Why Delivery Businesses Need Custom Apps

Delivery has always been about convenience and expediency. Today, large portions of deliveries are ordered via smart phones. Developing a custom mobile app for your delivery business is crucial to sales, marketing, and customer service. This isn’t the technology of the future; this is the service of today.

Delivery and Mobile Applications

It is possible today, to order nearly, any service or product solely online. Mobile apps allow customers to not only order on the go, but to express their order with as few human errors as possible. It’s easy to mishear an address, a direction, or even the name of an item over the phone thanks to poor connections, background noise, and even differences in dialect. Customers who speak a different language than your staff may not be able to order over the phone at all. However, ordering via app makes it easy for the customer to select from all available options, see the price of individual items, and even save payment information for future orders. This saves time in your business’s physical locations, and also decreases labor costs and optimizes production.

The advantage of developing an app rather than just a mobile friendly website is repeat sales. By installing your app, customers make ordering incredibly easy. Whenever they look at their phones, they will see the app. If a customer is hungry or considering ordering out later for dinner as they look at their phone, then the app presents the same temptation hungry shoppers face in the grocery store. The sight of the app keeps your business in the customer’s mind, and the ease of mobile ordering helps bridge the gap between interest and action.

Customers are more likely to order from a delivery service when they are busy or coming to the end of a busy time. During weekends, delivery restaurants see a spike in orders. When customers order delivery, they are looking for the best, most thorough service that requires the least amount of effort to order. In return, they are willing to pay more for these services. The less effort a customer must use to place an order, the better. If your business is ready to deliver an order to a customer’s door, then your ordering system should be ready to cater to the customer, wherever he or she is.

Why Do Apps Need to Be Custom?

It’s true that no two businesses are the same, and this is never more apparent than when customers place their orders. Restaurants have different menus, specials, and policies, even if they serve similar products. For example, two restaurants may both serve pizza, but they probably have different side dishes, desserts, and drink options. Even ordering pizzas means, no two pizzas will be the exact same. Some businesses allow customers to order different kinds of pizza sauce, or different kinds of cheese. Various crust options, bake times, and available toppings can make the same basic experience very different.

An outstanding business needs an outstanding app. If you spend time making your customers’ experience memorable in person, you need to make sure your app lives up to your reputation. This goes beyond the uniform expectations of multi-channel selling. Obviously, an app is designed to be used, and although it can generate new business, it also replaces a lot of old business. Many shops now provide telephone numbers in case of technical failure or additional questions rather than as a primary method of ordering. The originality, style, and efficiency of your app will replace your in-store experience for many customers, who will judge your business accordingly.

Hiring custom software development services is essential to creating mobile software that truly represents your business. Custom software development allows an essentially unlimited range of unique and creative features that will improve the customer experience and drive repeat business. An app should be more than a few blank fields for a customer to fill out. Interactive features stand in for sales representatives. If customers enjoy using an app, they are likely to use it to spend more money.

Today’s customers expect mobile apps the way they expected competent phone representatives ten years ago. The principles of customer service haven’t changed, but their medium has. In order to continue providing stellar customer service, delivery services need to meet customers where they are. The best way to do this is through mobile software. Custom mobile apps continue to build a relationship with users throughout their use, increasing the likelihood of repeat business. The better the app does its job, the better the customer’s experience will become.

Think of custom mobile apps like this: they are long-term employees who will never quit or collect benefits. They have huge responsibilities, though, including sales, marketing, customer service, and order tracking. When you choose how to develop this employee, will you use a basic series of pamphlets from a third party, or will you invest in personalized training to turn this employee into the rising star you need?