Top 5 Must-Have Features for a Restaurant App
Having a customized app for your restaurant can make your service easily accessible to your customers. With the increasing demand for online food ordering and delivery, there is a need for restaurant apps that are interactive and are easy to navigate. Your restaurant app has the potential to make you stand out in the market.
When you optimize your restaurant app with all the essential features, it will increase the downloads. Investing in the perfect mobile solution not only improves your sales but also eases the way you manage your business. After thorough market research of the online food ordering businesses, we have listed the top 10 innovative features you must include in your restaurant app to stay ahead of your competitors.
Top 5 Must-Have Features for a Restaurant App
1. Mobile Payments & POS Integration
Mobile ordering and payments have become one of the main requisites in the restaurant business. They help you understand your customer behavior and purchase patterns. With mobiles becoming an integral part of every millennial’s life, you are expected to provide services via the mobile platform.
Digital payments have gained prominence because of the pandemic, and they are here to stay as customers find it easy and convenient. The most commonly used digital payment is via mobile phone. The banking apps installed on their phones make it viable to pay online.
Integrate Point-of-Sale (POS) system into your loyalty program or restaurant app. This will help you get all those customers who are not technically inclined but are still your regular customers.
The restaurant app easily integrates with your POS hardware, like using the QR code in the app. Just a click on this code will enable the payment, and the order will be placed. You can encourage customers to use this feature in the app by giving away some reward or loyalty points.
2. Digital Menu
The menu plays an important role in your restaurant app. Use professional photos and an easy navigation system to make it more attractive. The menu should look simple as well as appetizing.
Offering a lot of dishes can also make the user confused. Provide smart filters so that your customer can quickly choose the dishes of his/her preference. Keeping an option to register profiles and save favorite dishes can allow the customer to come back and re-order.
3. Mobile Loyalty Program
Loyalty programs are a hit in the restaurant industry. Customers look forward to engaging in loyalty programs, and hence it has evolved in the last few years. 41% of customers admit that they expect loyalty or rewards programs at the restaurants they engage with.
The loyalty programs are a big focus and will continue to be in the next few years. Digital loyalty programs are much easier to use when compared to the old system of cards and vouchers. Customers can redeem the offer as and when they like, as it is present in their digital wallet.
The digital loyalty programs help you create and store customer data in your POS system. It can help you identify the customer’s requirements and needs to improve your service quality. Integrating your loyalty program with your social media handles and POS system can personalize the customer experience. Based on the reports generated, optimizing your loyalty programs can fetch you great results.
4. Online Ordering
The year 2020 and 2021 have seen online ordering services becoming a necessity in all restaurants. The need for this feature in the restaurant app increased during the pandemic as people had to place orders from distant places.
The technological advancements and shifts in consumer behavior have made it quite popular. Millennials have moved away from the old-school techniques in the fast-paced and continuous process. Clicking on few buttons on an app can give away a better customer experience.
You can easily ask your customers to place orders using their social media handles as well. Publicize your presence in the app for spreading the word across.
5. Push Notifications
Push notifications form a powerful communication channel. They can reach out to your customers and prompt them to take action.
Push notifications are crucial to restaurant apps. You need to strategize your push notifications, as the content needs to be relevant and straightforward. You should personalize your push notifications. Keep customers’ names and their convenient times in mind to gain their attention and respect.
You may integrate the social media handles, loyalty programs, and payment data to identify the customer’s preference and can deliver the content based on their choice rather than all. Having an open feedback session to collect your customer’s preferences on receiving push notifications can give you an idea to continue the service.
81% of the customers have shown loyalty to brands that have respected their time and have not spammed them with SMS, emails, or push notifications. You can enable push notifications with OrderEm to increase sales using your app.
Bottom Line
The restaurant app is adding up new features as the technology is changing and bringing out better options. You, as a restaurant owner, can improve sales, customer loyalty, and retention by using these features in your app.
From creating an app for your restaurant to optimizing it with the latest features OrderEm can help you in every step. Build your custom app with OrderEm to boost your sales.