Increase sales with a mobile app: order and pay online on the go

07-10-24Read Time: 9 min

Today, the fastest and most convenient solutions for customers are the ones that make more money. It is difficult to grow in these industries without upgrading order fulfillment mechanisms. Relying solely on offline interaction is an inefficient approach that prevents companies from increasing profitability and outperforming competitors. A quality service can be devalued if a customer has to make an ‘effort’ to receive it – making a phone call, writing to a messenger, filling out a website form, checking prices and availability, finding out payment terms. Modern people are always in a hurry, have a lot of things to do and tasks to complete. Any unnecessary action for the customer is a reason to get distracted, change his mind or go to a more convenient and comfortable competitor. The strategy of online order automation will help to minimise such cases.

Which businesses can increase sales with a mobile app

The idea of launching a mobile app with an online order form can be useful for any business that offers delivery or takeaway goods, food to go, reservation services, online booking, etc.

• Catering – restaurants, cafes, pizzerias, coffee shops, bakeries, fast food outlets, pastry shops, sushi bars;
• Retail – grocery shops, supermarkets, bookshops, pharmacies, equipment, clothing and other goods shops;
• Services – beauty salons, hairdressers, clinics, laboratories, fitness clubs, gyms, car services, dry cleaners, laundries, rental services, cleaning services, taxis, car sharing, cinemas, theatres, hotels, hostels.

How online ordering can increase a venue’s revenue

More impulse orders

A customer’s desire to order sometimes lasts only a few minutes or even seconds – as long as there is a mood, a circumstance, an urgent need. The company’s role is to be there in that short period of time, providing the customer with a simple tool to make a purchase. This tool becomes the functionality of online ordering with instant payment in the mobile application. Customers buy on the go, without slowing down the pace of their lives – the company gets more orders and revenue.

Effective demand stimulation

You don’t have to wait for a customer to remember the location and place an order. You can easily encourage audience activity in a mobile app:

• Personalise offers based on customer preferences and order history;
• Launch promotions to increase the average cheque – cross-selling, combination offers, limited product offers and others;
• Implement a loyalty programme with a bonus system;
• Stimulate sales with promotions, discounts, promo codes, coupons, sales, free services, gifts.

Faster order processing

The sending and processing of customer enquiries is fully or partially automated, providing significant benefits:

• The burden on administrators is reduced;
• Reduces the human factor, minimising errors;
• Reduce the time taken to process orders and increase the productivity of the business;
• Increases the accuracy of processing customer requests.

Effective remarketing

The mobile application allows you to bring back former customers and effectively build a base of loyal customers. A push notification tool is used to do this – users receive instant pop-up messages with marketing information. The company has the ability to

• Notify customers of seasonal promotions and discounts;
• Make personalised offers;
• Send reminders and invitations to return;
• Congratulate on birthdays, give discounts as gifts;
• Inform about accumulated rewards;
• inform about new products in the catalogue or on the menu;
• Offer to place an order at a special price with a time limit.

With push notifications, a company can reach a former customer at any time, as long as the app remains on the user’s smartphone. All that is needed is a good remarketing strategy, and the mobile application takes care of the technical implementation.

Building audience loyalty

A mobile application meets the needs of customers when they need to order a product or service in the moment, without interrupting important business. Satisfied and grateful customers spend more – they respond better to special offers and pre-sales, return more often and invite friends. If a company cares not only about the quality of its services, but also about the convenience of ordering, this is an absolute plus in terms of customer loyalty.

Powerful analytics capabilities

The mobile application records all information about each customer’s orders and stores the data in a single database. The data obtained can be compiled into reports, statistics on various indicators can be generated, sales, average check, number of new customers, customer retention rate, conversion rate, popularity of certain goods or services, effectiveness of the loyalty system and others can be analysed. Extensive analysis settings in the mobile application allow you to see the real picture and improve your marketing strategy to increase the profitability of your establishment and strengthen customer loyalty.

Additional opportunities to promote the institution

The ads may not take the user to a website, but to a page where they can download a mobile application from Google Play or the App Store. The user downloads the app and can perform a targeted action – select products or services and place a quick order via an online form. The website is easily lost in the browser history, while the downloaded application remains on the user’s smartphone and can later be reminded with push notifications.

How the online ordering mobile app works

User functionality

Users get a user-friendly interface with everything they need to select a product or service and order quickly with instant online payment:

• Structured menu or catalogue of goods/services with photos, descriptions, features and prices – sorting, filtering, searching for items by keywords;
• Order form – automatic filling of user data, selection of delivery method, courier route tracking, online payment via secure online payment services;
• User’s personal cabinet – purchase history, bonus account, settings, personal offers section, order fulfilment status tracking.

Management functionality

The mobile application has a convenient admin panel with different levels of access for the following tasks:

• Online order processing;
• Delivery tracking;
• Payment control;
• Editing content;
• Updating the catalogue and prices;
• Maintaining the user base;
• Provide technical support to customers;
• Setting up a loyalty programme;
• Collecting statistics, reporting.

Mobile application revenue growth strategy

Let’s take a step-by-step look at where to start and how to proceed if you decide to develop an online ordering application for your organisation.

Step 1 – Competitor and audience analysis

It will be useful to study competitors’ platforms – how they take orders, whether they have mobile apps with online ordering, how convenient such tools are. It is also important to get a picture of the target audience and understand their needs – this information will be useful when developing a marketing strategy to increase sales through the app.

Step 2 – Optimise marketing strategy

The company’s existing marketing strategy needs to be adapted to take into account the new capabilities of the mobile application. The push notification functionality is used to inform customers about marketing offers.

• Loyalty programme optimisation. Bonus accumulation, cashback, subscriptions, tier system, promo codes, coupons, referral programme – all these and other ways of encouraging customers are transferred to the mobile application. All the information needed to track personal progress is reproduced in the user’s personal cabinet.
• Increase average cheque size. Measures are implemented to increase the average cheque and effective up-sell sales – ordering items from related categories, selling bundles, limited offers, etc.
• Create personalised offers. The mobile application records the customer’s order history, evaluates their preferences and creates personalised offers – discounts on favourite dishes, new products in favourite categories, birthday gifts, reminders about incomplete orders.
• Sales incentives. To attract more customers through the mobile application, an attractive discount system is developed, and promotions and sales are launched.

Step 3 – Technical implementation, development of a mobile application for online ordering

Design, structure, functionality. We develop a user-friendly UX interface, an attractive UI design using the institution’s brand symbols. The structure and functionality are adapted to the specifics of the business and the needs of the audience. Programming, creation of an administration panel to control the settings and content of the application, development of push notification functionality.

Set up online payment functionality. The application is integrated with Google Pay/Apple Pay digital wallets and acquiring services that allow to make and accept secure online payments (EasyPay, WayForPay, LiqPay, Portmone, etc.). The user can choose a convenient payment method – enter card details or pay via Google Pay or Apple Pay. Full or partial payment of the order with accumulated points, bonuses, cashback.

Integration with delivery services and CRM. If required, the application can be integrated with the company’s existing software, CRM system, website, accounting programmes and specialised business automation services. If collaboration with third party courier services is planned, the application will be integrated with delivery services.

Publication in stores. The mobile application is tested and submitted to Google Play and/or App Store for moderation. Once published, it will be made available for free download in the stores.

Step 4 – Promote the mobile app

Once launched, the main task is to promote the app so that as many customers as possible download it. Different promotion methods are used to do this:

• Contextual advertising in Google Ads;
• Targeted advertising on Facebook, Instagram;
• SMM advertising on social networks;
• Blogger advertising integrations;
• Referral programmes;
• Print advertising, POS materials with QR codes to download the application;
• Sending invitations to the customer base (SMS, email, messengers);
• ASO optimisation for search engine promotion in the App Store.

Step 5 – Analysis, strategy alignment, planning

While the app is running, it is necessary to collect data on orders, customers and sales, analyse it, draw conclusions and make adjustments to the promotion strategy, loyalty system and technical component of the app. With quality analytics, you can quickly identify poor decisions and find the best ways to continually increase revenue. To make this strategy work, you need to approach the project comprehensively – working on the marketing component in parallel with the mobile development, and after the launch of the application to scale its promotion. This is exactly the approach that KitApp takes. We offer ready-made complex solutions including mobile development, marketing strategy, technical support and promotion of applications for restaurants, cafes, retail and service establishments. Fill in the form on the website – we will give you detailed advice on all the issues you are interested in.