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Restaurant customers aren’t interested in the same old deals

Restaurant traffic resulting from deals and special offers is down, according to recent data from the NPD Group.  This is somewhat expected based on the assumption that if the economic recession drove deal traffic, likewise as economic conditions improve deal hunting becomes less of a necessity for some consumers.  However, the data indicates that consumers’ taste in deals and offers may be evolving as well.

Source: The NPD Group, year ending December 2012Despite the fact  total restaurant visits in 2012 increased by one percent, NPD’s data indicates that visits based on a deal were down by three percent while non-deal traffic rose by two percent.  To contrast, in 2009 deal traffic increased by three percent while non-deal traffic fell by four percent.

Looking closer the meal deals that suffered most were combo meal offers that offer a discount for tying multiple menu items together in one order.  This could be due to the fact that the savings on combo deals has become less significant during recent years.  In 2012 the average combo meal saved a consumer only $1.07 compared to the price of the average non-deal meal.

While combo deals lost some of their luster, other offers continued to resonate with consumers.  Coupon deals, buy-one-get-one free offers and limited time discount sales all increased during 2012.

Mobile customers are particularly receptive to deals, and restaurants are just starting to scratch the surface of that potential marketplace.  Analysts expect the number of mobile coupon users to rise from 12.3 million in 2010 to 53.2 million in 2014 as more people continue to adopt smartphones.  Forward-thinking restaurants will look to integrate mobile marketing initiatives into their strategy.

The ability to access and store coupons online and on their mobile device makes value redemption more convenient for the customer.  Restaurants with a mobile ordering app can offer time sensitive coupons and send promotional codes to specific groups of customers.  Restaurants can deliver offers via email, SMS messages or push notifications directly from the app.  Offers can go out based on an app user’s location or offer special deals to a certain subset of customers.

Digitally savvy consumers are usually drawn to technology that makes their life easier and more convenient.  Hunting for savings is no different.  Like so many other things,  deals, coupons and special offers are about to go paperless.

5 ways to get the most out of your mobile ordering app

Restaurant apps are all the rage, with KFC becoming the latest chain to announce plans for integrating mobile ordering into their business model.  According to a poll by USA Today, going high tech is at the top of restaurant owners’ lists.  More than half of restaurant owners plan to invest in technology in 2013.  Meanwhile two in five fast food customers would view menus and order via smartphone apps if they had the opportunity.

Turn your mobile ordering app up to eleven

In a field as competitive as the restaurant business, staying ahead of the field is more important than just keeping pace.  Now that mobile ordering apps are becoming more commonplace, the next step is to be sure your app is getting the most out of its features and capabilities.

  1. Offer real value and convenience  Flashy, fun new apps come and go but the ones that stay on a user’s homescreen are the ones they use the most often.  These are apps that provide useful services and increase convenience like navigation, social sharing apps and of course mobile ordering.  The prospect of an opportunity to bypass the line at a take out restaurant during a busy lunch rush is too good to pass up.
  2. Make it worth their while  Sometimes the slightest discount or benefit can tip the scales in the mind of an indecisive customer.  Apps that are equipped to work with digital coupons, special offers and promotional codes are a wonderful way to get those wishy-washy customers in the door.
  3. Allow customers to personalize their experience  While they are easy to use for anyone, mobile ordering apps work best for loyal, regular customers.  Loyalty programs allow repeat customers to earn rewards.  The best mobile ordering apps allow users to save favorites from menus, making life ridiculously convenient when placing those regular, repeat orders.  Another great feature is social sharing and feedback.  This gives customers the opportunity to voice their opinion and share their experience with their social networks, the restaurant or the app developer.
  4. Reach customers in the right place at the right time  With user permission, mobile ordering apps have the ability to track when and where customers (or at least their smartphones) were when they ordered.  It is also possible to track how much they usually spend, what they typically order and a wealth of other pertinent information.  Restaurants can use this data to provide customers with hyper-specific offers and reminders.  People tend to take that little screen with them wherever they go, knowing the best places, times and types of offers can make promotions that much more effective.
  5. Put that data to work  Rich data from a mobile ordering app can help a restaurant get to know individual customers, but it can also help to acquaint with an entire mobile customer base and with the restaurant itself.  Examination of broad stroke data like customer habits, peak hours and what menu items are popular with which customers can help a restaurant business plan more effectively.

There are a billion active smartphones in the world and the number is expected to climb to two billion by 2015.  This makes a mobile ordering app an essential tool for any restaurant that wants to connect with all of those smartphone users.  Just having an app isn’t enough.  The winners of the mobile ordering game are the restaurants that learn to take advantage of an app’s features and maximize the app’s potential value.

 

Image courtesy of Phaiton / FreeDigitalPhotos .net

Next gen diners are all about apps

Like it or not, every person belongs to a generation.  For the sake of convenience every generation gets a snappy name.  Members of the Greatest Generation, the Baby Boomers or Generation X can all find comfort in the herd of a compartmentalized age group.  The latest batch of people to come of age are the Millennials.  Calling them “Generation Y” would be lazy and uninspiring, even by Gen. X standards.

Talk to the (thing in my) hand

Currently aged (approximately) 18-34, the Millennial demographic is poised to shape the restaurant industry for decades to come.  Their footprint in the economy will be bigger than any previous generation.  Estimates indicate that there are up to 95 million of these individuals in the United States, 17 million more than the second largest generation of Baby Boomers.

Yet after decades of faithful patronage, recent years have witnessed an unusual decline in the Millennials’ portion of restaurant traffic.  They are dining out about once a week less than people that age did in 2007.  Millennials bore much of the brunt of the recent economic recession, limiting how much some had to spend on dining out.  But that cannot be the only reason for the decline in Millennial restaurant patronage.  Restaurants need to reconnect with their Millennial customer base, and the key to their heart is through their mobile devices.

Growing up in an era of quickly and constantly evolving technology, Millennials are extremely tech savvy and happy to adapt.  Many Millennials view their mobile devices as an extension of their identity and a tool to accompany them through every aspect of their lives.  Millennials spend 14 percent more time engaged with mobile devices.  Millennials are more likely to do most of their browsing on a mobile device, making access to a regular computer unnecessary.  Two thirds of Millennials would rather give up their cars than their smartphones.  Forty percent of them have at least 20 apps on their device.

Nearly a third of Millennials use smartphones to connect with restaurants.  Around one fourth of Millennial smartphone users say they have ordered ahead using a tablet or smartphone, and six out of ten of them were satisfied with the experience.

Every generation has at least one thing in common:  they have to eat.  Fast casual and quick service restaurants have always catered to young people.  These days Millennials expect to be able to do any and everything on a smartphone.  Most millennials seem to have a rare knack for crossing traffic, carrying on conversations and navigating a crowded room without looking up from their smartphones.  No doubt the best way for restaurants to engage the current crop of kids is through a mobile ordering app.

 

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos .net

Study: users prefer apps over mobile web

The smartphone has become a must-have pocket item, unseating classic mainstays like rabbits’ feet and Swiss Army knives.  These days it seems that smart navigation, text messaging and real-time weather forecasting come in handy a lot more often than a nail file and a leather punch.  Smartphone users are eager to employ their technology whenever it makes a task quicker or more convenient, including finding something to eat.

Since half of America’s 267 million mobile phone users spend time on the mobile internet, a restaurant owner might think that having a web site oronline ordering platform is enough to engage mobile customers.  But a new study by Compuware indicates that people prefer using apps to the mobile web.  When customers whip out handheld devices to find a quick bite to eat, they would rather use an application to order than the mobile web or (gasp) calling it in on a voice line.

Mobile users prefer apps hands down.

The study found that 85 percent of mobile users prefer apps over mobile internet.  Respondents found apps to be easier to use, faster and more convenient.  They also expect apps to outperform mobile web counterparts and indicated a low tolerance for apps that don’t work well.  It is vital to produce a well-designed app with a quick, easy user interface.  But it is equally important to monitor performance and feedback after the app launches in order to continually improve the experience.

Apps are extra-appealing to repeat customers.  They can order up their favorite dishes with the flick of a few buttons.  The old adage is that it is cheaper to keep a loyal customer than to woo a new one.  This is likley true, but repeat customers can also provide valuable feedback and act as brand evangelists by spreading the word about an establishment in their own circles of influence.

No one wants a tool box without a hammer or a Swiss Army knife without a blade.  Just like menus and cash registers, mobile apps are a vital tool designed to make it easier for restaurants to do what they do best:  feed customers.

 

Phones are for much more than talking

Telecommunications milestones usually involve consumers giving up something they have in exchange for a superior alternative.  Radio gave way to black and white television, which gave way to color television only to witness the rise of high definition TV.  Mobile phone use seems to be taking a similar turn as data transmission overtakes voice communication.

“Yeah but does it upload photos quickly?”

In order to accommodate the broadest possible customer base, restaurants need to keep every avenue of communication open.  Customers that prefer machine-to-machine communication will look for mobile apps to take care of their food ordering.

According to a report by the Telecommunications Industry Association US consumers spent $94.8 billion on data services in 2012 compared to 92.4 billion on voice services.  This is the first time data service spending has exceeded voice service spending by their estimate.  The TIA expects the gap to increase to $32.2 billion in 2013.  An international mobile consortium called Groupe Spéciale Mobile Association estimates that worldwide mobile data revenues will overtake voice revenues by 2018.

People are still getting rid of their landlines, but this doesn’t quite signal a total abandonment of voice communication.  Many phones offer voice calling via wifi, which doesn’t show up in voice service spending.  Tablet devices, along with wireless components in everything from cars to household appliances, are gobbling up data services as well.

Mobile devices are so much more than a convenient medium for vocal communication, in fact talking is becoming a secondary benefit for many mobile users.  The idea of hungry diners phoning in take out or delivery orders is quickly becoming obsolete.  As data communication overshadows voice calling becomes the norm, mobile ordering apps are ever more essential for restaurants.

 

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos .net / sixninepixels

Big UK chains take advantage of mobile ordering

Fast casual restaurants on the other side of the pond are dabbling in mobile ordering, and the immediate returns have been impressive.

“Look kids, there’s Big Ben and Parliament!”

Two quick service giants have reported significant gains in their mobile ordering recently.  KFC is trying mobile ordering on a small scale but eventually expects it to account for about 10 percent of their orders.  Sister-chain Pizza Hut says mobile orders account for 20 to 30 percent of their UK delivery business.  Meanwhile Domino’s in the UK saw orders from smartphones and tablets make up 19.7 percent of their business, nearly doubling last year’s rate.  The group saw parallel increases in total sales and operating profit.

Mobile ordering creates efficiency.  It allows a restaurant to serve more guests more quickly, while budgeting staff and other resources more effectively.  At the current rate of increase mobile customers would account for a majority of the orders at these restaurants within three or four years.  Just remember a branded mobile ordering app is available to chains and restaurants of all sizes, so no need to leave all of the fun to the mega-chains.

Twitter study reveals broader trends

Twitter recently commissioned a survey to compare the habits and characteristics of their users.  The study focused on the difference between people that use Twitter on desktop computers and “primary mobile” users that do most of their tweeting on a handheld device.  A majority of the primary mobile users fell into the coveted 18-34 year old demographic, the backbone of the fast casual and quick service customer base.  It is not unreasonable to suggest that the Twitter habits of primary mobile users reflect the way they use other smartphone features as well.  The average user has 41 apps installed on the old smartphone, so what this study really does is highlight times and places when those users have access to all of their apps, including Twitter.

The bottom line: mobile apps are a direct line to the hearts and minds of your best customers

Primary mobile users check Twitter more often, according to the data they whip out their smartphones and check in several times each day.  They are more likely to do so in the morning, at work or school, during a commute and before or after a movie.  Funny those are many of the times people like to grab a bite from a fast casual restaurant.  See where this is going?  These young, early adopters of mobile tech all have to eat and they are using their smartphones throughout the day.  Mobile and online ordering apps are a great way to connect with these customers.

This study by Twitter is further evidence that the 18-34 demographic are married to their mobile devices.  This demographic provides for the lion’s share of fast casual and quick service restaurant patronage.

Build an app, and they will come.

Mobile apps mark a major milestone in human technological progress, so you should probably have one

Some technological advances stand out in the annals of history.   Game-changers like the invention of the wheel or the printing press altered the very course of human history.  But as momentous as they seem now, folks at the time of those inventions might have thought, “Meh, I’m not getting one of those ‘wheel’ things, it seems like it’s only marginally better than my ‘drag sticks.’”

“I’ve got to have one,” said people in 1450.

In hindsight is safe to say the invention of the wheel sped things up around the old prehistoric job site.  And in the way that the printing press democratized knowledge and literacy, mobile devices and near-universal connectivity are emancipating people’s free time.  Mobile apps may not be able to move mountains, but they can move people through a line, which is a happy circumstance for restaurant and customer alike.

Apps > Mobile Web

To reach customers on every level, a restaurant needs to offer an app to its customers.  In order to overcome the constant storm of innumerable applications available smartphone users, a good app needs to have one quality:  usefulness.  In the app game, this quality is synonymous with value.

Mobile restaurant apps are as practical as they come.   And double down on the benefits, because apps can simultaneously offer value to the restaurant and its customers.

Most every smartphone has a web browser and quality connectivity is becoming more and more ubiquitous every day.   Since smartphones offer easy access to the mobile web the first order of business for an app is to outshine whatever experience the mobile web offers.  Indeed research incicates that the rich experience is driving ever-increasing app use while mobile web use remains flat.

For something a user does often (like, say, ordering food) the speedy, fluid experience of a mobile app blows the mobile web out of the water.  An app can integrate with device hardware like GPS, social media apps and even the camera.  For complex interactions such as placing a take out order, native apps will far outperform the UX on the mobile web.

Utility = Value

The old “billboard” marketing mentality is extinct in the mobile space.

Few users are likely to waste phone memory on an app that doesn’t consistently provide either some utility or “fun” value to them.  And useful apps have more staying power than games, as studies show that users tend to remove such frivolous apps soon after they install them.

The ideal mobile food ordering app offers plenty of both.

The ability to save favorites, receive coupon codes, build points toward promotional discounts and connect to feedback and support is extra valuable to the best kind of restaurant customer:  the regular.  Established regulars will fall in love all over again and such features can entice occasional visitors to convert into steady fixtures.

Data + Flair + Social Media = Powerful Marketing

An app this useful is hard to resist, but what about the fun factor?  One plus is the opportunity to spice up marketing efforts with more creative campaigns.  By accumulating promo points, app users can unlock discounts and other benefits.  Of course the restaurant can design the point rewards to suit its needs.  Mobile devices are always connected.  An ordering app can offer data tracking of a user’s precise location, time and ordering tendencies.  A restaurant can use this data to create precisely targeted marketing efforts.

Games are fun, but it doesn’t really make sense to incorporate a game about, say, unhappy winged creatures into a mobile ordering app.  Interest in games tends to be short-lived, and the best apps have staying power.  There are plenty of ways to spice up an already handy experience.

“Eureka! I’ve invented… what does this do again?”

Social media connectivity lets users share their experiences with online friends, while providing a bit of visibility to the restaurant’s brand.

Some people just like to set goals:  flair allows for just that.  Pieces of flair are digital buttons, badges, ribbons or other insignia that allows users to admire their virtual achievements and show them off to friends.  Customers can earn flair for anything from placing late night orders to visiting several locations within a specified time frame.  The customer gets a warm fuzzy feeling of affirmation and a bit of status among online peers.  Restaurants can design flair to instruct customers on how to better use the app by rewarding them for saving a favorite, or they can cross promote a new location by offering flair for visiting within the first week.One-time promotions can take advantage of unique circumstances to bond with customers.  Our Valentine’s Day promotion encourages customers to include the word “love” in the notes of their order to unlock the promotion.  It is a fun way to acknowledge the day and a way to send a positive vibe to the people working behind the counter preparing food.  Everybody wins!The Future is Now

The technological leaps and bounds of any era might seem unextraordinary at the time, kind of the way that a speeding train feels like it is standing still from the inside.  But ground breaking innovation is always knocking at the door.  The last decade alone has witnessed the dawn of widely available GPS technology, rapid advances in genetic science, alternative energy and of course the proliferation of the smartphone.

Smartphone apps are a unique combination of a utilitarian device and an interactive medium; naturally smartphone users are going include mobile food ordering in their virtual toolkit.

More relevant than relevant: marketing in the mobile era

In the age of communication the buzziest buzzword in marketing is relevance.  In short, this means getting the right message to the right people at the right time.  For restaurants, mobile apps are a perfect way to be sure the messages reach the right people.  Mobile customers are everywhere, a recent survey by QSR found that seven out of ten respondents had placed a food order via mobile device.

Advertising saturates today’s consumers wherever they turn.  More than ever, people are either desensitized or even somewhat hostile to traditional, “billboard” style marketing efforts based on broadcasting messages in a one-way manner.

For every “hit” there are bound to be a ton of “misses” and no one knows if the “hits” are the kind of people likely to be interested in the message.

You’re firing off marketing efforts, but are they hitting their targets?

Another drawback to traditional broadcast marketing is that it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of a campaign.  This, of course, clashes head-on with the business community’s desire to track and analyze data, quantified results and ROI.

Consumers today have a great deal of control over what kind of communication they partake in.  Instead of waiting for studio executives and editors to decide what to show them, modern media consumers are empowered, curating content unique to their tastes.

This is especially true of mobile apps.  Upon granting companies access, app users can offer detailed demographic and transactional information in a manner that restaurants simply have never had access to before.

With a mobile ordering app, a restaurant can fill in the blanks for all of the famous “five Ws.”

  • What did they order?  Ordering apps shed light into individual customer transaction data such as their favorite items and ingredients, number of items in a typical order, tip amounts and promotion amounts. For example, you could easily identify and send a note of appreciation to your best tippers.
  • When did they order?  Understanding customer behavior can allow for more effective promotions.  For example if a customer usually comes by around 11 am, you could target a special offer to them at 10:30am, just as they are deciding where to go for lunch.
  • Where was the customer when they ordered?  This benefit is unique to the GPS functionality within mobile technology.  If a customer usually orders in large quantities from a corporate office building, they might be a good candidate to learn about your catering program.
  • Why did customers enjoy or not enjoy their experience?  Splick-it provides customers with a direct feedback channel in the apps, creating a loop that allows us restaurants to receive and respond quickly and effectively to praise and concerns alike.
  • Who are the customers?  The real potential of this data is truly revealed in the ability to append all of the aforementioned data that is being collecting with an actual customer rather than a demographic bucket with a range of individual preferences that is likely to tell you nothing in particular about each particular guest.

The value of all of this vast information only becomes more and more valuable over time with each additional order, as restaurants will only continue to develop a more refined and accurate profile of a certain customer’s behavior and preferences.

In fact, app users are generally willing to share their information, under the right circumstances.  A 2012 PwC survey found that there were conditions that made respondents more likely to share information:

  • 73 percent of respondents said they would be willing to share information depending on the benefits they got in return.
  • 80 percent said they would share information for a benefit with monetary value like coupons or free Internet service.
  • Even when no monetary benefit was involved, 60 percent were willing to share information.
  • 80 percent said they would share info if they knew upfront how the company would use it and 87 percent prefer to be able to choose how to use their information.

Consumers recognize that there are benefits to sharing information beyond dollar rewards.  Nowadays a user can customize the digital experience and get personalized content, targeted advertising and free services.  Smartphones and tablets are completely portable yet offer all of the power of a desktop computer.

These devices are a game-changer for marketers, too. Now more than ever, it is imperative for brands to build relationships with individuals.

Restaurant industry analysts often study the behavior of restaurant customers on a massive scale.  Yet such studies fail to recognize the diversity of eateries and customers out there.  The customers at a brunch spot are going to have different habits than the regulars at a late-night sushi joint.  Diners on the go during lunch hour will behave differently than retirees out for an afternoon cup of coffee.  It is impossible to reach such a diversity of people with one broad stroke marketing campaign.

That is the beauty of a mobile app.  The app is both a tool for distributing marketing and a valuable way to gather information.  It is a double-win situation.  Customers will gladly sign up for the prospect of occasional deals and promotions, along with a super-convenient ordering and payment process.  In exchange, the restaurant will have access to rich data that would rival any survey or study, and the relevant marketing that comes with it.

 

Image courtesy of kongsky/FreeDigitalPhotos .net

Controlling Android Builds From Command Line

Here at Splick-it, we build apps.  Lots of apps.  When you look at the time it takes to take an app from a code base and a set of assets to a built and tested product ready for release, you can’t help but think that there must be a better way, a more automated solution perhaps.  That problem is exactly the one that I have been trying to tackle and I am here to share a few bits of knowledge that I have picked up along the way.  This week’s post discusses the automation of creating build files and actually building Android apps.  The goal of the first step was to take this process which I currently manage with IntelliJ and run it via command line processes.

We structure our Android applications with a core code base and create different builds of that base according to brand resources.  The first step is to identify your library project and set it up as so.  In the project.properties file of the core project, you will see the following line:

android.library=true

Make sure this flag is set to true to indicate that this is a library project.  As a side note, the Android build process combines these external libraries with the project source after the two have been compiled, turning them into Dalvik byte code (more info on the build process here: http://developer.android.com/tools/building/index.html).

The second step is to create a build file for your project.  Run the following command from the root of your main project (NOT the library project):

android update project -p ./ (path to your project, use this if compiling inside project) -t insertTargetSDKHere -l /path/to/your/library

The -p flag is crucial and points to the project, the -t flag sets the target SDK and the -l flag points to your dependency (the library project).  Similarly, we will create a build file for the library using:

android update lib-project -t insertTargetSDKHere

Next we build the project with ant (by running: ant debug) and it should build correctly.  This is where the problems started for me.  Our library contains all the business logic, with the main projects containing assets and configurations.  When building with ant, I kept receiving the error that there was no /src.  The solution was very simple:  include an empty /src folder in the root of the main project.

After that, update again with:

android update project -t 2 -p ./ -l path/to/library

And rebuild:

ant debug

Finally, start the emulator and install from the /bin with:

adb install .apk

I hope this helps anyone trying to incorporate custom libraries into their code.  Some resources I found exceptionally helpful were the Android developer site, specifically the command line resources (http://developer.android.com/tools/projects/projects-cmdline.html) and the project type explanations page (http://developer.android.com/tools/projects/index.html).

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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