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How to create a restaurant app
Gastronomy and technology are increasingly hand in hand and when it comes to looking for valuable tools for a restaurant, we have the solution on mobile phones.
Having an app is an important step in your business, but it should be aimed, above all, at increasing sales, loyalty and being a communication channel with your customer; It should be useful and not just an element of “posture” to show off in your menus and business cards.
There are certain elements that must be in the app, whether you have it, are planning it or not, you should know, because, as a consequence, the app will not serve you at all.
Here are the must-have items your restaurant app.
1. A loyalty program
Getting a new customer is five times more expensive than keeping one, so a loyalty program is something that you should include in your restaurant app.
For many, access to coupons or offers in an app is what attracts customers the most. Nobody installs the McDonald’s app except to get better prices, offers or promotions.
Companies dedicated to loyalty have calculated that a customer with loyalty coupons spends 20% more than a normal customer.
Create a strategy focused on those who use your app, and do what is possible for them to use them.
2. Online ordering
That your clients can order in advance and online the orders, not only improves the efficiency and precision of the purchases, but also makes the life of your clients easier. The ability to order and pay for your order in advance is a factor that will weigh on the customer’s criteria.
Starbucks has been doing this since 2015 in the United States and with total success, reducing the waiting time and the lines of those who order and pay for their drinks from the app.
3. Mobile payments
Since your app accepts payments, it is obvious that your establishment also accepts mobile payments, or that it can be paid from the app, even if your client has not requested their order from the application.
For Starbucks, mobile payments represent 21% of its total sales.
If you combine mobile payments and online orders with loyalty programs … you have an exceptional comprehensive strategy.
You already have the loyalty program, the online order and payment, now, how to create an attractive social experience within your app?
Integration with social networks does not mean putting the links to your profiles on social networks, but rewarding social actions from your app.
Encouraging your customers to share their experience, and your content is key: that your customers become selfiesShare photos of your dishes, or of your place, it is free marketing for your brand.
If you reward with discounts, free drinks, or any prize in exchange for it, within the app, you will increase the reach of your brand on social networks without lifting a finger.
For example: you can reward whoever shares the best Selfie on Instagram with a free dinner for two.