Firehouse Subs is a rising star in the QSR industry. Launched by former firefighter brothers Chris and Robin Sorensen, Firehouse Subs currently supports over 900 corporate and franchise restaurants across the country. Since its inception, Firehouse has seen tremendous customer engagement success by offering a wide range of sub sandwiches in a family-friendly environment and by maintaining a strong community presence that encourages brand loyalty.
Recently, Loyalty360 spoke with Matt Olsen, Firehouse Subs Senior Manager of Digital Marketing, about the launch of a loyalty program called Firehouse Rewards. He also discussed how the brand is embracing mobile and digital technology to enhance customer engagement.
So how long has Firehouse Rewards been in the works?
Olsen: We have been working on this for a year and a half. That’s when we got together our marketing team here and various vendors and partners and we decided to build this loyalty program. We spent about 5 or 6 months building it and we’ve been testing it for about a year in some pilot markets, while tweaking things and designing the new app.
Since you support mostly franchise operations, was the program a hard sell? Or was there buy-in to support the loyalty program?
Olsen: A lot of franchisees have been asking for a loyalty program for a while. And I think in the restaurant industry, especially in fast casual and QSR, you almost have to have some sort of loyalty program just to stay in the game. They have been asking for it, and we have wanted it. So it wasn’t too hard of a sell. Especially when we showed them that we didn’t want to do just a basic digital punch card. We really wanted to have a program that was flexible and engages the guests.
What are some of the nuances of the program? How did you make it more of a unique application?
Olsen: One thing we decided early on was that we wanted this to be a points-based program. And we wanted it to be based on what customers actually spend. I have seen a lot of programs where guests earn a static amount of points based on a specific item, but then there is not always a lot of incentive to add on a drink or a combo. So by rewarding points based on what the guests spend, there is incentive there to add on to the order.
Beyond that, we also have a really fun branded game in our app. It is called Blaze Hopper, and it’s challenging and addicting. And, we are doing things to communicate with our guests. This is not just a “set it and forget it” kind of thing. We’re working with different partners to make sure we can reach out to guests who are lapsed. We want to reengage them. And we are also reaching out to guests based on their purchase habits to help make sure we are encouraging them to engage.
You seem to be taking more of a holistic approach to understand different customer needs and different expectations.
Olsen: Right. And that’s important for us. We want to make sure that we are consistently working to tailor that experience for each guest. The space is getting very competitive and so we need to find newer and better ways to connect with our guests through more relevant customer engagement. We are always looking at ways we can personalize the relationship.
How did you take the franchisees’ expectations into consideration when developing the technology?
Olsen: We have a large responsibility to our franchise owners. As much as this has to be a great customer experience for our guests, it also has to be a great experience for our franchisees as well. So we piloted the program in about 90 or so restaurants, and we really solicited feedback from our operators. We wanted to know how the cashier was doing, what issues guests were having, and so on. And we do this with anything that we roll out to the system. We want to make sure that we get as much feedback as possible.
How do you plan to keep the program evolving to keep up with customer expectations?
Olsen: We are always listening to guest feedback. I am a firm believer that reducing friction, especially in the mobile space, is really a key to repeat usage and repeat visits. Right now our app is making it easier to order on the go. It is easier to earn rewards with purchases, but we also want to keep making things easier and keep providing a positive experience. And our app in the digital space is a natural extension of our heartfelt service in the restaurant. We really want to know how we can do better. In the digital space, everything is so easily “tweakable” that it is almost silly to not get as much feedback as you can.
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.