The Deben Inns App by PC Futures.

Deben Inns own and operate six pubs and restaurants in Suffolk. They are very active in marketing to customers and have really embraced the power of mobile apps.  They market regularly to their loyal customer base via leaflets drops and adverts in the free press. This method of marketing has proven highly effective for them but at the time it was expensive to produce.

As a result, Deben Inns wanted a new way of reaching out to their audience and they had tried the usual methods, new website, social media and others but they wanted something to make themselves different from the rest.  They wanted to use the brands existing market share but to really ramp it up in a way not undertaken in the local area, also – to save significantly on heavy print costs and this is why they approached us.

Update April 2017 – The Deben Inns app was updated in 2017 to it’s current design.  This app has been a huge successes and seen it’s reach grow and grow.  The Deben Inns app has well over 15,000 downloads and that is marketing gold!

The Solution

PC Futures were chosen to develop an app that would allow Deben Inns to enhance their web presence with the advanced features of a mobile app. This included loyalty stamps, locations services and most importantly the power of push messages. We worked with their existing web designs and looked to marry their mobile phone/device marketing with their existing web technology.

The content management portal behind the app also allows Deben Inns to post new offers and to change menu items easily and with no real need for us as the developers to get involved.  This enabled Deben Inns to push seasonal promotions and targeted special offers to a growing audience.

The Benefits

  • Free Push messaging enable Deben Inns to keep app users up to date on special offers. This saves money on printing costs and helps to drive business to the restaurants in real time, with instant message delivery.
  • Digital Menus allowing app users to view menus from anywhere. This saves money on menu reprints and allows for instant and dynamic menu control.
  • Loyalty stamps allowing app users to digitally stamp each time they eat at a Deben Inns pub, which increase customer loyalty.
  • Full social media interaction allowing users to mark their visit, send photos, comment on their meal and get real time reviews on service and food.  This in turn increases the trust in the Deben Inns brand and helps to enhance and build a community.
  • The app can be administered with minimal training and unlike websites it is very hard for a member of staff to damage.
  • Targeted and geographical real time information.  Yes, Deben Inns can message people for example within a mile of each INDIVIDUAL venue, ensuring they don’t compete with one another across the group whilst maximising their return.
  • Easy to alter content, if something needs changing in the app it’s easy to do by them or us via their own app management control centre.