How coffee shops can embrace mobile technology

The coffee industry is continuing to boom as customers flow through the door to grab their morning pick-me-up at their local coffee shop. With fast-paced lifestyles continuing to grow, the coffee industry is having to adapt to ensure they can keep up with their fact-paced audience. 

One aspect that’s been introduced is the use of mobile technology. Online ordering and ultimate convenience has encouraged coffee shop businesses utilise mobile technology and cater to the on-the-go nature of their customers as they look for quick service for their coffee. 

Mobile technology can provide your customers with satisfaction as well as grow your business. It can be the solution to your long-term goals as your customer base grows, but you need to make sure that you do it right. Here’s how.

1. Embrace the technology as part of your brand

Developing a mobile app shouldn’t only be about ticking a box for your customers, but it should be embraced to ensure your business can grow as a whole. Insight into online data means you can provide more than one solution for your customers and understand your own operations in the process.

The data insights that you collect from your mobile app should enable you to connect with them on a personal and commercial level. You can provide them with personalised messaging, handy updates and marketing that you think they’d be interested in based on their coffee choices. 

2. Consider what other processes can be digitized

Can your mobile app be the introduction that your business needs to digitize other aspects of your services? Perhaps so. Rather than have the customer search for your services, bring your services to them at the touch of their fingertips.

A common incentive that coffee shops promote is the use of a loyalty scheme. When a customer makes regular purchases, after a certain amount they can gain rewards for their loyalty. This is an example of a feature that could be included in your mobile app.

Also, the data can be used to determine whether a customer hasn’t been purchasing for a while. Then, push notifications can be sent to encourage them to return, or offer them discounts through their app to get them to come back!

3. Keep your app future-proof

If we think of technology and how it was about a decade ago, it was nowhere near the limits that are in today’s society. Customers’ needs and lifestyles are continuously changing, as such, technologies need to be able to keep up to date, remain robust to adapt to ever-changing needs. 

Ensure the technology that you invest in is flexible enough to adopt new features and requirements that can help your customers. Furthermore, you wouldn’t want the app to be crippled by being unable to manage the popularity – be sure to conduct technical due diligence on the app to ensure it’s scalable in case it becomes extremely popular with tech-savvy customers.

Final thoughts

Whether you’re a small business or a large organisation, you shouldn’t ignore the possibilities and advantages that different technologies can have on your business. If you want to compete in today’s sectors, you need to have a digital presence in order to benefit from what it offers.