I only expect a few things out of my fast food. But what I do expect, I expect to be done well. Two of these things are that it’s fast and convenient. I expect it to be easy to order and ready in a short amount of time, so I can be on my way. That is the point of fast food right? But why is this important?
Sometimes I feel as if these restaurants forgot one of the core services they provide. To be fast. Luckily for them, there’s an easy fix. Because mobile payments have opened up new opportunities that will allow them to instantly improve the customer experience, all while making it more convenient for them to order.
Here’s 3 reasons fast food and mobile payments make a quick match.
1. Mobile payments have been tested – and they work
Luckily for you, a McDonald’s franchise owner tested iBeacons and mobile payments in his location and the results speak for themselves. McDonald’s partnered with a company called Piper, who helped them build an app that would push notifications to nearby customers. The app allowed customers to adjust what messages and deals they wanted to receive or simply opt-out altogether. Customers choose to participate.
During the initial 4-week launch, the app saw that there were more than 18,000 mobile payment redemptions of the promoted items. Due to the use of iBeacons and the mobile wallet, McChicken sales reportedly increased 8% and McNuggets increased 7.5% from the previous month. That is a huge increase for how simple the campaign was.
“In the [fast food world], these are big numbers,” said Robert Hanczor, the CEO of San Diego-based iBeacon start-up Piper, which made the app for McDonald’s to send the promotions. “They [McDonalds] saw significant statistical change in consumer behavior.”
This franchise owner has said he is going to keep building onto his mobile payment campaign by adding employment offers as well as satisfaction surveys. Piper is also working on rolling out iBeacon programs to other McDonald’s franchises in the southeast for an additional 263 retail locations. Learn more about McDonalds and their mobile wallet success here.
2. Mobile payments make fast food faster, and more convenient
We all love convenience, and fast food restaurants are built from that love. Unfortunately, they are missing out on an opportunity that could provide a lot more convenience for the customer. Of course, I am talking about the convenience mobile payments can provide. If fast food restaurants are all about speed and ease then they should know that nothing is faster or easier than using the mobile wallet.
Have a coupon that you want to advertise in the paper? Move it straight to mobile and distribute it through email, sms, and QR codes. Then have the customer redeem them directly from their phone all while using Apple Pay or Android Pay to pay for their meal.
Have a gift card? That can also be loaded into Apple Wallet and used via mobile payments at checkout. But where all of this would be especially helpful is in the drive-thru. Don’t force the customer to fumble around with cash and coins in their car and then try to place it in the hands of the employee without it dropping. Offer them the option to pay make a mobile payment with Apple Pay or Android Pay and have them leave their change in the car. This is a much faster and easier option than paying with cash or credit card.
3. Mobile payments allows for better, more relevant offers
Another great thing about the mobile wallet and mobile payments is its ability to give the customer relevant offers. Not all customers care about all your items, so why not give them an offer about only the items they do care about?
We’ve seen this work in the past with things like Google Adwords and internet radio stations. Retail promotions are no different. Actually, customers are going to start expecting offers to be relevant and personal to them. If everything else they interact with is personalized, why aren’t retail offers and mobile payments? Luckily, the mobile wallet is beginning to make this easier for every business owner to accomplish. With the ability to create chain-passes and access real-time analytics, creating meaningful promotions has never been easier.
And there’s even better news. You don’t need to hire a company like Piper or your own developer to build you an app in order to utilize mobile payments. You could soon create an entire mobile wallet marketing experience with something like CherryPie.
SIMPLIFY MOBILE WALLET MARKETING WITH CHERRYPIE
Create a campaign, design a pass, distribute, and then sit back and watch the analytics. Automation has come to mobile wallet marketing in the form of CherryPie. It’s our new mobile wallet marketing campaign management tool designed for modern day ad folk. And you can access it here.
