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How Restaurants Can Increase Sales and Profits with Mobile Marketing

by | Jun 20, 2013 | Mobile websites, Restaurant Marketing, Restaurant Websites | 0 comments

If you own or manage a restaurant, you need to know this:

Mobile websites for restaurants - mobile enabled menu Ruby Tuesday

Mobile Enabled Lunch Menu

85 Percent of Hungry Mobile Users Searching for Food Complete Purchase and 64 Percent Convert Within An Hour of Searching for Food on Their Mobile Devices.

A recent podcast by Greg Hickman offers an excellent overview of how restaurants can increase sales and profits using mobile marketing. You will find a link to the podcast at the end of this article.

For those of you who don’t want to take 30 minutes to listen to the podcast, here are the key points you will want to know:

Mobile Marketing for Restaurants = 90% Conversion Rate

That means that 90% of hungry customers using smart phones and tablets to search for food buy a meal or food from someone they found through their mobile search that same day. This is a much higher conversion rate than you will find on any other form of advertising or marketing.

  • People searching for food / restaurants have an immediate desire / need to fulfill.
  • 64% of searchers with smartphones convert within an hour of their mobile search activity.
  • 85% of hungry mobile users searching for food go on to complete a purchase.

    • Mobile Search Behavior

    People searching for restaurants or food on smart phones and tablets typically use their mobile devices to:

    • Call the restaurant
    • Look at a map and find directions
    • Check online restaurant reviews and ratings
    • Read restaurant menus
    • Obtain online coupons
    • Look for specific food items.

    Restaurants Need Mobile-Friendly Websites

    Many restaurant websites have not been optimized for mobile search behavior. That means, they are hard to read on small phone screens and lack click-to-call, click-for-directions, and click-to-reserve-a-table functionality.

    Non-Mobile-Optimized Restaurant Websites

    More than half of restaurant searchers call a restaurant, so it’s important to make sure that your website makes it easy to call you with a click-to-call button.

    • 65% of smartphone users looking for restaurant locations are looking for restaurants within walking distance or driving distance.
    • 66% look for directions. 51% look for a mobile phone number (tap to call).
    • Websites that don’t show a click-to-call phone number prominently are losing business.

    How to Increase Sales With Mobile Marketing Systems

    1. Mobile coupons have a 10x higher conversion rate than a print coupon. It is far less expensive to send a text message with a mobile coupon vs. print coupons. You can set up a rotation of different kinds of offers targeted to different kinds of buyers. Buy one, get one free (BOGO offers); free appetizer with purchase; percent-off entire order; discounts on purchases over a specific amount (spend and get offer).

      2. Restaurant Text Messaging and Mobile Coupon Examples

    2. Deliver your special offers and announcements at a time when people are deciding whether to go out to eat. You can increase the response rate by sending your message at specific times — between 11 AM and noon; and in the 4-5 PM time frame work best.
    3. Loyalty programs. Bringing back repeat customers with rewards is powerful. Electronic delivery means no printing costs. An automated system allows you to send out personalized birthday offers. Free drink, Free dessert, Free Meal on your birthday.
    4. Use interactive marketing to keep customers engaged and coming back. Make sure your customer has to activate your mobile coupon offer by showing a promo code at the point of sale to redeem the offer.
    5. Create 2-way communications with your customer. Add surveys, quizzes, request customer opinions via a mobile survey. Ask customers what they would like, what new items they would like on the menu, what improvements you can make, etc.
    6. Offer a sneak peak to give your mobile subscribers a feeling of VIP exclusivity. Send out audio or video or pictures to customers’ phone. Take a photo of a dish you are preparing to serve that day. Create a quick video explaining the specials for the weekend and send it out Friday mid-day before the weekend.
    7. Reservation reminders. Save money by reducing no-shows. Send your customers a text message reminder 2 hours before their scheduled reservation time and ask them to call if they need to cancel.
    8. Mobile phones can replace vibrating devices to notify customers when their table is ready. Vibrating devices can cost $1,500 per year each to lease.

    Here’s the Link to the Full Podcast

    Mobile Marketing for Restaurants Podcast by Greg Hickman

    Need a Mobile Marketing System for Your Restaurant?

    Herbst Marketing can set you up with everything you need to start increasing sales and profits immediately: Mobile websites, text messaging, mobile coupons, and mobile loyalty programs.

    To request a personal consultation, Contact Us Here or call direct, (540) 937-7234.