Listening to customers and effectively implementing changes based on that input lead to brand loyalty--just ask Taco John’s, a Mexican quick service restaurant chain with locations in 25 states. Receiving and acting on guest feedback drives the entire customer experience, according to Shawn Eby, Vice President for Operations, and Billie Jo Waara, Chief Marketing Officer.
The company has grown from one restaurant in Cheyenne, Wyoming to more than 400 nationally, yet it maintains its local feel, and officials understand the disparate needs of their customers.
“For more than 40 years, it’s been about quality Mexican menu items and great customer service,” Waara told Loyalty360. “We have made real connections to the local communities we serve. As we continue growing throughout the country, we knew we needed something to use as a benchmark across all regions.”
InMoment, a cloud-based customer-experience optimization platform that allows companies to listen to and engage with customers to improve business results, has assisted Taco John’s in its quest for guest feedback.
With its recent partnership with Taco John’s, InMoment provides the technology for Tell TJ, Taco John’s guest-satisfaction survey program. Invitations to take the survey are printed on receipts and packaging, with the incentive to get free menu items like a soft-shell taco upon completion.
Eby said the surveys allow employees to stand out by providing excellent service. InMoment technology Taco John’s to uncover insights from the unstructured data in guest comments. For example, if a customer calls and refers to an employee by name when citing excellent service, InMoment can pull out that name and highlight it on weekly and monthly reports.
InMoment gives Taco John’s a trend report which breaks down the survey answers into several categories, such as friendliness, guest satisfaction, and speed of service.
“When the program was new, our numbers were low,” Eby said. “Since then, they’ve continued to grow as we address the things we hear.”
Waara added: “We love the direct feedback. We like the metrics and seeing scores improve month-over-month means we are meeting, and beating, their expectations.”
About the Author: Mark Johnson
Mark is CEO & CMO of Loyalty360. He has significant experience in selling, designing and administering prepaid, loyalty/CRM programs, as well as data-driven marketing communication programs.