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69% of people order their food online using their smartphone, reveals an IAB & Viggle study “Mealtime Goes Mobile”.
Here’s what this typically translates to. Quick-service restaurants with mobile ordering or delivery apps have an edge in terms of reach as well as engagement over restaurants that do not have a dedicated app.
After dine-ins closed during the coronavirus pandemic, the whole world – and that’s a lot of people including Gen Alpha, iGen or Gen z, Millennials, Boomers, Silent Generation (if they made it this far) – turned to online food ordering. The buying behaviors of Millennials and Gen Z in particular is fueling this online food ordering revolution.
Would you call it an epiphany? Regardless, many quick-service restaurant owners had a realization that ‘Food order/delivery’ is in fact THE holy grail of fast-food restaurants amid these dark times.
Not only is a restaurant mobile app a perfect tool to launch campaigns, but it also keeps your customers updated on any special events in your QSR as well as new food items on the menu, and share the contact and location of your newly opened franchise.
So if you’re considering building a food ordering app for your QSR here are 6 essential features to add to your restaurant app.
5 Features Foodies Want to Have in a Quick-service Restaurant (QSR) App
The purpose of a dedicated restaurant app is to deliver convenience and build a trustful and loyal relationship with your customers – among other things. Mentioned below are 5 key features of restaurant apps that you canNOT ignore.
1. Delivery & Live-food Tracking Features
Uncertain waits, as per the psychology (of queueing), feel longer than the waits that are finite.
Now, imagine a ‘wait’ involving food. Those excruciatingly painful long waiting hours feel longer. Uh! Especially when one is starving.
Waiting for food is one of the worst feelings. It makes your customers angry, impatient, and typically unhappy – especially the Gen Z – with the delivery services. Unless your restaurant has partnered with The Flash – or any other DC hero – to deliver food, you should seriously consider adding a ‘live-tracking’ feature to your quick-service restaurant app. Other than efficient food-deliveries, it’s the least you can offer.
It helps your customer know exactly how much longer they have to wait before food is delivered at their doorstep. Live tracking helps console the customers by keeping them informed on the delivery time. Besides, live food tracking gives you an edge over your competitors in the market.
It will also help you build a trusting relationship with your regular customers in the realm of restaurant mobile app development. By providing a dedicated app for your restaurant, you can establish a direct and personalized connection with your customers. The app allows you to communicate important updates, promotions, and personalized offers directly to their mobile devices, keeping them engaged and informed. This constant interaction and convenience foster a sense of trust and loyalty, encouraging your regular customers to continue choosing your restaurant and becoming advocates for your brand.
2. Multiple Payment Options
unlike certain features of the app, having multiple payment options adds convenience to your restaurant app. Many people – specifically the millennials and Gen z – today prefer online payments instead of handing over cash on delivery.
As a matter of fact, as per online payment stats by Accenture, 68% of Gen Z-ers are thrilled by instant P2P payments, in contrast to other demographic groups. Gen Z and millennials are considered to be a driving force behind many accelerating trends and businesses. However, truth is, everyone loves convenience, whether they fit the baby boomer category or fall under the Gen Z category.
While adding multiple payment options is great to have in a QSR app, it is also important that you take all the necessary measles to secure the customers’ data.
3. Rewards!
As a quick-service restaurant business owner, you will always be working on drawing new customers as well as retain your current customer base. This is where incentives for loyalty will help your quick-serve.
Restaurants can inform customers of promos and other specials, give discounts on slow-moving food items, promote desserts and take-out purchases, and accomplish other restaurant goals through excellently-designed restaurant loyalty programs.
79% of customers feel more committed to brands when they are able to unlock unique rewards. Let’s take Starbucks as an instance here, To thrill and treat its dedicated customers, Starbucks reveals seasonal promotions and new product launches to its fans first. They have also set up double-star promotion programs to treat and reward their loyal customers.
I mean, as humans love rewards. Rewards will help attract new customers to your brand and convert them to regular users of the app.
4. Push Notifications Bearing Food-Promos
Push notifications are a great way of promoting your restaurant business. Burger King for instance used geolocation push notifications to troll McDonalds but also increase its sales.
Users had to go within 600 feet of McDonald’s locations to order a Burger King Whopper sandwich using the Burger King app, costing them only a penny. With this clever but creative stunt, Burger King was stealing customers – using ‘push notifications’.
It’s an essential feature to have as ‘push notifications’ will help you notify your customers of any active deals, promote those deals, and increase conversions.
Check out our article on dos and don’ts of a push notification to learn more about push notifications.
5. Personalization + Customer Feedback!
Save the customers the difficulty of finding their favorite restaurant or cuisine frequently. Personalization has been a key element of smartphone applications in recent years.
This functionality helps the app to monitor and evaluate customer habits and preferences and recommends relevant goods and services. It helps to interact and develop a relationship with the customer.
What’s more, who could best review and recommend improvements in your services than the customers themselves? Make your customers feel important. It would benefit you to have a feedback mechanism that encourages the customers to express their views. This would also help you get insights into customer expectations that you can use later to improve the user experience.
How is Having a Mobile App Good for Your QSR?
For starters, 60% of the US population opts for order delivery or takeout once a week. Another stat reveals that 70% of people say they prefer ordering directly from a restaurant and not a third party ordering app. This is to say, most people prefer their money to go straight to the restaurant and not a third party delivery service.
Online food ordering is certainly here to stay. This is your time to shine. Build your QSR a food app to stay ahead of your competitors. Because when the hungry loyal customers are not able to order from your restaurant, they will certainly opt for another food franchise. Better it be your quick-serve than a competitor!
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