If you run a restaurant in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, or Qatar, you’ve likely considered listing your restaurant on Deliveroo for food delivery.

Deliveroo has a large user base in all these markets and processes over 290 million orders yearly. In addition due to it’s high quality UI and more premium branding, it regularly attracts a more affluent user base often leading to higher average order value (AOV) for restaurants that list on the platform.

For these reasons, Deliveroo may represent a huge revenue opportunity for many restaurants.

But there’s one catch.

Deliveroo is: 
‍
A. Highly competitive environment for both visibility and sales in the app.

B. Increasingly complex set of features and options for restaurants to promote themselves.

For this reason, restaurants and food delivery businesses are increasingly paying closer attention to optimization and promotion strategies available in the app to get ahead of competition.

In this article, I’ll explain the techniques and strategies used by the biggest delivery brands to increase brand awareness and visibility on Deliveroo and ultimately drive more delivery revenue.

Surround sound marketing: understanding the Deliveroo app

When it comes to optimizing your restaurant on Deliveroo it’s useful to understand two key principles of marketing on the platform.

1. How the homepage UI and carousels work
2. How the discovery algorithm works

On Deliveroo your restaurant can appear to the user in multiple locations in the app. In the many different carousels on the homepage, in the generic list or when a search is performed.

Being visible in as many places as possible in the app is the foundation of marketing on Deliveroo. 

At Revly we call this Sound sound delivery app marketing

Getting the most visibility and orders on Deliveroo isn’t just about spending the most on in app ads or having great brand awareness through social media. 

It’s about strategically targeting and using all the features in the app, both organic and paid, to become as visible as possible to the app users you want to attract to your brand. 

The Deliveroo app can vary slightly by region but broadly they tend to follow a similar UI and layout in all their cities and regions.

As you scan through the app, the Deliveroo homepage has following sections for app users:

‍Top daily deals - Restaurants offering discounts (includes paid ads)

Featured - Premium, high value sponsored ad listings

Popular brands - Algorithmically driven list of restaurants with high order volume and high ratings (includes paid ads)

Everyday low delivery fees - Restaurants with low delivery fees

Offers near you - Restaurants with offers and discounts (includes paid ads)

Top picks in your neighbourhood - Algorithmically driven list of restaurants with high ratings close to the users locations
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Only on Deliveroo -  Restaurants that have an exclusive partnership with Deliveroo and cannot be ordered through different apps.

Cheap eats - Algorithmically driven list of restaurants with a menu priced lower than average 

Generic list of restaurants - Algorithmically driven list of all restaurants in the delivery area ranked by popularity, delivery time and other metrics. (Includes paid ads)

Knowing this, you can see there are many techniques, strategies and features you can use to gain visibility on Deliveroo. 

Deliveroo is always trying to provide its users with as much value and variety as possible in order to influence user behaviour and drive more orders for restaurants on the platform.

As you build your strategy on Deliveroo, consider how each offering appeals to different types of customer and behaviour and whether it makes sense for your brand to target that section.

Here’s a few examples of analyzing Deliveroo categories with a view to building your marketing strategy. 

Popular brands

Why it’s important: This section highlights well-known and trusted restaurants with high ratings and strong reputations (e.g., Five Guys).

Impact on decision-making: Users often associate popular brands with quality and reliability. Appearing here boosts credibility and attracts customers looking for familiar options.

Key takeaway for restaurants: Strive to build a strong reputation through high ratings and excellent service to naturally appear in this section.

Also invest heavily in brand building on social media and guest experience to drive more word-of-mouth. 

Offers near you

Why it’s important: This section appeals to cost-conscious customers by showcasing discounts, limited-time offers, and promotions.

Impact on decision-making: Discounts create a sense of urgency and encourage users to choose a restaurant offering more deals than competitors.

Key takeaway for restaurants: Offering strategic discounts (like “30% off selected items”) can help attract bargain-hunters and boost short-term sales.

Everyday low delivery Fees

Why it’s important: This section highlights restaurants with low delivery fees, which can be a deciding factor for users trying to minimize costs.

Impact on decision-making: Delivery fees are a polarizing topic for both users and restaurants.

Many app users are naturally drawn to low delivery fee options if they suspect that in general there are hidden or high delivery fees on the app.

Key takeaway for restaurants: Competitive delivery fees can attract a particular, perhaps more tech savvy, type of customer and drive more orders.

Only on Deliveroo

Why it’s important: Restaurants featured here are exclusive to Deliveroo, creating a perception of special access and exclusivity.

Impact on decision-making: Users seeking unique or exclusive options are drawn to this section, and it also boosts brand differentiation.

Key takeaway for restaurants: Partner with Deliveroo for exclusivity agreements and receive more favourable commission rates but expect to receive far fewer orders overall. 

Cheap eats

Why it’s important: This section targets budget-conscious users looking for affordable meal options without compromising quality.

Impact on decision-making: Clearly labeled discounts or value meals help customers make quick decisions when looking for cost-effective options.

Key takeaway for restaurants: Positioning affordable menu items strategically can help a restaurant get featured in this section and capture a wider audience.

Seasonal Campaign Banners (e.g., Festive Season)

Why it’s important: Seasonal banners capture users’ attention by aligning with current events or celebrations.

Impact on decision-making: Users may be drawn to restaurants participating in these campaigns because they fit the mood or occasion.

Key takeaway for restaurants: Join Deliveroo campaigns to be featured in seasonal campaigns and adjust offerings to align with the theme (e.g., holiday-themed menu items).

The importance of sponsored listings on Deliveroo

In addition, paid ads feature heavily in many carousels throughout the app.

This means a complete marketing strategy will always include some type of paid strategy to boost visibility.

Because of their prominence in the app, ads and discounts represent the largest marketing opportunity for restaurants.

Sponsored Listings

Sponsored listings on Deliveroo are CPC ads that can appear throughout the app. 

‍Generally Deliveroo ads are a great choice when your goal is driving any type of direct revenue focused marketing, such as new customers and top and bottom line growth. Ads can also perform well as part of any on-going brand awareness initiatives.

Deliveroo sponsored placements are a pay for performance strategy designed to get your brand seen by as many people as possible, the increased visibility will reliably convert into more orders as well.

How to get better results with Deliveroo Sponsored Listings

Deliveroo advertising is getting more expensive. The competition is fierce in most cities which means brands are focusing on optimization to make their budgets work harder.

Here are the best strategies to optimize your Deliveroo ads:

• Target by hour or meal period to reach your audience when they're most likely to order.
• Optimize for delivery location to focus on high-demand areas.
• Optimize for profit if maximizing revenue is your goal.

Doing this manually can be time-consuming. Many brands are turning to purpose built marketing platforms for Deliveroo ads to simplify the process.

Benefits of using a specialized marketing platform:

• Automate hourly bidding to save time and maximize ROI.
• Aggregate performance data across locations to see what works.
• Get pre-calculated metrics to easily optimize for profit.

For many, apps like Deliveroo are consuming more and more marketing spend which means specialized tools that help optimize that budget are becoming mission critical for restaurants involved in food delivery.

Deliveroo Promotions (aka Offers and Discounts)

Promotions on Deliveroo allow restaurants to apply discounts to their menu, helping attract more orders and reach new customers.

Promotions are one of the most effective tools for driving significant increases in revenue on Deliveroo. However, they can also have a noticeable impact on profit margins.

For most restaurants, understanding the role of discounting is essential. It’s a powerful strategy that’s a key part of nearly every successful food delivery operation.

Ignoring discounting often means leaving both revenue and profit untapped. Like all marketing efforts, discounts can deliver substantial benefits to a food delivery business—when used strategically.

How the algorithm works on Deliveroo

Like all social media, ecommerce and search engines, Deliveroo uses a ranking algorithm to show restaurant listings to users. The Deliveroo algorithm controls how visible you are inside the app when users search for the menu items you sell.

The basic idea behind all delivery app algorithms is to give the user the most seamless and best delivery experience possible.

This means Deliveroo uses app usage data to promote restaurants its users already like. In the end, increasing organic visibility is all about increasing customer satisfaction.

The result is that restaurants that are already performing highly on the app are boosted up the ranking.

What does highly performing mean?

High performance is a collection of in-app metrics that combine to give an overall score that determines how visible a listing is for any search.

Organic optimization strategies on Deliveroo

Bringing it all together we can understand how to optimize your restaurant on Deliveroo for increased organic visibility .

There are several key metrics that impact how you show up in organic carousels

Excellent Ratings (4.5+ Stars)

Ratings not only influence user trust and selection, but also influence showing up in certain Deliveroo carousels.

Maintaining high reviews through a high quality and consistent product but also by resolving any issues that do arise are your best bet here. An average rating of 4.5 stars is considered a good rating to aim for an optimized profile on Deliveroo.

Faster Delivery Times

Responding to user demand for quick service, Deliveroo specifically promotes restaurants with fast delivery in the app.

To optimize performance on third-party delivery apps, streamline menu items to focus on fast-prep dishes and use standardized packaging for efficiency. 

Reduce order processing delays and provide clear pickup instructions with a designated area for drivers. Monitor app analytics to identify bottlenecks, adjust staffing for peak times, and limit delivery zones to nearby areas for faster transit.

In the end a delivery time of 25-30 minutes is much more appealing to certain users than a 40+ delivery estimate. 

Competitive Delivery Fees

Delivery fees are often one of the determining factors in user decision making on Deliveroo. A low delivery fee is often attractive as delivery fees can often make up a sizable percentage of the total value of an order.

Deliveroo gives you the ability to set your delivery fee so this is a control over what restaurants show up in the low delivery fee carousel. 

How to improve orverall organic visibility on Deliveroo

Just like other delivery apps, improving your Deliveroo organic visibility is all about tracking and improving the key metrics that define success on the app.

Some we have already discussed above, like ratings, but there are many other metrics that go into ranking highly in Deliveroo.

An easy way to get started with Deliveroo algorithm optimization is to look at the operational analytics inside of the Deliveroo platform.

Alternatively, specialized tools for tracking delivery app performance metrics can help streamline this, and make it a lot easier to find and address issues, as well as see performance over time.

Delivery app visibility metrics to look out for:

Gross Revenue: This is calculated by multiplying the total number of completed orders in a given time period by the average basket size.

Deliveroo uses this metric to highlight restaurants that generate the most orders and revenue, showcasing them more prominently to users.‍

Order Rejections: This measures the percentage of orders rejected by the restaurant out of the total orders received. High rejection rates can negatively impact user experience and, consequently, reduce the visibility of the restaurant’s listing on the platform.‍

Offline Time: This refers to the amount of time the restaurant is marked as offline during its official opening hours. Restaurants that are online and active more consistently are ranked higher.‍

Orders with Customer Complaints: This is the percentage of orders that receive customer complaints relative to the total number of orders. A higher rate of complaints typically indicates a decline in customer experience and can affect visibility on the app. Keep the complaints low.‍

Order Delays and Preparation Time: This metric tracks the number of orders delayed in leaving the restaurant. Frequent delays can lead to lower customer satisfaction and impact the restaurant’s ranking.‍

Customer Ratings: This is the average star rating out of 5 that customers give for their delivery experience. High ratings are a key indicator of customer satisfaction and can enhance the restaurant’s visibility on the app.

It’s important to remember that metrics used by algorithms aren’t static.

For example, rather than relying on a fixed, all-time average of ratings, an algorithm might use a rolling average that updates weekly or daily.

This means that if a product or service receives poor ratings in the past, it has the opportunity to recover and improve its visibility over time as recent ratings are factored in.

Wrapping It Up

Understanding the UI, carousel options and how the app works are the key to getting the most visibility on Deliveroo.

Organic visibility, advertising, and discounts are the three main ways to promote your restaurant on Deliveroo so that you appear in as many places across the app as you can.

Not all types of carousel may be relevant to your business or operations but targeting as many that do make sense is the best approach to optimization presence on the app.

The key to success is putting data at the center of your marketing strategy. A data-driven approach helps you run campaigns that consistently deliver results.

For many restaurants, using specialized marketing software alongside Deliveroo’s platform is the most effective way to grow revenue and profit on delivery apps.

Further reading:

How to promote your restaurant on Talabat