During the “Seamless: Mobile Lessons for Consumers-Facing Products from the Leading Digital Food Ordering Service” keynote, the executive discussed the importance of listening to mobile consumers. Seamless has been investing a lot of money and effort into its mobile efforts to reach new and existing customers on a deeper level.

“We launched on the mobile Web in 2009, but there was not much traction until we released our iPhone and BlackBerry app,” said Lizzy Klein, vice president of product at Seamless.

“In the course of 2011, we did one million mobile orders and in 2012, we did 4.5 mobile on mobile orders,” she said. “We are making sure our mobile apps are as good as they need to be and that’s hugely important to us.”

Mobile ordering
In addition to the mobile site, iPhone and BlackBerry apps, Seamless rolled out an iPad app last year.

According to Ms. Klein, the iPad app has had the fastest adoption curve that the company has ever seen.

When consumers open the Seamless iPad app gives users two choices after logging into their – either use their existing order history to place an order or show a list of new restaurants.

The company decided to add on order history functionality after much consumer demand. And, Apple’s iPad provided a larger screen size to work with.

Consumers can then choose to either use their device’s GPS technology or type in an address to find local restaurants to order from.

Once a restaurant is selected, users can toggle different cuisines to filter the number of restaurant results.

When it comes to smartphone and tablet usage, Ms. Klein says it varies.

Consumers who are on-the-go tend to use their smartphone devices to place orders. On the other hand, consumers at home, tend to turn to their tablet devices to order their favorite meals.

Top Seamless mobile usage comes from iOS devices. However, the company is definitely keeping its eyes on Android and Windows devices.

Mobile-first
For Seamless, responsive design is a big deal because of its SEO value.

Furthermore, while the company has a mobile site, it views itself as app-centric.

Mobile ordering is becoming a big thing in the emerging space.

Consumers are becoming more tech-savvy and therefore relying on their mobile devices to place their favorite meals.

Companies such as Seamless help execute that well, as well as build loyalty among brands and customers.

“We want to incorporate our apps into our existing advertising,” Ms. Klein said. “If I can only get one customer today, I want a mobile customer.

“Mobile customers order more frequently than Web-only customers,” she said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York