Many restaurants now understand the value of building and launching apps. Apps allow customers to order meals inside a well-defined environment instead of having to go through clunky browsers.
But which specific incentives should restaurants be offering to their customers via their apps? In this post, we find out.
Points Per How Much They Spend
Apps should encourage customers to return to your restaurant again and again. In that sense, they need to go beyond simply providing them with a means of ordering. They need to compel them to return to you in the future using incentives.
Many successful restaurants are experimenting with points-based rewards that scale with how much customers spend. The more they order, the more points they get.
Diners can then redeem their points for various perks. Some restaurants, for instance, provide free meals after a certain number of points, while others treat points as a kind of bank that customers can use to get money off their next order.
Critically, the prospect of earning points keeps customers loyal. So, if you operate an Italian restaurant and there are others in the area, the anticipation of rewards will keep people coming back to yours.
Leveling Up Depending on How Frequently They Come to Your Restaurant
You can also use app-based systems to allow customers to “level up” depending on how often they dine with you. A custom restaurant app, for instance, can categorize customers based on how often they visit. Those who visit most qualify for VIP treatment.
For example, if a customer comes to your restaurant three times per week, they may qualify for unlimited soda refills. They may also be able to sit in a booth whenever they want it, instead of having to dine at a regular table.
How you organize levelling up rewards is very much down to you as a business. Coffee shops, for instance, will have a very different approach from burger joints.
Quick Curbside, Walk-in, and Delivery Service
Lastly, apps offer various incentives that make purchasing from your business more convenient.
Delivery services are perhaps the most obvious. Apps forward customer information to drivers who then use it to locate their homes.
Many apps integrate with on-site printers, allowing chefs to attach delivery information labels to parcels of food. They can also integrate with delivery driver GPS systems, showing them the optimal route to the customer’s address.
Some customers – particularly those close by – may want to purchase a quick curbside collection of their meals. Apps can facilitate this by providing the option for pickup during the ordering process. You simply leave parcels of labelled food on the counter using information from the app, ready for customers to collect.
When developing the app, you can offer customers money off whenever they collect themselves, reflecting the money saved by avoiding delivery. You can also include scheduling features that allow the customer to choose the time-slot that’s most convenient for them.
In summary, apps allow you to offer multiple incentives to customers that encourage them to dine with you more often.