Food delivery apps have revolutionized the food industry by taking all possible restaurants at your fingertips. Revenue in online food delivery is predicted to reach US$339,257M in 2022. Today we all enjoy eating restaurant food from home which gets delivered in less than 30 minutes and is fresh too!
These kinds of apps have the largest market share because of a large customer base. So, if you are thinking of building a food delivery app then you definitely should! However, with UberEats, Food Panda, and Domino’s the expectation bar is quite high.
So, here are some not-to-be-missed 17 top features for your food delivery mobile app development that can help you stand out from the crowd.
- Comparing between options and multiple restaurants to choose from at once
So, what if I tell you that you can compare restaurants and their dishes as well. Customers find this feature helpful because comparing different restaurants and their dishes gives a clear idea of what to order for themselves and from where. Also, this feature helps you order from different restaurants in one go, and just pay once for all of your food. You can order your starters, main course, desserts, shakes/drinks, ice cream all from different restaurants and just pay once for all of it.
- GPS tracking in real-time
GPS tracking helps you track food in real-time. Google map API is the best fit for the same. It helps both the customers as well as the delivery person. Customers can use their current location and a delivery person can use it for directions. Tracking the food on the map can help customers estimate the delivery time. And customers can track their food in real-time.
- Simple payment methods
The final step of ordering your food is the payment option. So, you need to make this process as smooth as possible for your customers.
You should give them all the possible options for the payment including:
- Google pay
- Apple pay
- PayPal
- Mastercard
- Credit/Debit card
- Internet banking
- Cash On Delivery(COD)
Also, you can let them set a payment method to default so that they don’t need to enter the credentials every time they order, which makes the process easier.
- Push notifications:
There are many food delivery apps in the market, so sending push notifications helps you keep up with engagement. It also helps you to keep in touch with your customers and send information about your ongoing, upcoming sales or discount offers. Not just information, it adds value to consumers and helps you engage them on your app.
- Reward/Discount programs and cashbacks/loyalty programs
The most effective way to gain new customers and raise awareness is through reward/discount and cashback/loyalty programs. Starbucks attributed 40% of its overall sales to such programs. So, with regular discounts, you can even win brand loyalty that gives you results in the long term.
- Integrate Social Media
An excellent method to gain customers is through social media. This helps you with focused marketing and build your online customers. It makes it easy for your users to communicate with you. This feature also allows your customers to add photographs on different social media platforms. It will help you gain new customers as well. It is one of the most organic and easy ways to get exposure for your app.
You can also add a feature for ordering food through social media platforms like tagging the restaurant, the delivery app, and mentioning your order. Thus, more people will gravitate towards your app.
- Message within App
This feature helps your customers with the specifics like a chatbot that guides them through the app. It also helps them clarify from the administrative part like whether they have placed an order or not or whether they need help with the payment, want any other help like canceling an order by changing their address.
- Order History
If the customer wants to see its own order history, the time of delivery, or the date on which a particular dish was ordered then they should be able to check these details. It helps the customer to order the same or different dish the next time easily.
- Improved Status
This feature gives live updates for your order. This keeps your customers waiting and more engaged. It helps the customer know that the restaurant has accepted their order, is it being prepared or is it on the way. And seeing such continuous updates keeps your customers hooked to your app.
- Reviews and Ratings
Your customers can help you rank your restaurant as well as your best-selling dishes through ratings and reviews. It is highly beneficial for both customers as well as for the restaurant owners. It gives you detailed insights into different restaurants and their dishes. Showing which one is ranking in which area. So, you can use this information to display such dishes or restaurants on top of your app. Also, this feature prioritizes your customers and makes them feel valued by asking them for their valuable feedback.
- Easy Order Placements and Schedule Order
Easy order placement is what attracts most customers. Because each time you place an order it should be a smooth process. This feature also helps you schedule your order so by the time you reach your home, your food is there. You can even schedule your food during the interval of your favorite match.
- Profile Customization and Registration
Your app should be more customer-friendly. You need to make the registration process hassle-free and fast. So, it becomes easy for your customers to start using your application as quickly as possible. Also, profile customization helps you customize your food delivery app for individuals. Your customers can set their default preferences to vegan, non-vegetarian, eggetarian, pure-vegetarian, Swaminarayan, Jain, etc.
- Search in Menu/Filters
You no longer need to go through the full menu while searching for an item. If you want to search for something from the menu you can just directly search for it and not browse the full menu. It’s an easy way to guide your customers through the menu this way. Also, if customers can filter their choices according to the fastest delivery time or distance this helps optimize their search results.
- Customer Service
To help your customers with their orders you need to have solid customer service. Where the queries of your customers can be solved and you can help your customers 24*7 by prioritizing their issues. Here features like live chat, your activeness on social media especially Twitter becomes crucial. For example, if someone is complaining about something on Twitter, your first action should be attending them, and send them some solution as soon as possible.
This is how you set good examples in the market and help them with the support they need with their issues while using your app. Great customer service can help you gain more positive reviews and ratings. This feature makes your customers feel heard and valued.
- Add Favorite and Completing Streaks
Allow your customers to choose their favorite restaurants and dishes and mark them as favorites. If they see that appearing on top as soon as they open your app, it helps them to stay on the app for a longer duration and attracts them to order the dish again. Also, for customers to complete their streak they need to order from your app every day. Which will increase the usage of your app gaining you more customers.
- According to the Season it can Show Dishes
You can help your customers to select their choices by showing them the food for the season on top. This directs them in a direction of the best dishes of the season from the best restaurants. And you can let your customers apply their own filters to customize it.
- Number of dishes ordered till now from the same restaurant:
If customers can see the total number of dishes they have ordered till now from the same restaurant then they are more likely to be driven by these numbers to order more of such dishes. Or, if the total number of a particular dish sold to date is shown to the customers then they are more likely to order it as it helps them choose better. This feature can help customers decide easily purely based on the number of dishes which helps both ends.
Conclusion:
Food delivery mobile app development is a major boom these days. Build a food delivery app of your own. It’s an amazing way to grow your business. Add these important features to your app and let your customers get hooked to it. If you want to increase your customers, a food delivery mobile app is what you need.
Summary:
If you are planning to develop your food delivery app, here are some must-have features that you should not miss and consider before launching the app. There are 17 important features that will help you build your food delivery app better.
Author Bio:
Maulik Shah is the CEO of BiztechCS, a food delivery app development from India. Maulik likes to explore beyond his comfort zone. When it comes to writing for the blog, his contribution is priceless. No one else on the team can bring the deep industry knowledge to articles that he has. However, his door is always open and he is generous with sharing that knowledge.