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Advertising for food delivery services
Platform commission decides whether the business works. Every marketing decision should be measured against how much it shifts orders to your own channel.
Key points
- A platform order at 30 per cent commission is often break-even; a direct order is the profit.
- The delivery area is a marketing decision, not a logistics one.
- Order accuracy and timing generate more repeat business than any promotion.
Delivery economics are brutal and simple. A £28 order through a platform at 30 per cent commission leaves £19.60 before food, packaging, driver and rent. The same order taken directly leaves £28.
The whole strategy in one line
Use platforms for discovery, convert to direct for retention.
That requires three things: a reason to order directly, a route that is not harder than the platform, and something physical in every delivery reminding the customer.
| Conversion tactic | Effectiveness |
|---|---|
| Card in the bag with a direct discount | high |
| Direct price visibly lower | high |
| Loyalty scheme only available direct | medium to high |
| QR code on packaging | medium |
| Asking on the phone | low, few calls now |
Every platform delivery is a paid introduction. If nothing in the bag asks for the second order, you have paid for a customer and given them away.
The delivery radius is a marketing choice
A wider radius looks like more customers and usually is not. Beyond about fifteen minutes' drive, food quality degrades, driver utilisation falls and complaints rise.
Calculate the profitable radius rather than the possible one, and market only inside it. A tightly served small area produces better reviews, faster delivery and higher repeat rates than a large one served badly.
What actually drives repeat orders
Not promotions. Three operational things.
- Accuracy. A missing item is the single largest cause of non-return.
- Temperature and packaging. Food that arrives cold is not the same product.
- Time honesty. A stated 45 minutes met beats a stated 25 minutes missed.
Marketing that promises speed the kitchen cannot deliver creates the reviews that then cost you customers.
Your own ordering page
It must be faster than the platform or nobody will use it. That means: no account required, saved details on return, a menu that loads instantly on a phone, and payment in two taps.
An ordering page that requires registration before showing the menu loses most of its traffic.
The quiet periods
Delivery demand concentrates in narrow windows. The commercial opportunity is filling the rest.
Workable: lunch offers to local businesses with a standing order, family bundles on the weakest weekday, and early-evening pricing that shifts some volume out of the peak.
Reviews on platforms are the ranking factor
Platform visibility depends heavily on rating and order volume. Responding to reviews, fixing the recurring complaint, and asking satisfied customers to rate all feed directly into how often you appear.
Frequently asked questions
Should you leave the platforms entirely?
Rarely. They supply discovery. The goal is to convert platform customers into direct ones, not to refuse the volume.
How do you get direct orders?
Something in every delivery bag, a lower price direct, and an ordering page that is genuinely faster than the platform.
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