Who would have predicted in the 80’s that the then giant brick of a mobile phone would replace our drawers full of takeout menus? Today, the little computers in our pockets give consumers access to every kind of business imaginable. But, when consumers can interact with any brand through the same screen, the differences between each become harder to distinguish.
Intouch Insight’s latest report, Fall 2022 Mobile Ordering Trends, looks at consumer survey results and mystery shopping data to provide restaurant operators with the latest information and help them navigate current challenges. You can download the full report for free here or continue reading for some of the highlights.
Increase in channel blurring
As brands continue to expand their offerings to consumers, the once clear lines between industries are becoming increasingly blurred. This is especially true for the restaurant industry. Mobile ordering is a major channel for food with 71% of consumers reporting having used a mobile app to complete a purchase from a restaurant. But consumers aren’t only using apps to purchase food from restaurants.
Convenience stores, whose prepared food offerings have been increasingly in direct competition with quick-serve and fast casual restaurants, have seen a 47% spike in mobile orders. This is of note for restaurant operators because the top two items purchased via mobile apps from convenience stores are prepared food and groceries.
That’s why Intouch Insight’s latest report compares data across 1st and 3rd party apps for quick-serve and fast casual restaurants as well as convenience stores.
1st vs 3rd party applications
Offering a mobile ordering option has become a basic requirement for restaurants. But that still leaves brands with the choice of developing a 1st party app or leveraging a 3rd party one. While 1st party apps require more up-front investment as well as ongoing management, 3rd party apps come with hefty service fees and far less control over the experience and relationship with customers.
When asked to rank aspects of a mobile ordering experience in order of importance, 86% of consumers placed order accuracy as either the first or second most important factor in relation to their overall satisfaction. While this seems like a basic requirement to consumers, anyone who has worked in a kitchen knows how human error always plays a factor when things get busy.
Looking across industries and types of apps, order accuracy scored relatively high and only dropped below 90% for 1st party quick-serve and 3rd party convenience store app orders.
Quick-serve restaurants, while scoring very close when comparing 1st and 3rd party apps, were the only brands that did not consistently out-perform 3rd party offerings. This explains why they were the only brands whose 1st party apps had a lower customer satisfaction (CSAT) score than 3rd party ones. The biggest difference in CSAT scores were for fast casual restaurants who, by the nature of their offerings, are providing a different experience to their customers.
Use of mobile apps
Despite most pandemic-related measures being lifted, for many there is still a desire to reduce human interactions. 73% of consumers reported feeling safer placing their order for delivery rather than picking it up from the restaurant. But perception isn’t always reality. Even though consumers say they feel safer opting for delivery, 89% of consumers who placed an order using a restaurant’s 1st party app said they picked up their order somewhere inside the restaurant.
A major contributing factor to this is that, while many restaurants offer contactless options when placing an order through their own proprietary app, most have not developed the same infrastructure for delivery as 3rd party services. In the end, 1st party apps only offered contactless service 67% of the time compared to 96% for 3rd party apps.
The primary driver for consumers using mobile apps to order food, however, is convenience with 42% including it as a key factor. Being able to leisurely review a menu and swap or modify items in your order without the pressure of a staff member waiting on you is more appealing to many. But, when it comes to deciding which mobile app to use, additional fees are the top factor followed by past experiences – meaning brands can attract customers with lower fees, but need to deliver on a great experience to keep them coming back.
What’s next?
The popularity of mobile ordering shows no sign of declining. 61% of consumers predict their use of mobile apps will stay the same while 6% expect it to increase. This means restaurateurs who want to curb the channel blurring perpetuated by 3rd party apps will need to keep improving their own 1st party apps to attract users and take control of their customer experience.
For more consumer and customer experience data around mobile ordering trends, get your copy of the full Fall 2022 Mobile Ordering Trends report for free here.
