Technology helps us in many ways in our organizations and is something we should all try to keep up to date on. Tech tools continue to change the way we sell to and interact with consumers and can help us create or find new, exciting services, develop improved processes, and support our customers.
Today, the smartphone is one of the critical pieces of technology used more and more in business. If you want to boost your restaurant venture this year and beyond, it pays to consider some of the uses for mobile devices in the hospitality trade.
Offer Mobile Orders and Payment Options
If you’re not already offering patrons the ability to order and pay by mobile, consider introducing these options. It’s not hard or expensive to incorporate mobile into systems, but it does boost customer satisfaction since many people like to order and pay with smartphones.
Mobile systems are secure due to the many security protocols in place, and they’re convenient for people. Many consumers repeatedly choose to dine at places when they know easy ordering and mobile payments are options. Everyone is busy, so saving people time with their takeaways or deliveries can make a big difference to annual sales.
Also, mobile payments are handy if you run any pop-up restaurant sites such as market stalls, catering events, food trucks, and the like. Mobile payments can help you process more diners during peak times of the day, too. You’ll have a limited number of cash registers on-site to handle transactions but adding mobile to the options expands this range. In turn, you don’t have to keep people waiting, and you can turn over more business.
Market Via Mobile
Today, if you own a restaurant and aren’t taking advantage of mobile marketing, you’re missing out. You can utilize a text message marketing platform for restaurants to send targeted ads, offers, invitations, etc., to your prime audience to entice them to dine with you when they’re nearby.
Thanks to GPS, Bluetooth, and other technologies, systems can pick up on when potential customers are in your area and send them a message to remind them you’re open and the perfect choice for a meal. You should see an excellent return on investment from these customized campaigns and broaden your customer reach nicely.
Mobile marketing is also beneficial when you run a loyalty program. You might have a system where people get a discount after a certain number of meals or a free coffee after they buy ten, etc. However, if you’re using an older-style loyalty program set up, you might find people don’t take advantage of it as much as they could because they lose the punch cards, keyring-tags, or other collateral needed for the system. To learn more about Mobile marketing visit facts about mobile marketing by Cell Phone Deal.
When this happens, they’re less likely to remember to accumulate rewards and will be less loyal to your business as a result. With mobile-based programs, though, it’s much easier for people to extract the best value from what you offer. People can store and track their account information on smartphone apps, and you can use the same apps to track, manage, and analyze data. Not only do you make your diners happier and more engaged, but you have more information to learn from and use to better target offers, too.
Other Benefits
You can boost your restaurant via mobile tech in a few other ways, too. For example, mobile apps make it easier to track inventory levels so you can better manage your supplies and have fewer issues with running out of products you need or ordering too much and having to deal with waste.
Mobile data allows you to understand consumer trends better, too, so you know what new menu items or offers to use to draw in and impress diners. Use mobile analytics to see which meals and drinks have been most popular that day or week, as well as the most popular deals.
Plus, smartphone applications help you reduce the time spent on the financial aspects of running your business. Many accounting programs now have mobile apps that enable expense tracking on the go so you can automatically send receipts for purchases to your bookkeeping systems and snap photos of receipts for cash transactions on the spot.
Mobile technology is here to stay and becomes better, cheaper, easier to use, and more expansive as each year passes. If you haven’t already begun utilizing mobile in your organization, there’s no better time to start than right now.
