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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.

Wally B. Doolin Joins Board of Directors

Boulder, Colo.—Dec. 3rd, 2012—Splick-it, Inc. today announced Wallace “Wally” B. Doolin, former president and CEO of Carlson Restaurants Worldwide and TGI Frid

ay’s and former president of Applebee’s, has accepted an invitation to join its board of directors.

Wally Doolin

Splick-it is an online and mobile ordering platform that allows customers to easily order and pay either via web browser or on any Android or iOS smartphone. In addition to ordering, Splick-it provides restaurants with an array of customer relationship management (CRM) tools to both build and maintain relationships.

“Wally brings a vast level of restaurant industry knowledge and expertise to our board of directors” said Rob Taylor, chairman of the board of Splick-it, Inc. “His global insights and operational experience will be extremely valuable as we continue our pursuit of providing the best mobile ordering and marketing platform for restaurants, combined with the best consumer experience bar none.”

A restaurant operator at heart, Doolin’s extensive retail experience spans multi-unit restaurant positions from manager to the chairman of the board. In addition to Splick-it, he currently serves on the board for Caribou Coffee, Famous Dave’s and Share Our Strength. As chairman of Thomas Doolin and Associates, the parent company of Black Box Intelligence and People Report, Doolin has leveraged his vast experience to become a business intelligence and technology expert.

“Just as we saw Black Friday exceed $1 billion in online sales for the first time this year, more and more customers expect the convenience of online and mobile interaction with businesses of all kinds,” said Doolin. “I believe Splick-it has developed an outstanding suite of tools for the restaurant industry and I look forward to joining their board.”

About Splick-it

Splick-it enriches the relationship between people and restaurant brands by providing a turnkey mobile and online ordering platform with an integrated suite of CRM tools. For anyone with an appetite, Splick-it apps for iPhone, Android and web make it easy to get fed fast.

Q&A with Technomic’s Erik Thoresen

Staying ahead of the curve on communication technology requires close monitoring of the ever-shifting landscape. Firms like Technomic provide invaluable foodservice research that can reveal oncoming trends.

Technomic’s Erik Thoresen conducts proprietary studies for clients and tracks emerging technology in the restaurant and consumer sectors. Splick-it asked Thoresen to elaborate on some recent findings.

Splick-it: Based on what you see at Technomic, is mobile commerce increasing at a faster rate now than in recent years?

Erik Thoresen: Given rising penetration of smartphones, mobile technology represents a more lucrative opportunity to engage with consumers than in the past. However, as it grows, the playing field becomes increasingly crowded and the ability for commerce platforms to cut through the noise is a growing challenge.

S: In broader terms, what do you think your latest data revealed about mobile customers and restaurants?

ET: There is clearly a shift in the way that consumers think about mobile technology and the role it plays when they are dining out and ordering in.

S: What makes dining and ordering food so conducive to mobile technology?

ET: Internet-enabled mobile technology adds a new layer of convenience to ordering food. In this way, it enhances the consumer experience by saving them time. Also, the range of apps that are available to consumers via their mobile device increases their options and gives them more power to find exactly what they are looking for.

S: What can restaurants do to best respond to the data in your study?

ET: Restaurants can apply these insights by looking for areas in which mobile technology can increase patron engagement, drive traffic and provide exposure to new customers.

S: What are the biggest challenges for mobile restaurant ordering?

ET: Mobile is a fast-moving, fast-changing space. The biggest challenge of restaurants is understanding how prioritize their investments of time and money in mobile platforms.

S: Do you think someday mobile devices like smartphones will replace cards and cash as the preferred method of spending? If so can you estimate when?

ET: Innovation around mobile payment platforms is already strong. However, we can expect the introduction of emerging mobile payment technologies to begin boosting adoption over the next decade. However, the timeline for adoption is a big unknown. While younger consumers and early adopters will likely pick up on new payment platforms faster over the next few years, we should expect the majority of consumers to continue to be very cautious new mobile payment platforms in their “early days.”

The results are in: restaurant customers are ready to get techy

Quick: Name the most convenient way to order and pay at a restaurant. Did you say a high tech option like a smartphone, touchscreen or tablet? If you did then respondents to a recent survey by viagra cheapes/dynRelease_Detail.php?rUID=188″>Technomic heartily agree. Technomic surveyed a panel of 500 participants and found some telling data on consumer attitudes toward modernizing the restaurant experience.

Survey says: Out of all restaurant types and retail stores, consumers are most receptive to technology-based orders at casual restaurants.

“What a primitive and cumbersome way to order food!”

What this means: As part of the quick, convenient experience, many casual restaurants ask the customer to take on duties a waitress or waiter might do at a traditional, sit-down establishment. If technology can make looking over the menu, placing the order and paying easier, sensible customers will want to take advantage of a streamlined experience.

Survey says: 51 percent of the survey participants consider it important for restaurants to integrate technology into their ordering capabilities

What it means: At least half of your potential customers are keenly aware of the technology gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” of mobile ordering. Don’t be on the wrong side of the gap.

Survey says: Consumers aged 18-45 are far more likely than those over 45 to say they might connect to their favorite restaurants via a mobile app.

What this means: According to a 2010 survey, 18-50 year olds average $227 per month spent dining out, compared to just $205 by those aged 50 and older. Thirty-five to 50 year olds lead the pack spending $264 dining out per month. Consumers that age are most likely to connect to a restaurant via mobile. They are also the age group that spends more money per year dining out.

Survey says: Interest in restaurant mobile apps is highest among 25-34 year olds.

What this means: The same survey said that 25-35 year olds spend about $.81 dining out for every dollar at the grocery store, compared to $.69 for those older than 35. It makes sense to open your virtual doors to the customers whom dine out most often.

Survey says: Only three percent of consumers said they plan to decrease the amount they use technology to order food at restaurants.

What this means: Mobile ordering is here to stay. Some diners are already doing it, and the ones that aren’t are almost all thinking about doing it.

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The revolution will be televised, on a three-inch touch screen

Remember way back in the 1990s when it was suddenly vital for every business to have its own web page?  Brace yourself because another seismic shift is taking place in the way people consume information.

“Mobile web browsing is the cats pajamas!”

The mobile revolution is upon us.  The transition from personal computing to mobile computing is happening now, and it might be happening faster than many anticipated.  Today the survival of any business, from tech manufacturers right down to restaurants, depends on connecting with mobile customers.

Apple is riding high on a wave of revenue from the iPhone 5.  If T-Mobile does indeed begin offering iPhone coverage next year, it could lead to sales of millions more.  Samsung smartphone sales actually outpaced iPhone sales during the third quarter this year.  According to projections, Apple will sell more than 50 million iPhones this holiday season.  The same analysts scaled back expectations for PC sales by half for that period.  Basically people are brushing aside their clunky old desktop computers for the convenience and versatility of smartphones and tablets.

These days Wi-Fi access and lightning-quick data networks like 4G are readily available to smartphone users almost anywhere they venture.  Why sit at home chained to a wall outlet when the same functionality is available everywhere from coffee shops to public parks?

The quickening rise of mobile technology is further evident in how manufacturers are scrambling to keep up with their customers.  Facebook is rushing out spruced-up mobile applications in the wake of unexpectedly tepid public stock performance.  Microsoft is betting that the new Windows 8 platform will be mobile friendly enough to translate to tablet and smartphone computing.

This was once the latest in cutting-edge communications tech.

With so much tumult, what is a restaurant owner to do?  When the phenomenon of television caught fire in the 1950s, savvy business people didn’t hide away in labs studying the science and inner workings of a cathode ray tube.  They immediately began perfecting the sweet science of reaching consumers through their televisions.

Much of traditional advertising in print media, television and the internet has always centered around estimating, counting and maximizing the number of viewers.  How the viewer reacted was a secondary concern at best.

This “pay-per-view” model of ad sales doesn’t work as well on smartphones.  Mobile devices tend to have smaller screens and users that are less tolerant of unwanted ads clogging their experience.

The income crunch that accompanied the transition from print to Internet media viewing is about to double down as more people look for news, weather, sports scores, social networking and shopping on smartphones.

Don’t fret, if you get a little creative, the mobile media platform does offer some unique ways to generate revenue and engage customers.

Mobile devices offer a means of two-way communication.  An advertiser could reach potential customers via short message service (SMS) like an email or text message, or via a multimedia message (MMS) that contains amped up content like a video.  Targeted promotions, special offers and rewards can turn occasional customers into loyal regulars.

Get a grip on the mobile marketplace

Another unique feature is geolocation.  Most smartphones have global positioning systems (GPS) that can pinpoint the location of a phone (and presumably its user) at any time.  What if you could send a unique offer to a customer because you knew she was heading toward your restaurant?

It is also possible to gather valuable consumer data from smartphone users.  In addition to travel habits, the phone can provide data on a user’s spending, communication and activities.  This sort of 24/7 access grants mobile data a predictive power that surveys and questionnaires could never offer.  For example it might be possible to examine the way a customer’s social group reacted to a particular promotion before offering it to that customer.

The key is to get your foot in the customer’s mobile door.  An app like Splick-it is the perfect introduction.  Splick-it immediately puts a restaurant owner in position to dominate the mobile market.  The way things are going, mobile commerce is quickly transitioning from a luxury to a necessity, don’t miss the boat.

Images courtesy of adamr, tungphoto and idea go/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Hold on, this mega-powerful update is going to rock your iPhone

Good news! Splick-it has released another big update for the iPhone, and 3.2 contains a bevy of useful upgrades.

For participating locations, we’ve added a “pay in

store” option if you would rather pay with cash when you pick up the order.

On the all-new cart screen, you can review the full ingredient list for every item on your order, apply a promo code, or add notes about your order.

The cart screen… Isn’t it pretty?

But the biggest improvements have come to checkout. They were a little crowded on one page, so our team ripped apart the cart and checkout screens and rebuilt them from the ground up. We’ve made them bigger… faster… stronger…

Peep the new checkout screen.

The checkout screen now lets you see and change the card you have on file (we only show the last 4 digits), so you can make sure that your next business outing ends up on the correct (read: company) card.

On top of all that the app looks even more awesome than before!

So be the first kid on your block to get the free Splick-it 3.2 update for iPhone.

3 Tips to Get The Most Out of Your Restaurant’s Mobile App

As the popularity of mobile apps in the restaurant space continues to skyrocket, it’s becoming increasingly important that we don’t allow “mobile app” to get reduced to the level of an item on the proverbial checklist. In other words, hirin

g a developer to slap a logo and some content into an app is not a real strategy. Restaurant marketers need to ask themselves: What will peak my customers’ interest? How can I leverage my app to generate new business? These are but some of the basic questions that need to be considered before taking the dive into building an app.

“Building a mediocre app is just as bad as selling mediocre product,” says Jason Gurwin in this Harvard Business Review. It is a reflection of your brand. If you are building an app just to get downloads, you are better off not doing anything at all!

With that, here are three tips to keep in mind when building your restaurant app:

1. Keep Customers Coming Back. This one may sound obvious, but too often do companies create apps that function as nothing more than a digital billboard for their brand. Consumers are looking for apps that provide some utility that makes their lives easier or more enjoyable. Thus, restaurant brands need to drive engagement in their apps much like they do inside their place of business; give your customers reasons to keep coming back! What lasting value does the app provide? Remember, a user of your app is no different than a customer in your store. From the moment they open the app, every touchpoint directly reflects on their impression of your brand.

2. Create Brand Evangelists. Smartphones have made it easier than ever for people to communicate with each other. That means it’s also easier than ever for a customer to evangelize your brand. By providing customers with an easy outlet to share their experience with friends and followers (e.g. Facebook, Twitter), you can empower them to become your biggest and best advocates.

3. Collect Data. Imagine if you wanted to increase breakfast orders, and you were considering running a promotion as one method of drawing the attention of your existing customers to this new day part. In this scenario, you would probably prefer not to offer the special to people who were already ordering breakfast on a regular basis. Otherwise, you’d just be providing them with a discounted meal for business you probably would have otherwise received.

By nature, mobile devices contain a wealth of valuable information about the person using it. Apps should be built to capture this data, so it can be utilized to understand, and improve upon, the customer’s experience both in the app and beyond.

One way this data can be utilized outside the app is to tailor marketing efforts to the right people. Brands that utilize this data realize significantly reduced spending through more effective marketing—simply by tailoring future campaigns to the specific people who are most likely to respond. These tailored, or optimized, campaigns will yield markedly better results than a “spray and pray” approach to marketing efforts.

Creating a truly successful app takes a lot of effort, and this is only a taste of what’s needed to accomplish. These three tips should get you on the track to identifying the components that will ultimately add value for your customers and your business.

Stuff Your Face: Splick–it Sweepstakes

Stuff Your Face Sweepstakes

Starting this month, we’re giving everyone in the Splick–it community a chance

to earn some extra line-evading superpower for their eating needs. In exchange for liking our Facebook page, we’ll enter you into a chance to win $50 of Splick–it credit. Plus, you can earn additional entries for each of your friends who enter. We’re picking a new winner each month, so get going!

Enter the Splick–it Stuff Your Face Sweepstakes

App Update: Splick–it 2.4 Now Available for Android

Hot on the heels of our buy viagra no prescriptionref=”http://www.splickit.com/unveiling-splick-it-3-0-loyalty-just-got-an-upgrade/”>Splick–it iOS 3.0 update, we’re proud to announce the release of our updated Android app.  We’ve got a soft spot for the open sourced OS, and we strive to offer consistent experiences across mobile and web devices.  Here’s the lowdown on our latest release:

  • Slick Rick- We’ve upgraded the UI of the app for an enhanced look and feel
  • Share the Joy- Our Android app now supports social integration on Facebook and Twitter.  Share your activity with your friends!
  • How are Doing?-  We love feedback.  We crave it.  And now, you can tell us just how you feel right from the comfort of your phone!  Don’t be afraid to give it to us straight, we promise we’ll appreciate it.
So go ahead and download the new app<LINK>.  Take it for a delicious spin and let us know what you think.
Stay tuned for future updates across all of our platforms. We’ll be pushing out additional features in the near future!