Marketers in the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry have something of a Holy Grail on their hands in mobile advertising, according the Q4 mobile audience report from JiWire, a mobile advertising and data platform. The report observed that mobile influences dining decisions more than twice as much as online or offline sources for consumers.
“There’s an opportunity for marketers to better understand what consumers are looking for,” says David Staas, president of JiWire. Staas had noted in a statement about the report that the opportunity for QSRs “to influence consumers during the path-to-purchase cycle has skyrocketed.”
The report, which analyzes mobile insights in different verticals each quarter, also found that 83% of consumers rely on their mobile device for dining decisions while traveling; this is 18% more than consumers who use mobile for dining in their home market.
Additionally, the report found that 39% of consumers use mobile apps to help decide where to eat. Restaurant review apps are second only to word of mouth as influencers when it comes to choosing a place to dine, whether QSR or casual dining. Ninety-three percent of QSR patrons make same-day decisions on where to dine, while 64% of casual diners make same-day dining decisions.
Despite mobile marketer’s success, the report highlights a disconnect between mobile marketers and consumer preference when it comes to menus options.
Menu information is 38% more important to consumers than sales or coupons in influencing their choices. However, only 6% of mobile ad campaigns featured a menu tab, according to the report. Given that 46% of consumers tried a new restaurant or menu item as a result of a mobile ad, marketers may want to take note.
“Once you understand that you need to be mobile,” Staas says, “you need to look at when and where to engage consumers.”
The report also found that Friday and Saturday are the most popular days for QSR and fast food dining, though patronage is fairly consistent throughout the week. However, consumers engage with mobile ads almost twice as much on Thursday and Friday compared to other weekdays.
