The number one reason a restaurant needs mobile marketing is the fact that if you don’t, you are losing out on multiple opportunities to reach the more than 70% of adults using smartphones to locate you, view menus, book reservations, and even order and pay for their food in advance.
The mobile commerce industry has nearly doubled in the last two years and is expected to increase from $19 billion to $31 by 2016. Whether you are promoting a loyalty program, offering a deal, or sending a monthly email, mobile marketing is the quickest, most effective way to get more people in your door.
Your customers are increasingly looking for information from their mobile devices and restaurants can no longer afford to ignore the growing trend. One recent report states that 33% of customers are more influenced by seeing menus on mobile than any other information, that 24% of restaurant customers’ mobile app usage involves special offers and coupons, and that 21% of smartphone customers are looking for the restaurant’s location information.
If you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, that’s a really great place to start. But don’t just ditch your regular website. Instead, provide the best experience for everyone with what is known as a responsive website design — one that automatically detects the device being used and then resizes itself for optimal viewing.
Another good reason for having a mobile-friendly website? If it isn’t mobile-friendly, search engines like Google and Yahoo are less likely to display your business in their search results. Providing an easy to navigate website that makes it simple for people to find the information they need will improve your chances of being found being found by a future customer.
In fact, a 2014 report by mobile audience intelligence company NinthDecimal says that a whopping 93% of restaurant customers make their dining decisions the day of the visit, that 63% of mobile customers say mobile apps are “important in helping them decide where to eat near home”, and 83% say their smartphone helps them find a restaurant when traveling.
Mobile marketing allows you to communicate dynamically with your customers as they make decisions. It’s real-time marketing and customer relationship management that is both convenient and effective. In addition to letting you to increase and enhance your customer interaction through a variety of channels, mobile restaurant marketing is also extremely streamlined and inexpensive and allows restaurants to generate leads while gathering important customer information.
But it’s more than just having a mobile-friendly website. If your restaurant has already taken that first step, you may want to consider a custom mobile app. Flurry Analytics reports that 86% of the time that smartphones are in use, their owners are operating mobile apps for things like loyalty and reward programs, reservations, promotions, order and even pay for their meals. And with targeted, well-timed push notifications, a mobile restaurant app can offer an even richer, more interactive and personalized experience that keeps your brand at the top of their mind.
A recent study conducted by the Restaurant Innovation Summit found that 90% of 18 to 34-year-olds own a mobile device. The bottom line is that mobile marketing is no longer seen as something you just might want to try. Instead, it’s becoming a standard part of every restaurant’s strategy for attracting new customers and turning them into repeat customers.
Sure, there are those diners that will always prefer to do things the “old-fashioned” way. But as long as you don’t forgo customer service for technology, there’s no downside to incorporating some new technology into your marketing plan. From mobile menus and in-app ordering to surveys, games and nutritional information, today’s tech-savvy customers demand to be more connected, engaged and interactive with you. Whether you are a five-star restaurant or a corner deli, with mobile marketing you can give them what they want, stay relevant, and stay ahead of your competition.