This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
Top twelve reasons your restaurant business needs mobile app
A feature-rich mobile app plays a vital role in increasing sales through enhancing brand value. The blog talks about how a restaurant business can take benefits from a customized app.
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
A couple of years back, there was a notion: If you have a business, you should have a website. Now, in today’s mobile-driven world, the perception turns into the favor of mobile apps. A mobile app is necessary for any business under the sun to address a huge audience and attract people toward the business.
If you have a restaurant business and are still sitting on the fence for having a customized mobile app, then this article is for you. Here we give twelve thrilling reasons to make you believe that you need a restaurant mobile app:
1. Preferred choice
More and more people use handheld gadgets like smartphones and tablets to find restaurant locations and directions. You can take benefits of people’s changed searching behavior through a feature-rich app. It can certainly draw the attention of foodies who are fond of visiting new eateries to try out new delicacies.
Courtesy: envato
Apart from showing direction through maps, you can add 3D tour and elegant photos of interior part of your restaurant. Remember, if you could establish an effective visual communication with your customers, your app will remain a preferred choice for the customers.
2. Facilitates online table booking
Courtesy: Dinedesk
People wish to spend their time with friends and family during weekends and festive season. How about giving them a facility to pre-reserve or book a table online? With a restaurant app, you can offer your customers to reserve their seats in advance and give them feelings of a special treatment. Your app can save their time and make them loyal customers.
Take an example of I Know the Chef, an app that offers facility to reserve tables during the prime time. Users from New York, Chicago, and Miami can book their tables using this application with ease.
You can also provide them personalized experience by offering them a facility to select their favorite spot at your restaurant.
What’s more, you can also facilitate your app users to give online order for home delivery.
3. Offers localisation advantage
You can readily target the local users using either GPS coupons in which people can get rewards for visiting your restaurant or iBeacon technology through which you can send notifications like alerts and reminders automatically on detecting their geo-location.
Courtesy: iconfinder
Also, when your manager finds that customers are within close proximity with the help of geo-location, they can make the necessary arrangements. Using the GPS technology, you can show available positions to provide booking options to your customers.
4. Increases productivity
A feature-rich mobile app with a seamless performance assists you to enhance the productivity of your staff because it can improve the collaboration and facilitates your employees in simplifying processes.
Courtesy: possector
The mobile app can be very handy during the peak time as you can optimize operations with ease using the app’s features. In a way, a restaurant mobile app helps you increase efficiency.
5. Increases brand value
You know it well that customers trust businesses with mobile apps more as compared to others. You can run promotional campaigns as well as loyalty and referral programs easily through mobile apps.
Moreover, you can encourage customers to give feedback along with rating in an app. You can change strategies and improve services on the basis of customer reviews and ratings.
Courtesy: mzstatic
Altogether, a mobile app enables you to spread awareness about your restaurant, and in a way, you can increase the brand value. The increased brand value has a positive impact sales and revenue.
6. Showcases menu online
While providing the facility of giving orders or booking table online, you can showcase the menu in an attractive way. It allows the users to place their order with a single click. What’s more, you can add the attractive pictures of various cuisines and your specialties along with their brief information in an expressive way.
Courtesy: pinimg
It makes booking even faster as the customers can recognize their favorite dishes readily. Even if they cannot recognize the dish by its name, they can identify it through an image. However, you need to take care of making the digital menu card well-organized.
7. Sends push notifications
Push notifications work wonders for the B2C businesses. Just like GPS and iBeacon technologies, the push notification remains handy for the hospitality business. You can inform your customers and app users about the upcoming discounts or promotional offers. In a way, you can engage the users and give them real-time information.
Courtesy: cloudfront
However, you need to give an option to select the type of push notifications, because frequent and irrelevant notifications can make your customers irritated. Properly managed push notification system can assist you creating a loyal customer base.
8. Facilitates in-app payment
In the age of digital payment, you can give your customers an option of in-app payment thanks to the restaurant mobile app. They can pay bills using your application without opening any other apps or an eWallet. A Food Tech Connect survey has revealed that 98 percent of people between 18 to 34 years who have paid a bill via mobile would like to repeat the process.
You can receive the payment directly in your account that eliminates you from the burden of keeping cash or returning the balance.
9. Offers social media benefits
If you want to leverage the benefit of the word to mouth publicity, you need a presence on social media platforms. A mobile app with social media integration enables you to leverage the benefits of connecting with your customers. Such app enables you to draw the attention of more customers.
Courtesy: hosteleriamadrid
You can keep your customers and users updated about the latest activities and news like introducing a new cuisine or opening a new branch through social media posts.
10. Provides additional information
Your customers will find it fascinating if you give additional information regarding local weather or popular local activities. You can also integrate concierge and cab booking services to make your app more useful.
You can also show relevant stats in an attractive manner like ordering time, frequency, ratings, and preferred dishes. In a way, you can make your app more robust and reliable while showing your customer-oriented approach.
11. Improves user experience
Let us take a real-life scenario: What does a person want while looking for a place to eat or order food? A simple and effortless way of giving the order to get a yummy food. Well, you can facilitate your customers in giving orders or booking a table with the help of a customized app.
When your customers enjoy easy ordering process, you can witness an operational efficiency that translates into the reduction of wait time. It eventually brings a hike in your sales. Your app’s users will appreciate convenience over the period and prefer your app to give more orders in the future.
12. Offers better ROI
Happy Hours, Happy Meals, Weekend Discounts- these are a few common offers to attract customers to your restaurant. You can get better RoI (Return on Investment) as you use a mobile app to send push notifications for these offers.
Courtesy: slidesharecdn
You can send the real-time notification to your customers and they will come to your restaurant to enjoy delicious food at discounted rates.
Wrapping Up
In brief, it is fair to mention that a mobile app for your restaurant business can serve many objectives while improving customer services and enhancing user engagement. It can also act as a significant sales channel for your business and assists you to make a brand. All you get is a competitive edge over your peers and higher RoI with a bespoke and user-friendly mobile app.
We have hands-on experience in making restaurant apps. If you are ready to leverage the benefits of technology for your business, just contact us and see how we make your business transforms into a customer-focused with the help of an innovative application.