:

Traditional Ordering

In the Traditional Ordering model, an employee must select an item category and/or item before they can select modifiers. To illustrate, let’s take a look at a simple example in a coffee shop:

1. Customer says, “I want a large decaf Americano with no room” (my typical order)
2. Barista waits to hear the item (Americano) before entering the order. They then have to determine which item category that item is in and select it first (Beverage). Then they must select the item (Americano) before they can select any modifiers. Assuming they remember the 3 modifiers, they can now select them (large-decaf-no room)
3. If the Customer says, “Oh wait, make that a Latte”
4. The barista must cancel the item and start the above process from the beginning

Notice that the barista has to wait for the item, determine the item category, then enter the order out of sequence from how the customer communicated it.

Partial Conversational Ordering

Some POS applications say they support Conversational Ordering but what they really have is Partial Conversational Ordering. These POS applications require the employee to select an item category (like “Beverage”) before it behaves like true Conversational Ordering. The challenge with this approach is that the employee has wait until they hear the item so they will know which item category to select. Once they select the item category, the POS allows conversational ordering by allowing a modifier in that item category to be selected prior to selecting the item. To continue our coffee shop example using a Partial Conversational Ordering model:

1. Customer says, “I want a large decaf Americano with no room”
2. Barista waits to hear the item (Americano) before entering the order. They then have to determine which item category that item is in (Beverage) and select it first. From here they use the same order sequence as communicated by the customer (large-decaf-Americano-no room)
3. If the Customer says, “Oh wait, make that a Latte”
4. Barista selects Latte as the item

Notice that the barista has to wait for the item, determine the item category, then after selecting the item category they can enter the order in the same sequence that the customer communicated it. That is the primary difference between Partial Conversational Ordering and Conversational Ordering, the need to select an item category before it behaves like true Conversational Ordering.

Conversational Ordering

Conversational Ordering is the ability for a POS application to allow an employee to enter the customer’s order in the exact order sequence that the customer communicates it. This is especially critical in coffee chains because there are so many different ways a customer communicates the same order. Now let’s continue our coffee shop example with a POS that supports Conversational Ordering:

1. Customer says, “I want a large decaf Americano with no room”
2. Barista enters large-decaf-Americano-no room
3. Customer says, “Oh wait, make that a Latte”
4. Barista selects Latte as the item

As you can see, the barista just enters the order exactly as the customer is communicating it. No translation, no remembering the whole order and having to enter it in a specific order. Just enter it as the customer is saying it.

Benefits of Conversational Ordering

• Speed of Service: employee can begin entering the order immediately as the customer is communicating it and there are less clarification questions and time wasted while employee is trying to translate the order into a format they can key it into the POS.
• Order Accuracy: by removing the need to remember modifiers that are called out prior to the item, you eliminate the opportunity for error from not remembering to key them in after the item is selected.
• Less Training: employees need less training since they can just look for the buttons for what the customer is saying.
• Customer Engagement: by removing the employee’s need to translate, the employee is able to stay engaged with the customer while entering their order.

Drawbacks of Conversational Ordering

• POS Screen Design: it is very difficult to fit every item and modifier on one screen so we highly recommend conducting a customer ordering behavior study in your stores as an input to designing the primary POS screen. If you connect with us, and we will recommend a company that helped both Starbucks and Dunkin’ Brands with their user experience design.

While Conversational Ordering is typically only needed in a Quick-Service chain, it is critical for speed of service, accuracy of order entry, and ability for employees to stay engaged with the customer during the ordering process.

If you are Quick-Service chain, be sure to have prospective vendors demonstrate their capabilities around Conversational Ordering before making your final decision.

The Future of Conversational Ordering

The obvious next evolution of Conversational Ordering is to capture the spoken order using voice recognition technology. This will likely be the next evolution for mobile-ordering, online-ordering, kiosk-ordering, drive-thru-ordering, virtual-assistant-ordering, and automobile-ordering. Notice I didn’t say in-store-POS-ordering. The challenge here is the number of conversations that might be picked up from the line in front of your POS, music, etc… Perhaps voice-recognition technology will eventually advance enough to improve accuracy in this type of environment.