5 things your restaurant’s missing out on without a website and app
With popular third-party delivery partners such as UberEats, DoorDash, and GrubHub’s growing popularity, restaurants are on the downside of losing a substantial amount of their profits in the guise of fees.
Technomic principal Donna Crecca during the presentation at the National Restaurant Association Show said that sales from the top five third-party delivery companies witnessed a profit of a whopping $9.8 billion in 2018 — as a whole entity. And this profit is just out of delivery.
From 2015–2018, the percentage of people ordering food through a smartphone app has tripled from 11% to 39%. A recent Statista survey showed that the majority of diners use restaurant mobile apps to view menus and pricing (55%), search for deals (38.2%), order food online (30%), and make reservations (23.8%).
60% of local searches on mobile convert into buying customers within the hour — Starbucks conducted 16% of its revenue over the phone.
To break it down, even though someone has to be in a physical Starbucks location to buy one of their drinks, $1.6 billion of a $10 billion revenue was all done via mobile.
So what are restaurants missing out on by skipping out on digital platforms?
5 reasons why restaurants must have a website and an app
- Personalized user experience
A website and mobile app can offer restaurants detailed insights into their users to deliver the best experience.
When restaurants expand their business for easy ordering on digital platforms, it also provides flexibility. A mobile app and a website can help customers with orders to reduce wait time and improve efficiency at the restaurant itself.
Restaurants can look into customers’ purchase history and when they visit their physical store or digital store, they can help them decide their next order by suggesting a matching order with their current order or by offering a discount on their second product, and even by offering free delivery.
Subway has utilized this feature with their mobile app for ordering. Customers can choose and pay for their order ahead of time and pick up their order at the restaurant without having to wait. As a result, Subway reduced the line and wait time for customers that prefer ordering at the counter.
2. Loyalty programs for better ROI
On average, the adoption rate of traditional loyalty programs are about 12%. Restaurant owners are known to distribute loyalty programs to their customers as a way to increase customer engagement.
Most third-party delivery services have these loyalty programs running on their apps, but restaurants do not typically get the best out of it. When a restaurant mixes mobile payment with loyalty programs, ordering rates went up to 15%-35%.
Make use of tools such as QR Codes to encourage your customers to visit your app and website as a way to unlock the loyalty program once it is scanned. QR Codes can be easily created with the help of a QR Code generator that can be implemented on all mediums, including digital platforms.
Smartphones these days have the potential to scan a QR Code without downloading a third-party app. Ergo, embed QR Codes on websites and physical stores and offer your customers free delivery, free food items, or even a discount only upon scanning the QR Code.
3. Grow your bookings
A good indicator of KPIs for any restaurant is the number of customers served each day. This metric is a good indicator of popularity and to calculate the total sales to measure growth.
Reservations and bookings can sometimes be a contentious issue with “no shows” being regular. In addition, bookings are considered a key indicator of how busy a restaurant is. At the same time, bookings can also be problematic for everyone involved.
For customers, they need to make a call, wait to get connected to a host, then explain their accommodation time, followed by spelling their name out to confirm the reservation. In addition, if their arrival time is altered, this process has to be repeated all over again.
For restaurant owners, they need to have someone to answer their customers’ calls round the clock with precision.
Having a website and mobile app for online reservations can be very helpful for both the customers and restaurant owners.
Use push notifications to confirm online reservations as opposed to having someone answer your customers’ calls each time. In addition, use push notifications to remind customers of their bookings, if they want to change their slot, or even cancel their reservation.
4. Smarter ordering system
Mobile apps and websites, especially for ordering options make it easier to fulfill orders. All modern restaurants continue to benefit continuously from offering take-outs and delivery services.
The most common pain point of customers calling the restaurant directly or even on third-party delivery partners for takeout orders is — paying high service charges, delivery charge, confusion of orders, and not being able to add cooking instructions to their meals.
A well thought out mobile app and website will not only allow customers to book a table online but also help them place their orders electronically. Boost orders by offering loyalty coupons, free delivery, and reduced taxes.
Include an online payment system with an automated process management system to keep all the orders in one place and manage them efficiently. In addition, notify customers of the progress and handling of their orders and payments.
5. Boost your brand
A key part of all marketing strategies is brand awareness. But with a myriad of competing brands, neither brand awareness nor top-of-mind marketing can be achieved easily with limited marketing budgets.
Without effective marketing, even the best restaurants can fail.
Having a website and mobile app with a presence on social media, restaurant owners can boost their brand seamlessly. Restaurant apps are not like social media apps, but the aim is to let customers keep it installed on their smartphones for as long as possible.
When customers do not uninstall your app, it means they find it valuable and useful. It also means that they are exposed to your brand for longer, amplifying the chances of being noticed.
Make your app logo stand out, including a game that helps customers or to even keep them engaged, and make sure your customers notice the app every day by including engaging content with push notifications.
Final thoughts
Even when digital marketing is evolving rapidly, 95% of restaurants did not have an app until a year ago. So this means, if you do decide to develop a website and an app for your restaurant, you have the potential to be one of the top 5% of restaurants in your area.
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, 69% of people order their snacks from mobile devices. And they all tend to spend more money when buying foodstuff online.
Having a website and mobile app remains an important tool for discovery, with your mobile app serving as a way to market more effectively to customers with a known interest in your restaurant. Growing your restaurant isn’t only about attracting new customers, but also about increasing support from your existing customers.
