Creating a Contactless Delivery Program

Benefits of
contactless in-app delivery

While utilizing a third party delivery app can serve as a short term fix, restaurants, convenience stores, and other retailers thinking about how to strengthen their businesses as the pandemic continues, and even post COVID-19, should consider creating their own in-app contactless delivery program. 

Here are some of the benefits we’ve witnessed our customers experience as a result of implementing contactless delivery:

Save yourself and your customers money
With your own contactless delivery experience, you can keep profits inside your business. Your customers will also be happy to save on the fees that 3rd party apps layer on top of your established prices.

Sharper consumer insights
In-app delivery programs lend visibility and enable you to leverage consumer insights, such as buying patterns, customer preferences, and loyalty program participation, so that you can better address customer needs. Third party apps don’t share this data with businesses, leading to missed opportunities that prevent your brand from creating the best customer experiences.

More relevant interactions
Once you understand buyers’ preferences, you can personalize offerings to each user, creating a more meaningful experience and brand affinity.

Happier customers
In-app delivery enables you to provide rewards, such as points for using the program, discounts on products, or offers only relevant to a specific customer. This builds loyalty and increases consumer adoption.

Considerations for building a contactless delivery app

So you’re ready to launch your own delivery app? Consider the following when deciding how to implement contactless delivery:

• Mobile app and website experience: Think about the experience you want to offer and be sure that this is consistent across all of your digital channels.
  
  
• Roll out plan: Consider how you will launch your product in-market. A phased rollout allows you to test and learn as you go so that you can address initial issues on a smaller scale. 
  
  
• Marketing and promotions to customers: If you want your guests to adopt your new offering, it’s imperative that you communicate this new capability to them early and often. What metrics do you have on the ways your customers prefer to learn about new products and services? Replicate successful tactics from the past and consider layering on discounts that encourage consumers to trial your new experience. Equally important for adoption, make sure your staff is comfortable with the ins and outs of your program and can help sell in their daily interactions with customers.
  
  
• Personalization, rewards, and loyalty: Creating a plan for personalized delivery promotion needs to be organized before launch. In addition, consider how you will enhance your rewards & loyalty program to account for new delivery options. 
  
  
• Employee training: Never go to market with a solution that employees don’t know how to use (or don’t know how to assist customers to use). Building a delivery app requires training for all employees.
  
  
• Contactless payment integration: Designing your delivery program to include a contactless payment feature further reduces burden to the customer, encouraging them to repeat their behavior and order delivery more frequently. If applicable to your business, be sure to consider how you’ll handle the delivery of regulated items, such as alcohol or cigarettes. If designed correctly, identity and age verification can be handled in a completely contactless manner, creating a seamless experience for both staff and customers.