Dominic Losacco, VP of Marketing, Moe’s Southwest Grill, knows full well the power of delivering a seamless mobile customer experience.
“Technology is allowing us to communicate with our audience how and when they want to be communicated with on social and digital media,” Losacco explained to Loyalty360. “For example, we know that our customers care about the quality of food they are consuming. As part of a redesign on moes.com, the website features a nutrition calculator to help our customers make informed choices at our restaurants. Providing a seamless experience to the mobile customer is an imperative part of our business.”
Over the past several years, Losacco noted, Moe’s has seen double-digit growth in both its mobile and catering sales.
“It (the mobile customer experience) continues to be a priority for us,” he said. “Due to the shift in mobile sales, and to meet consumer needs, we are testing a two-line operation model to handle the growing demand. The Moe’s in Manhattan near Bryant Park has this model in place.”
Founded in 2000 and based in Atlanta, Moe’s Southwest Grill is a fast-casual restaurant franchise that serves high quality and fresh southwestern food. Moe’s loyalty program, Rockin’ Rewards, has more than 1 million members and last year the company launched its loyalty app. Rockin’ Rewards allows users to not only track and earn rewards, they also receive a free cup of queso when they sign up.
“At Moe’s, we know that building a comprehensive loyalty program takes time,” Losacco said, “First, we focused on building our fan base and understanding baseline behavior. We now are learning to put a dedicated focus on growing our active users–those members who are using and interactive with our loyalty program beyond the signup offer.”
Customer behavior has changed at Moe’s in recent years.
“Our fans are now not only more comfortable ordering online, but they demand it,” he said. “This includes ordering through the app, website, and third-party vendors. We are testing delivery services and learning how to perfect this new way of bringing Moe’s to where our fans are (including Postmates, Grub Hub, Foodsby, and DoorDash). The biggest challenge is how best to maximize personalization within our loyalty database. One way that we do personalized marketing is sending messages via Rockin’ Rewards around Kid’s Eat Free offers. We have the ability to market only to those fans that have kids and we identify them through purchasing habits i.e. if they have ordered Kid’s Meals in the past. We are also looking into pushing offers to our fans on Rockin’ Rewards based on their location, time of day, and purchasing habits. That way we can reach our fans exactly when, where and with offers that interest them making it much more of a personal experience. We will continue to expand these personalized digital marketing efforts within our loyalty database.”
Losacco added that Moe’s leverages its Rockin’ Rewards program to engage with fans on national and local offers, including sports partnerships.
“For example, our restaurants in the Atlanta area have a partnership with Atlanta United, the professional soccer club based in Atlanta, and several other local markets have partnerships with collegiate sports teams,” he explained. “There is an untapped opportunity to leverage our fans’ loyalty to Moe’s and these sports teams together to surprise and delight them with offers that they care about.”