Food delivery apps have grown in popularity in recent years due to the advancement of restaurant technology and impactful events like the COVID-19 pandemic. 51% of American customers were comfortable ordering for pickup and 41% for delivery during the pandemic.
Having a restaurant app is the easiest way to offer customers that convenience. If you’re thinking of creating a restaurant app that allows customers to place orders directly from their smartphones, here’s how you can promote it by putting together a food delivery app marketing plan.
Food Delivery App Marketing Plan
1. Do your research
To learn how to market your delivery app, you need to find out more about your target audience, their behavior, likes and dislikes, and needs. This will help you develop a unique selling proposition that will build loyalty and draw customers to you.
At the same time, you need to study the competition. How many of your competitors have a restaurant app? If you’re one of the few, you already have a competitive edge. If most of them do, install those apps and study them to see what they’re doing right and avoid what they might be doing wrong.
All this research will help you establish the best marketing channels for promoting your app. It will also give you an idea of crafting your promotional messages to attract your target audience. Maybe you want to promote free and fast delivery or encourage users to download the app for exclusive in-app messages featuring discounts and promotions.
2. Promote the app on your website
Building a restaurant website is step number one in expanding your online reach. Your website will serve as your main promotional tool and delivery service strategy. Make sure customers know they can download your food delivery app when they lay eyes on your homepage. Include download buttons for their convenience.
Additionally, create a separate landing page to advertise the app and its main benefits, such as convenience, personalized recommendations, and a faster ordering process. The more benefits you include, the more downloads your delivery app will have.
If your website also has a blog, update that with a brief informative post on the release of the app. Include its benefits and step-by-step instructions on how to download the app. Consider crafting a short promotional message to include at the bottom of all your blog posts urging readers to download your app for a smooth ordering process.
3. Optimize the store listing of your food delivery app
You’re probably already familiar with search engine optimization (SEO), the practice of optimizing your website to rank high in search results for relevant keywords. Your App Store and Play Store listings work similarly. They need to be optimized to attract customers and pop up in search results.
Here is a set of strategies to optimize your listing:
- Add relevant keywords in the app description such as your cuisine, location, and words like “food ordering” and “food delivery.”
- Include the benefits of installing the app in the description, and the main features users should expect.
- Add screenshots from inside the app and screen recordings of actions like placing an order so customers see how easy it is.
4. Treat email subscribers to a sneak peek
If you have a solid email list of loyal customers, there’s no better way of rewarding their loyalty than providing them exclusive early-bird access to your restaurant app. Create anticipation by sending a sneak peek email featuring screenshots from the app and steps showing how easy the ordering process is.
Then, release the app to your mailing list before making it available to everyone. This will make loyal customers feel special and give you a chance to collect some feedback that will enable you to improve the app.
5. Post about the app on social media
Without a social media section, no food delivery marketing plan would be complete. Posting about the app will spread the news to a larger audience and boost downloads. When creating the posts, include a platform-exclusive discount code that customers can use for their first order on the app.
Another social media promotion strategy is to get in touch with food influencers and see whether they’d be interested in promoting your app to their followers. Give them a personalized discount code to offer their subscribers, and you’ll notice your app downloads going up.
6. Create an in-app loyalty program
One of the best advantages of having your own restaurant app is taking online ordering to the next step by instituting a loyalty program. Say goodbye to plastic loyalty cards and enable users to scan their in-app virtual cards to receive points and additional benefits.
The convenience of an app that they can use to order and track their loyalty points and claim their rewards will convince them to download it. Having everything in one place, easily accessible on their smartphones, will turn customers into regulars in no time.
7. Send notifications with special offers and promotions
Another way to ensure that your restaurant app becomes indispensable for your customers is by giving them options like paying less for a full meal, enjoying free delivery, or regular discounts on selected items. Even if you offer discounts and special offers for people who order on your website, come up with additional ones for app users.
People need a real reason to install the app and feel like they’re getting something unique in return. Exclusive app promotions are the easiest way to ensure app downloads and customer retention. Use push notification marketing to captivate users with irresistible promos.
Examples of push notifications from food delivery apps
8. Consider paid ads
If your budget allows it and you want even more people to become aware of your new food delivery app, you can give paid advertisement a shot. Experiment with different platforms and start small so you don’t spend your entire ad budget before finding out which platform converts more.
From Google ads that pop in on relevant searches to Facebook or Instagram ads where you can target a larger audience that stretches beyond your followers, every platform has its merits. You can also give YouTube ads a shot if you want to experiment with multiple types of promotional content.
Final Words
Having a restaurant app will help your business stand out in the crowd and help you secure loyalty by simplifying the ordering process for your hungry customers. Use the tips above as a blueprint for your food delivery app marketing plan to get everyone talking about your new restaurant app.
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