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What mobile customers want from your restaurant

4 min read

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Mobile-device users are constantly seeking information from every company and organization they touch. These users have their mobile devices with them for 14 hours of every day, and every hour is an opportunity to reach out. Mobile marketing is all about the customer voluntarily making contact with the company because they want your feedback — and you must be able to provide that information.

Below are some mobile-marketing strategies your customers want you to implement. Doing so will only increase your customer base and your profit.

Mobile-friendly websites

The average computer monitor size is 19 inches, but the average screen size for a mobile phone is 4 inches. Pulling up a website designed for a desktop computer or laptop will look terrible on a mobile device. The text is too small, images are broken and important information is buried. When 30% of your website traffic is coming from a mobile device, you need to have a separate mobile-friendly website.

Make sure you follow best practices when creating your mobile website. Don’t use Adobe Flash Player — it makes your mobile website take twice as long to load, and most customers aren’t patient enough to wait. Place the most important information, such as your menu, phone number and address, at the top of the page in large text. Use images that are can be viewed on a mobile device and take advantage of features created exclusively for mobile devices such as click-to-call and digital coupons.

Local search engines

Google, Microsoft Bing and Yahoo! need to be your best friends. Thirty percent of all restaurant searches are from mobile phones, and 55% of traveling diners are looking for local restaurants on their mobile devices. Your restaurant’s presence in these local search engine listings will either bring you an exponentially large amount of new business or allow your influx of customers to remain the same.

The best place to start listing your restaurant is Google Places. Google is standard on any Apple or Android device and is the most popular search engine, with 80% of all search traffic. Register your restaurant to achieve better search engine optimization, and you’ll start seeing more traffic.

Social media

The great thing about social media is that your customers are voluntarily coming to your Facebook and Twitter pages and are actively seeking what you have to say. You already have interested customers who want to be a part of your conversation and will more than likely tell their friends and followers about their experiences at your restaurant.

These friend-to-friend are the best pieces of free publicity you can have for your restaurant. They’re candid, honest and show customer loyalty. Responding to comments from customers creates a welcoming environment outside of your dining room, which adds to the customer experience of visiting your restaurant. Make sure you respond to every comment, good or bad. Doing so establishes credibility and shows gratitude for the positive comments and offers a chance for redemption for the negative ones.

Take a look at your website, can it be viewed easily on a mobile device? Is your restaurant showing up on local search engines? How often are you conversing with your social media audience? Think about your current mobile marketing efforts, and if you implement these strategies, you’ll find happier customers and higher profit spilling out of your restaurant.

Sara Petersen is the content and marketing manager at Punch Mobile Marketing. Punch’s mission is to produce the best mobile-marketing content and solutions for foodservice providers to succeed at the mobile level. Read the company’s blog, follow it on Twitter and like its Facebook page.

Image credit: Pasha Ignatov, via iStockphoto