Mobile ordering apps have taken the hospitality industry by storm, becoming a standard for restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels, and live event venues. These apps help promote a safer, contactless environment between customers and staff, and all but eliminate queues. But one of the biggest benefits of mobile ordering is that it can lead to revenue increases for businesses.
Research has shown that mobile payments can increase spending, but does that apply to mobile ordering apps as well?
Here are a few reasons why apps like NOQ bring in more revenue.
More time to choose
When people have longer to choose what they want, they tend to order more. Think about it – when you’ve been queueing for a long time and it’s finally your turn to order, you want to go as quickly as possible. You’ve already waited 30 minutes or more, plus you don’t want the people queuing behind you to get frustrated with you. So you make a quick choice.
Businesses that use online ordering not only eliminate the queue but also give customers as much time as they like to look over the menu. When the pressure to order quickly is gone, customers feel free to add extras. Doing so leads to increased revenue for the business.
More choices
People tend to spend more when they have the freedom to choose what they really want. If your restaurant is willing to accommodate their specific requests for their sandwich, for example, they don’t mind paying extra for it. Mobile ordering apps allow people to add extra cheese or ask for four shots of vanilla syrup in their latte instead of two.
Many people feel a sort of social anxiety when ordering in person, especially if they have a specific order. To avoid being judged – either by a server or other patrons – they just order exactly what’s offered on the menu. When people feel free to choose what they want, they’re likely to spend more.
Contactless payments
Researchers have looked into the relationship between cashless payments and spending habits. When people pay with cash, they feel a physical sense of loss at handing over the money, which discourages them from spending more. When credit and debit cards became popular, people were willing to spend a little bit more on their purchases because there is no sense of loss with a card; it’s just a bit harder to visualise how much money you actually spend in the moment of purchasing.
Researchers wanted to apply this logic to contactless payments, or mobile wallets. A study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the US found that paying with a mobile wallet can lead to a spending increase of 2.4% per purchase. Contactless payments are the most convenient way to pay because they don’t require cash or a payment card – you only need a smartphone, which most people carry with them anyway.
When the physical act of purchasing is removed from a transaction, people tend to spend more. Because mobile ordering apps utilise contactless payment, they can lead to increased sales for businesses that use them.
The benefits of mobile ordering apps to your business
Increased cost per head is reason enough to encourage businesses to use mobile ordering. But it’s not the only benefit of using these apps:
- Promote hygiene: In a post-COVID era, many customers are still concerned with maintaining a safe distance from others, so contactless ordering and payment at restaurants, bars, and venues helps reassure them. By ordering on a personal smartphone, there’s also no need to pass around sticky menus that hundreds of other people have touched.
- No queues: Queuing is one of the biggest downsides to going out; they make customers frustrated and discourage them from ordering more. With mobile ordering apps, customers can order from their table and pick up their food or drinks when they’re ready.
- Minimal staff: Mobile ordering apps help businesses cut down on wait staff, or free current staff members up to complete other tasks besides taking orders.
- Improved tipping: Tipping within a mobile ordering app is a much more seamless (and less awkward) experience for customers. People can simply add a tip to their payment within the app, and even send it to a specific server with a personalised message.
- Better overall customer experience: The most important part of any hospitality business is providing a great customer experience. With the convenience, safety, and no queuing that mobile ordering apps provide, they help customers enjoy themselves more.
Conclusion – Increasing revenue with mobile ordering apps
If your business hasn’t looked into using a mobile ordering app, now is the time to start. As contactless ordering and payment become more popular, it will soon be the norm and customers will expect your business to have it. By implementing mobile ordering now, you give your business a leg up on the competition.
