Running a business without the aid of technology is like running a car with no air in its tyres because it may give you the notion of being moved, but speed will remain far-out from your business. At present, no one can deny the value of moving a business on an app whether you are selling something huge or tiny stuff.
This rule is more prominently applied if you run a restaurant because foodies tend to explore things before they dine at a place new to them. Therefore, keep in mind that if you are getting an app, representing your restaurant, built, it must have the following features that really take the demand of your restaurant to new heights.
Not Having an App Is Leading You Missing Out Huge
No matter you have a small restaurant run by your family or a multi-branched restaurant chain, a dedicated mobile application always gives you the exposure, which boosts the sales increase of at least 20 percent. Besides, you get an opportunity to invest in a holistic mobile solution that allows you to boost not only your sales but the side management of waiters, ordering system, table reservation, payroll, ingredient purchases and so on.
Reward, Loyalty and Discount Offers
The Statista survey done in 2015 reveals that 37 percent of customers use their smartphones to find out new deals and discounts. On the other hand, 26 percent of customers use the app for redeeming/earning loyalty points. Apart from these stats, the key fact is that the cost of influencing or getting a fresh customer is approx five times bigger than the amount you invest in holding a customer and that is earning brand loyalty, which is cost-effective than building brand awareness and attractiveness. This is the reason why a few big giants in the market pay close attention to their loyalty programs. Starbucks is one of the finest examples which got 80 percent of hike in sales after introducing loyalty programs.
Payments via Mobile & Online Ordering
One thing is very advantageous for your restaurant’s mobile app is online ordering. About a comprehensive 69 per cent of customers order food through a Smartphone. This saves users from waiting in queues in the restaurants they visit often. Easy payment mode always keeps a customer delighted. A mobile app boosts proficiency as well as accuracy in order handling. A study reveals that about 67 percent of customers, who order online, often visit restaurants. Push notifications play a key role for stimulating foodies order.
Location Specific Services
After serving your existing clientele conveniently, you aim for engaging customers that are outside of that purchase cycle and relevant information or offers are delivered to them. Here, geo-fencing and Beacons come into the picture as it gives brands the ability to join with their customers much before they arrive in-store. The modern option to stand on the sidewalk and give out flyers, beacons and geofencing permit you to promote an item, give a new offer or even simply deliver the relevant updates to a customer.
Many companies’ message customers using location-based technology to build more professional experience. They believe that using beacons in their store help them reach new customers. Also, they are responsible for a good number (approx 8 to 12 percent) of new customers they come across each week.
Integration with Social Media
Once you have all the core features to develop an easy purchase cycle and deliver location-based information to the user base that you have currently, integrating social rewards into your mobile app permits you to reward customers with offers, loyalty points, competition entries or even money for sharing their in-store experience in social media. Reward your customers to share their experience and let these shared experiences deliver new app downloads income from mouth publicity. Create precious information about your customers like how effective they are, what their interest areas are etc. You can utilize this information to build reward campaigns that go with your marketing requirements and deliver value and involvement to your customers. The average Popdeem customer gets 20% of all app downloads from social referrals as lofty as 40% conversion ratio on social rewards.
Conclusion
Going for an app is an excellent and the most preferred idea to boost sales of your restaurant and if you get a mobile app development, which is loaded with the aforementioned features, can help you get exponential growth. Apart from the features mentioned above, you can also go for embedding videos, images, and other media content. Moreover, you can delight your customers by offering them the facility to book a table in advance. Keep in mind that your app should look like a user-friendly and sophisticated platform rather than merely a dud cluster of features.