Running a food delivery service, even a small one, today is practically impossible without a strong online presence. But how can you do so without spending a lot of money or putting in a lot of effort? The difficult part is figuring out how to get it.
Building your online presence can be tedious and frustrating if you’ve just started your food delivery business or are relatively new to the business field. It’s critical, however, because it allows people to find you, interact with you, and learn to like and trust you. Take advantage of the opportunity to broaden your reach by improving your online presence. Your online food ordering system will be better the sooner you do it. And, of course, you don’t want your competitors to leave you in the dust, do you?
Having your own branded website and app, where customers can place orders for click and collect or delivery, provides you with a solid foundation and the tools you need to succeed online. Obviously, your next major goal is to increase your online sales over time. The key to this is to improve your digital presence and customer experience.
The Secret To Doordash’s Success And How To Start Your Own Food Ordering App
Food delivery apps work on the simple premise of taking orders from customers, connecting with restaurants to process the orders, and then delivering the orders to the customers. Apps like the on-demand DoorDash Clone app, for example, act as middlemen between restaurants and customers. Although there are numerous food delivery apps available today, only a select few are used on a regular basis by customers. The big question is: how did these apps become the top priority for customers?
This question has a simple and obvious answer. Here are some of the factors that contribute to the success of food ordering apps: –
Customers prefer to order from top-rated and well-known restaurants because they have more options. It is critical to form a partnership with a well-known restaurant chain. To cater to a wide range of customer interests, offer a variety of cuisines, and include a variety of restaurants, ranging from small to well-known.
The fleet of delivery agents: To ensure that customer orders are delivered on time, a large number of delivery agents must be employed. Near restaurants, delivery agents must ping in so that they can quickly pick up orders.
People who do not have time to cook, particularly corporates who order food on a regular basis, and college students who do not have access to a kitchen are some of the main audiences who order food on a daily basis. On-demand DoorDash-style apps should undoubtedly include features and attributes tailored to the target market.
DoorDash is one of the most popular food ordering apps. Let’s take a look at one of DoorDash’s major achievements.
Over the last few years, DoorDash has had tremendous success. According to Second Measure reports, it is the fastest-growing last-mile logistics company.
As of 2018, they had expanded their geographic footprint to 5x, covering over 3000 cities and 80 percent of the population of the United States. DoorDash is the first company in the United States to provide food delivery to more than 50 cities.
Dashers (DoorDash delivery executives) make around $600 per year. Doordash employs its own delivery personnel.
Since its inception in 2013, DoorDash has grown to become one of the most widely used food ordering services in the United States and Canada. DoorDash’s massive fleet can teach all entrepreneurs a thing or two. This blog will give you an inside look at how DoorDash grew to be a $12.6 billion company.
DoorDash’s business model canvas in a nutshell
When it comes to food delivery apps, customers want simple solutions. DoorDash has a simple workflow that caters to all of the customer’s requirements.
Customers will be automatically logged-into the application once they have registered. The integrated AI engine provides users with relevant suggestions based on their previous orders, making orders through the app simple.
Payment processing in the app: After placing an order, customers can pay for their food using one of the secure payment options available. The distance between the pickup and drop-off points is used to calculate the delivery charge. The total cost of ordering food includes the cost of the food, delivery charges, and a convenience fee (app usage fee). The request for food preparation is sent to the concerned restaurant once the order is placed.
Track the order: Once the order is complete and ready for delivery, the dasher is notified. Customers can use the DoorDash app to track the status of their orders throughout the process. The exact location of the delivery agent is provided by real-time tracking features. Customers can anticipate receiving their preferred food.
The food packages are delivered to the customers’ homes by delivery agents. Customers’ delivery fees are entirely paid to the company. Customers, on the other hand, can show their appreciation for delivery agents’ efforts by tipping them. Tipping the Dasher is optional, but it is in the best interests of the customer.
So, let’s take a look at 10 tried-and-true ways to boost your business’s online orders.
1. Make special offers to your customers.
Customers are always looking for a good deal, and this is something that will never change. So luring them in with special offers is always a good idea. You want to encourage them to place orders directly through your website or app for delivery or pick-up, rather than through third-party aggregators, where you lose a significant portion of the order value due to their high fees (along with other negative consequences for your business).
Giving your customers offers that are exclusive to those channels is a simple but highly effective way to promote your delivery and click & collect services – both on your website and app.
Flipdish also lets you send push notifications to your customers’ phones, informing them of any special offers you want to promote. This aids in maintaining strong customer engagement and entices them to order from you again and again.
2. Make your menu more appealing.
Your online menu should immediately impress and appeal to your customer. As a result, we always advise fine-tuning and optimizing your menu to highlight appealing meal deals and best-selling items. Also, where possible, add high-quality images of dishes to your menu to make it more visually appealing.
It’s also worth keeping an eye out for new food trends. Based on current and emerging trends, you might want to consider changing your menu to make it more appealing to customers, perhaps by adding a new dish or two (Flipdish can update any menu changes that you wish to add or remove items).
3. Provide a quick response.
At every stage of the process, the operation of online ordering must be efficient. You don’t want to have any bad experiences with packaging or food delivery. As a result, your packaging must provide quality, a professional appearance, and temperature control. Packaging should also be unique, promoting your brand in a positive light.
It also aids in keeping your customers informed about the estimated food delivery or collection time, reducing customer frustration and confusion. Customers like to know how long they’ll have to wait, and knowing how long they’ll have to wait is an important part of providing an excellent customer experience that encourages repeat orders.
You can also integrate your online orders directly with our top-rated delivery partners using Flipdish.
4. Take your online services offline to promote them.
You should promote your online ordering platform at every opportunity, and one such opportunity is in-person communication with dine-in customers. Staff can regularly inform dine-in customers about the ordering options available on your website and app, so that they can click and collect the next time they visit.
Similarly, you can use outdoor signage and indoor posters to promote your online ordering services on your property. Make the most of your physical location as a marketing asset and opportunity. Any signage you put up should clearly display the website address/URL and other important information. To promote modern digital ordering channels, this uses very traditional marketing tactics.
5. Connect all of your social media accounts to your online menu.
Your target customer is likely to use social media in their spare time on a daily basis, giving you yet another opportunity to promote your online ordering.
By posting a link to your online menu on your social media channels, you can bridge the gap between your website and social media. This creates a seamless user experience by allowing customers to go straight from browsing on Facebook or Instagram to placing orders with you online.
6. Make it easy for customers to download your app.
It’s one thing to create a fantastic app, but it’s another to get people to download it. This may seem self-evident, but you must constantly promote and encourage downloads of your app. This gives your company prime real estate on the customer’s phone, putting you at the top of their mind when it comes time to place an order.
As a result, app downloads are a significant contributor to long-term customer loyalty. In the coming year, promoting your app across all available channels should be a key part of your marketing strategy.
7. Make it easy for regular customers to reorder.
In today’s world, online ordering must be quick and easy. Providing a positive user experience and streamlining the process benefits both your customer and you.
For example, you can create a ‘Favourites’ section of your menu on the Flipdish system based on a customer’s previous ordering habits. This means they can quickly reorder their favorite items with just a few taps. It’s a convenient shortcut that allows customers to get what they want quickly, resulting in more orders.
8. Use digital advertising to your advantage.
Google Ads and social media advertising, for example, are sophisticated online marketing tools that can successfully target your customers at the right time and in the right place. It frequently provides excellent value for money as well as a significant return on investment in the form of increased sales. Google Ads, for example, uses location targeting to ensure that potential customers in your area can quickly find your business through the search engine.
9. To improve your online presence, use Google My Business.
Customers can easily find you and connect with you if you have a GMB account. Because it’s designed to help promote local businesses, this free Google service is a great way to improve your online presence.
It allows restaurant and takeaway owners to control how their businesses appear across Google platforms and stand out. Given current consumer habits, with massive volumes of local searches conducted via smartphone every day, this is a critical area to focus on.
Being listed on Google My Business means you’ll show up in Google Maps and Local Pack listings, which display local businesses related to a search query. That means you’ll have a lot of visibility for people searching in your area, and you’ll be able to give them the most important information at a glance, such as your location, phone number, and a link to your website. As a result, it aids in attracting more visitors to your website, resulting in more orders.
The Google Maps interface’s convenient ‘Takeaway’ and ‘Delivery’ buttons even allow users to go straight to food businesses that offer those services with just one click.
10. Use customer feedback forms to collect data.
Gathering customer contact information has become a significant challenge for businesses as a result of the strict data protection laws enacted in recent years. You must be cautious in order to follow the rules. Customer feedback forms, both in-store and online, are one clever solution to this problem.
Not only do you get free objective feedback, but you can also ask for permission to collect customers’ contact information. This information could be extremely useful in future marketing and promotional efforts.
