Why Mobile Matters

Over the past decade, mobile platforms have gone from nice-to-have to must-have for virtually every player in the restaurant industry, and the ubiquity of mobile technology in other sectors is not far behind. Still, many brands and even entire industries have shown a reluctance to get on board, often noting the historical success of the tried and true sales and marketing strategies they were built on. But as off-site ordering, booking and engagement become baseline expectations among consumers, that attitude may soon prove untenable, and companies that don’t invest in their mobile sites will likely be left in the dust.

Can a fast-casual restaurant thrive today without a mobile platform?

“Possibly,” says Dawn Abbamondi, a brand development consultant for SMB Franchise Advisors*, “but why wouldn’t you take advantage of every possible resource?”

Mobile platforms are not just a value-add for customers; they can be a crucial lifeline for restaurants hoping to tighten up their operations. Fast-casual brands that see mobile platforms as an investment only in their consumer offerings are missing the big picture and risk underinvesting in a profoundly useful tool.

“A good mobile platform will take an enormous burden off your carry-out and delivery infrastructure,” Abbamondi says. “On busy days, that can dramatically affect your throughput, increasing your sales for the day and providing a better, faster experience for customers, even those who aren’t using mobile.”

At the very least, every restaurant should have a mobile-optimized version of their desktop website, says Sarah Baker, Marketing Coordinator for Penn Station East Coast Subs.

“A mobile-adaptive website is not only user-friendly, it also gets ranked much higher in Google results, which is essential for visibility,” she says. “Online ordering, loyalty programs and social-media integration are icing on the cake.”

The difference between a good mobile platform and a great one

“It all comes down to ease of use,” says Scott Thompson, Senior Vice President of Global Franchise Development for Tutor Doctor. “A great mobile platform is not just functional, it’s intuitive.”

As adoption of mobile tech has skyrocketed, consumer tolerance for less-than-perfect tools has plummeted. A mobile platform that is repetitive, fussy, confusing or even just plain ugly, even if it functionally serves its purpose, will be enough to turn customers off.

The best mobile platforms are designed to be completely frustration-proof, says Abbamondi. “Don’t make customers log in, don’t require them to download a special app and then send them off your platform and into an app store. Require as little information and input from the customer as possible. Otherwise, they’ll look elsewhere.”

Consistency is also key, says Baker. “When a user switches between desktop and mobile, it should be seamless. The platforms design, branding and experience should all align.”

The segments doing it right

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the service industry is at the front of the pack. “Service-based businesses know the importance of simplicity,” Abbamondi says. Because the service industry doesn’t have the luxury of falling back on a product that customers are willing to jump through hoops to get to, it has always placed a premium on accessibility, and mobile tech is just the latest tool to extend that philosophy.

And that thinking is not limited to food service. Thompson notes that salon brands like Sport Clips* and Great Clips*, fitness brands like Orangetheory Fitness and his supplemental education brand, Tutor Doctor, have all built innovative, customer-pleasing mobile platforms.

“I love the online booking systems at Sport Clips and Great Clips,” Thompson says. “Customers can check in online and not have to wait in line to get a haircut. Fitness concepts like Orangetheory have consumer-facing apps that track appointments while also allowing guests to track their progress with each session, which is amazing. And Tutor Doctor is constantly building on and refining our suite of mobile services, which allow students to engage with materials at any time and let tutors submit session reports to franchisees or collaborate with students, among many other features.”

The segments falling behind

Abbamondi sees a gap in the professional-services sector, where the specialized nature of the work has made some providers more durable to market forces that are pushing other sectors to adapt or die.

“A lot of people in professional services see their license or specialty as the only thing that matters, so they don’t feel the need to invest in a strong mobile platform,” she says. “But I think that’s going to change soon. Not only do potential clients have unprecedented access to the huge — and growing — field of providers available, sooner or later most of these providers are going to start catching on to the benefits that a good mobile platform provides from an operational perspective.”

In-house or third-party?

Whether a brand should build their own mobile platform or enlist a third-party platform is going to depend on its goals for the site.

Building custom software can be an arduous undertaking, one that may even be more expensive than paying to use an existing platform, and Abbamondi says brands looking to offer relatively generic services are best advised to look to a third-party service.

“The headaches might be worth it if you could save money by building your own service, but in my experience, you can’t,” she says. “Most third-party platforms can provide a skin or private label so that your mobile service will align with your branding.”

But brands that require more specialized services may be better off building their own platform, as Penn Station did when it began offering an online loyalty program.

“When we created our loyalty app, we decided to go in-house so we could have complete control over the program,” Baker says. “There are some third-party apps that can provide loyalty programs, but you’ll likely have to compete for space and visibility with other brands.