Taco Bell Runs For The Mobile

Taco Bell is trying to drive mobile ordering by offering customers a free Doritos Locos Taco with each mobile purchase made in January, Mobile Commerce Daily reported.

The fast-food chain will give away the free tacos through Jan. 31 or until it has given away 1 million of them, whichever comes first. The chain advertised the offer on its app download website, on television commercials played during ESPN’s New Year’s Day broadcast of the Sugar Bowl college football playoff.

The promotion’s Jan. 1 launch “saw the highest number of mobile orders in a single day to date,” said Taco Bell digital-experience director Jeff Jenkins.

Taco Bell rolled out mobile ordering and payment in late 2014. The app saw more than 1.4 million downloads on iOS and Android devices from October to mid-December. The goal was to let customers order before arrival at a bricks-and-mortar restaurant and to provide a slew of customization options — as well as to avoid miscommunication and order mistakes at drive-thru windows.

Customers can make their order and then pay through the app using a debit, credit or Taco Bell card, and select their pick-up manner of choice: in-store or in the drive-thru window. App-using customers can then skip ahead of the in-store line to retrieve their food, where they will be greeted personally by the cashier.