A step-by-step guide.
The successful implementation of mobile ordering goes beyond the technology alone.
In fact, through years of helping hundreds of locations roll out digital ordering, we’ve learned that having a powerful platform is just step one. There are so many other factors that could make or break the operations.
After operating across dozens of markets around the world, we’ve learned the formula that leads to success. And besides providing the technology piece, our team works with each and every partner on every level to realize that success.
In this week’s blog, we break down 5 essential steps towards successfully implementing mobile ordering for your business, whether you’re a school, stadium, concert venue, restaurant, pop-up event, drive-in theater, hotel, mall…you get the idea.
It’s a formula that applies to all types of businesses.
1. Find a platform that your staff can learn to operate within one minute.
Yes, one minute. That should be all it takes for your staff to pick up the operating system. If it’s more complicated than that, it could lead to potential hiccups in your subsequent operations.
Adopting a new system can be intimidating to anyone. Running a foodservice operation is stressful enough on its own, so the last thing your team needs is an additional system that makes their job harder. Whatever mobile ordering platform you end up using, make sure that it’s an intuitive platform that feels like second nature to your staff.
For example, you shouldn’t need additional instructions upon seeing an order coming in to know what to do next. It should be very obvious to you that the natural action next is to hit “Grab” and start preparing the order.
This is because as mobile ordering is in full swing and you start getting large volumes of orders coming in (which, by the way, is a really good problem to have!), if your staff forgets to mark an order or responds slow to a particular order, that will lead to unnecessarily long wait time for the customer and inevitable frustration. Having an easy-to-use platform is especially important for operations with rotational staff, such as concession stands at events.
2. Make it insanely easy for your customers to place an order.
This varies from business to business. But the gist is — think about the user journey of your customers and how you can make it as frictionless as possible. For example, if you’re a restaurant, you might want to place a large QR code on an A-frame at the entrance or front desk for when customers are waiting to be seated, so that they can already scan to see the menu or even place an order. You definitely want to have QR codes on every table too, with short but clear instructions on what they need to do to place a mobile order from the table.
If you’re a venue, it would be smart to have the QR code on seat stickers, at ticket booths, or hand out business cards with QR codes together with the tickets, so that each and every visitor will see the code at least once to know that’s where they can place an order.
If you want to level up the marketing effort, use digital methods to remind your customers even before they leave the house. For example, you can customize a radius and send geo-targeted push notifications to notify customers within a certain distance that you’re offering a new menu item or a special discount. That way even if they aren’t physically at your location, they can still pre-order for scheduled pickup/delivery.
3. Make full use of available resources and checklists before launch.
If it’s your first time trying out mobile ordering, you might feel uncertain about what’s going to happen. Will people use it? Will there be technical glitches? Will people like it?
To have the peace of mind and a sense of certainty before the rollout, we highly recommend you look through case studies of other businesses that are similar to yours, and take advantage of the resources that you may be provided with.
For example, during onboarding with FanFood, we have a strategy call with each partner to make sure they know what to anticipate and how to prepare beforehand. They are also given a step-by-step marketing guide to prep their customers before launch.
Make sure you ask for FAQs, resources, guides and case studies from your mobile ordering partner. This will help you identify gaps that you might have missed before launching mobile ordering, and truly have all bases covered.
4. Invest as much in marketing as you can.
While contactless has almost become the expectation due to COVID-19, getting people to start using mobile ordering still takes time and education.
There are two goals you need to achieve with marketing:
1. Making people aware of the new way to order.
The first can be achieved by thinking through point #2. If the process is made as easy as possible, it’s only natural that people will gravitate towards this new method. On top of that, think about where you can find your customers: Your social media platforms? Your newsletter? People in the vicinity?
For all our partners, we offer a library of free designs to use for their digital and print marketing assets. We also provide a complete marketing guide for their reference.
2. Educating those who aren’t the most familiar with the process.
While customers are conditioned to use mobile ordering thanks to its prevalence in the restaurant space, depending on the demographics of your customers, there might be people who still aren’t the most familiar with the process.
If that’s the case, you might want to give clear instructions on how to use the app, or even how to scan the QR code. Definitely talk with your customers to get as much feedback from them as possible, so as to understand how you can better market to them.
5. Have support channels handy just in case.
It’s not just doomsday scenario when you might need to contact customer support or technical support. Sometimes inevitable technical glitches can happen, such as unstable Internet connectivity or a login failure. These are unlikely but just in case they happen, make sure you have the support email or phone number of your mobile ordering platform provider ready so you can seek help. This can minimize the disruption of your operation and prevent having
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If you want to see how FanFood makes it easier for customers to order and faster for foodservice staff to fulfill orders, you can check out the full recording of our Demo Day livestream.