STATS: Analyzing the Mobile App Usage of Restaurant Customers in 2014

How are restaurant customers really using smartphones?

We know that mobile app usage is still surging, but we also know that most branded mobile apps fail to engage customers and that less than 1% of all apps ever achieve financial success. So, which apps are customers using and why?

Most importantly, what can your brand do to make sure you're satisfying your customers' appetite for apps, without wasting time and budget to build, promote, and maintain an app that doesn't deliver ROI? 

"Where Should I Eat?" 

As mobile is quickly becoming the primary source of information among your customers -- stealing more of their attentention from TV, computers, radio and print -- they are using the platform to ask one very important question: "Where should I eat?"

• 93 percent of restaurant customers make their dining decisions the day of the visit
• 63 percent of mobile customers state that mobile apps are "important in helping them decide where to eat near home"
• 83 percent say their smartphone helps them find a restaurant when traveling
  
• 200 percent - the value of mobile compared to traditional resources in guiding consumers' dining decisions

*All statistics above reported by JiMobile / NinthDecimal

"Why Should I Eat There?"

To make the process of finding a restaurant as easy as possible -- especially for those on the go -- customers rely on three essential pieces of information: menus, offers and maps. 

• 33 percent of customers are more influenced by seeing menus on mobile than any other information
• 24 percent of restaurant customers's mobile app usage involves special offers and coupons
• 21 percent of smartphone customers are looking for the restaurant's location information  

In other words, which restaurants are near me and open? When are they open? What do they serve? Is there a deal that could tip the scale? If you quickly convey these three pieces of information, you’ve engaged 78 percent of mobile users at their point of decision.

To read about how a leading restaurant chain launched their mobile strategy successfully, click below!

Also, discover why today's leading restaurant brands are embracing Rockbot as the top-rated entertainment app in the industry, and read more about the top restaurant technology trends of 2014!