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Branded app, you can be my wingman any time

Great heroes are even more heroic when they have a faithful cohort.  Maverick had Goose, the Lone Ranger had Tonto, Thelma had Louise and it is pretty hard to imagine Han Solo without Chewbacca.  Likewise, a heroic restaurant needs a mobile app providing staunch support, not stealing the spotlight.

We all need somebody to lean on.

There are two ways to approach a mobile restaurant app.  One is to jump on board with a collective of other eateries under the masthead of a large, well-known business finder.  The other is to develop a unique, “branded” app specifically for that merchant and promote it to your target customer base.  Both approaches have their merits, depending on the needs of the restaurant in question.

Big, consumer-facing organizations promise an avenue to introduce restaurants to a new customer base.  Using a third-party application may save on the time, money and effort that goes into developing an app.  The mobile ordering system can be up and running quicker.  Support, maintenance and customer service infrastructure are already in place.

While it may seem safe to run with the herd and join a collective, it is easy to get drowned out by every other business clamoring for attention.  Moreover at the end of the day your restaurant is working to promote the appeal of the app, not the other way around.

Branded apps put the client’s identity at the forefront, providing a framework and the necessary support for a restaurant’s mobile ordering business to take off and go.  Instead of luring new business, these apps are meant to enrich the experience of existing customers by letting them interact with the brand outside of the physical location.

Research indicates that users who downloaded a branded app were 40 percent more likely to buy products from that brand in the future.  If a branded app is the way to go, there are a few key things to remember.

“Quality begins on the inside, then works its way out.” – Bob Moawad

A lot of people develop apps, and most of them are of low quality.  Turning out an app quick and cheap is one way to cash in on initial excitement and curiosity, but such apps have next to no staying power.  Users quickly surmise that the interface is crappy, the app is useless or it is nothing but a vehicle for spam.

A high quality app becomes a main stay; users go back to it day after day.

“When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.” –John Ruskin

Having a branded app won’t help if no one uses it; so make sure the app has lots of appeal to smartphone users.  A good application has a simple yet helpful user interface.  If a customer can’t place an order with a few taps of the thumb, the app is probably too complex.  Great apps offer easy access to tools customers want.  A good food-ordering app becomes even better with the addition of features like saved favorite orders, social media sharing or a tip calculator.

In case problems arise, app users need a lifeline to customer support.  Many mobile users would choose to fire up an app or type a quick message over dialing the phone and communicating by voice.  Be sure the app provides customers with a portal to reach customer service.

Once it goes live, a restaurant has to properly promote its branded app.  Think of an app is a continual investment in customer satisfaction, not a marketing cost.

Apps can also serve as components of larger, integrated marketing initiatives.  People consume media from a multitude of platforms, including mobile devices.  App users can sign up to receive targeted promotions as part of a larger, multi-pronged campaign.

“The best things in life are free.” –Luther Vandross

Many app developers try to recoup costs by charging 99 cents or more per download.  But this can discourage parsimonious mobile customers.  Indeed, free app downloads accounted for nearly 90 percent of the total last year.

For some apps this presents an obvious quandary, “how can I make money if the app is free?”  Restaurant ordering apps generate revenue by improving the customer experience, which in turn causes new and regular customers to order more frequently.  People with busy schedules will prefer to eat at a place where they can order in advance, bypass the line, pick up their food and be on their way.  The app is free to download, but it pays for itself in spades by bringing customers through the door.

As a wise wookie once said, “Aaaaaaaaaargh Grr!”

“The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.” –Margaret Carty

In a quick service restaurant the rubber meets the road at the point of sale.  A great app offers flawless integration between mobile and online ordering and the restaurant counter.  All the virtual features of an app aren’t of much use if the app doesn’t provide a practical solution in the real world.

The only thing more valuable to a restaurant than a customer is a repeat customer.  Diners remember the quality of the experience as well as the food.  When it comes to take out food, speed is a big part of the experience.  For speed there are three factors for a customer to consider: wait time, order time and fulfillment time.  The time it takes to prepare food, the time to tap an order into the register and the potential for long lines mean these factors can add up quickly, draining a customer’s will to make a return visit.

A mobile app knocks off all three factors.  Order time is eliminated; the order came in advance via mobile app.  A printer near the register conveyed the order to the staff so they could fit it into the food preparation flow.  Fulfillment time elapses while the customer is on the way to the restaurant.  The customer breezes to the front of the line to pick up the waiting food.  The wait time evaporated before he or she ever got to the restaurant.

Restaurants on a quest to feed all of those hungry smartphone users need a wingman.  Assuming Chewbacca is unavailable, a mobile app is the perfect solution.

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.

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

Is the daily deal dead or just growing up?

Daily deal providers like Groupon and LivingSocial have been all over the news lately, for all the wrong reasons. Some analy

sts have forecast the death of the online daily deal. On the contrary, this news is more likely a symptom of the evolution of group buying as a business model. For example, coupling a daily deal program with services like online ordering and loyalty programs actually creates a more valuable one-two punch. Daily deals can help introduce new customers to the business, while the convenience of online ordering and the benefits of a loyalty program keep those customers coming back.

Mobile couponing is only beginning to blossom

Businesses probably can’t rely on one-time coupons to be the driving force of the consumer experience. Coupons work well as part of a larger suite of benefits, and they can be particularly useful in the mobile marketplace.

Data from a number of recent surveys backs this up. Sixty-seven percent of respondents to one survey said they would be willing to share personal information with relevant brands to improve service. Forty percent of smartphone users said they redeem mobile coupons. Fifty percent told another survey they share coupons and other mobile ads at least once a month. Twenty percent obtained their mobile coupons through a retailer application. One researcher expects mobile coupon users to increase 30 percent to over 500 million in 2013. Some expect the mobile coupon redemption rate to exceed $43 billion by 2016. What is obvious is that mobile and smartphone users are keen on coupons.

There are a number of advantages to offering mobile deals. Mobile access allows a business to reach consumers at many points during retail lifecycle, not just when they happen to spot a printed circular or spy a poster on a storefront. It is much more difficult to redeem fraudulent electronic coupons compared to their paper counterparts. Brands can reward users for sharing offers and endorsements across their social networks. With access to highly specific mobile consumer data, a business can make an offer all the more potent by aiming it at a very particular set of customers.

The best news for small to medium sized businesses is that today’s mobile marketplace is more accessible now than ever. Top-quality mobile apps used to be too expensive for all but the biggest corporate monoliths to develop. Today the cost is reasonable for a smaller business to partner with a developer and sell their product in the mobile space. Now a small business can include all the trappings of the latest applications like loyalty programs, flair, user data accumulation and, yes, coupons.

Groupon, LivingSocial and other daily deal providers nailed it when they identified a large customer base of avid mobile and online coupon users. Their mistake was probably expecting daily deals to succeed as a stand-alone business model. As exciting as they are to some consumers, coupons don’t offer much in the way of sustaining customers. Aggregating coupons and other incentives with useful services like food ordering, travel management or store locators is icing on the cake of an already practical application. While the future of Groupon and other daily dealers is murky, there is little doubt that they have laid the groundwork for a lucrative mobile and online coupon market that will endure for some time.

 

Image courtesy of suphakit73/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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

Students love quick and simple – so make mobile ordering easy

The life of a typical college kid has always been fast-paced.  But students today are moving at warp speed.

It can be a nightmare to budget time between vital activities like social engagements, homework, scanning Reddit, attending classes, doing laundry, playing video games, and often multiple jobs and/or internships.  Most students also find it necessary to eat and sleep once and a while.

Busy bees, these college kids today

Every minute of free time counts, so how do you entice these students to try your restaurant instead of staying in the dorm or running through a drive-thru?  You have to reach students through the most ubiquitous devices on any college campus:  their mobile phones.

There are more than 90 million smartphones in the US alone, and nine out of ten smartphone owners use them on a daily basis.  Americans spend about $40 billion a month on restaurants.  Delivery giants like Domino’s and Papa John’s report that online orders account for as much as 30 percent of their business now.

image courtesy of zirconicusso/www.freedigitalphotos.net

Mmm… revenue pie

Do the math, there is a big slice of that revenue pie out there for anyone that can snag a share of the mobile ordering marketplace. Reaching out to students through the convenience of online and mobile ordering can benefit nearly any outlet. These kids are navigating their lives via their mobile phones, so restaurants have to be there too.

How do you go about it?  You’ve put your menu online, good job.  The next logical step is to implement a service like Splick-it.  Adding online and mobile ordering will make it simple and quick for students to get a change-of-pace from the cafeteria.

Using online and mobile ordering can also help manage crunch time.  Instead of dealing with long lines of students during peak times between classes or at lunch breaks, offering students the opportunity to order and pay online or with their mobile device allows restaurants to be ready with orders and lose fewer people who don’t have time to wait in line.

The best way to reach students – their mobile phones

Developing a custom mobile app can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $35,000.  It costs upwards of $200,000 to develop a higher-end application.  If that sounds pricey that’s because it is.  Solutions like Splick-it allow independent outlets to compete for student business with chains that can amortize development over dozens or even hundreds of outlets.

College students are technology-centric, with an ever-growing number owning iPhones and Androids.  According to one survey 43 percent of 18-29 year olds used their smartphones to decide whether or not to visit a business like a restaurant.

Students have to budget their discretionary food spending very carefully.  The ability to quickly order and pay with an app like Splick-it’s could be the deciding factor.

 

Images courtesy of anankkml, zirconicusso and imagerymagestic/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.

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