Cracking the Code: Key Ingredients in Successful Food Delivery App Development

Today’s lifestyles have made people value productivity more than ever. This is one of the reasons why they are choosing not to spend time on routine tasks e.g. cooking a meal or even visiting a nearby restaurant for lunch or dinner. Food apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash allow people to browse through countless menus online and get their favorite food in less than an hour. They only need to receive the food at their doorstep. The market for online food delivery is also seeing phenomenal growth—it is estimated to reach US$1.79 trillion by 2028.
Food delivery apps are, therefore, a promising space where startups might consider investing. If you are someone exploring the idea of building a food app from scratch, there are certain factors you should never overlook. To ensure success as a business owner, you’ll need to make extra effort to help your platform stand out from the competition.
We have compiled a list of things you need to work on when building a food delivery mobile app. Keep reading.
- Conduct Thorough Market Research
An important step in food delivery app development is an in-depth analysis of your existing market.
Which segment of users do you intend to serve? Do these users face any challenges with existing food apps? Who are your competitors? Do these competitors have any weaknesses you may exploit to gain an advantage?
Researching the marketplace will help you answer all such questions and provide top-quality, differentiated offerings to cater to your user base.
- Choose a Suitable Monetization Model
Leading food delivery companies count on many strategies to make money from their apps. You may consider incorporating some of these in your platform to generate a steady source of income.
- Delivery Fee: A food delivery app handles food orders and logistics for a restaurant. Typically, these apps charge a percentage of the order price from the restaurant as their fee. Alternatively, they may charge a flat fee for every order delivered.
- Dynamic Pricing: Food apps may charge an additional fee for delivering food during peak traffic hours. This helps them compensate for the time their agents spend on pick-up and delivery in high congestion areas.
- Advertisements: Sometimes, restaurants pay a fixed fee to food delivery apps, so that they are shown at the top when a user searches for eateries. This way, apps earn extra revenue while restaurants get more visibility and hence more orders.
- Create a User-Friendly Design
To stand out from the competition, make sure to build an app keeping the end-user in mind. Your food delivery app should be easy to navigate and interact with. Focus on a logical hierarchy when organizing content. Consider using design patterns users are familiar with. For example, you may use tabs for primary navigation and swipe for checking out food images. Try to keep the color palette, fonts, and layout consistent throughout all screens of your app.
Additionally, all CTA buttons and other in-app elements should be sufficiently large for users to click comfortably. Also, your app should be accessible to users with visual, hearing, and motor impairments.
- Keep User Registration as Simple as Possible
When signing up for an app, no one wants to fill in long, detailed forms. A short, simple registration process will make more users sign up for your food delivery platform. Such functionality becomes especially important when you have just launched your app and not many know about it.
So, when onboarding new users, ask for as little information as possible. Just their name, contact number, and email should be sufficient in most cases.
Many food apps provide the option of signing up through social media platforms or other apps an individual may be using. This further speeds up the registration process.
Additionally, keeping a clean, uncluttered design with lots of visual cues also helps create a great user experience.
- Integrate Real-Time Order Tracking
People want their meals to be delivered as fast as possible. GPS integration helps them track their order in real time. This means they get to know the status of their order, whether their food is being prepared, just out for delivery, or about to reach them. GPS tracking also helps your agent identify user’s location for seamless food delivery.
Many popular food delivery companies have integrated their platforms with MapKit and Google Maps. This ensures accurate tracking and alerts the user at key milestones during order delivery.
- Make Checkouts Hassle-Free
To make the user journey as smooth as possible, it is important to keep your checkouts effortless. Even a minor issue in payments may cause the user to abandon the order. So, make sure to test this feature rigorously before launching your app. Also, try to incorporate as many payment options as possible.
Users should be able to pay in cash or through credit or debit cards, online banking, or mobile wallets. Providing the option of a promo code on the checkout page is also recommended.
- Allow Users to Leave Ratings and Reviews
All leading food apps allow customers to leave ratings and reviews after they have placed and received their order. These ratings guide other users on which meal or restaurant they should choose when ordering a meal. They also alert eateries, so they can work on improving the quality of their food and service if required and avoid getting a bad reputation in the marketplace. Reviews and ratings thus help you understand how users respond to your app.
- Include In-App Messaging for Instant Communication
In-app messaging helps customers, restaurants, and delivery agents communicate easily without leaving the app. Many times, users need to convey the specifics of their order to the restaurant. Likewise, the restaurant may also need to notify the user when their order gets dispatched or when their order is late for some reason. The delivery agent may need to message the user to confirm the delivery location. In the absence of an in-app messaging system, these people would have to search the contact details of the other party on the app, adding to their inconvenience. This is why in-app messaging is a must-have for any food delivery app.
- Offer Rewards and Discounts to Regular Users
As a growing business, you need to provide lasting value to your loyal customers. After all, they are the ones who help you generate higher profits, so they should reap the benefits of this value creation too.
Giving deals, discounts, and exclusive offers to regular customers makes them more enthusiastic about using your app. They may end up becoming loyal users of your platform. Over time, these customers will help grow your business as they buy more and bring in new users through positive word of mouth.
10) Boost Your Presence with a Website and Social Media
Building just a mobile app may not be enough for a business owner. This is because many of your potential customers may be more comfortable with desktops and laptops when browsing the internet. To capture their attention, you will need to improve your visibility in the search engine results pages. Creating an SEO-friendly website is a great step in this direction.
Additionally, you may consider integrating your food delivery app with social media platforms. Doing so will allow your users to share their positive experiences and reviews with their followers on these platforms.
Wrapping Up
The online food delivery market is seeing steady growth, opening a sea of opportunities for startups to build their presence in the evolving marketplace. If you are looking to build a food delivery app, consider collaborating with a trusted food delivery mobile app development company to simplify the process. They will guide you through the ups and downs and help you best serve your user base.
