Relevance, when combined with the acquisition of real-time customer insights, holds the key to a successful loyalty program.
Take, for example, sandwich shop chain Quiznos, which recently launched a new app-based customer loyalty offering (Toasty Points).
Tim Kraus, Director of Innovation and Interactive for Quiznos, told Loyalty360 that the company has rewarded its guests through a variety of loyalty programs for the past 10 years, including Qclub.
“Toasty Points allows us to reward guests for the purchases they make at Quiznos, as well as influence future purchasing decisions,” Kraus explained. “The app allows us to gain real-time insights about our customers, understand what they love about Quiznos, and provides a way to connect with customers in a one-tone manner at a mass scale. Our goal is to get 20% of our customer base into the program. We’ve already seen more than 25,000 signups to date, which shows Toasty Points is solving a relevant need for our customers.”
Customer loyalty is very important at Quiznos.
“It has to be universal, create a valuable experience for our customers, and be a profitable program for our stores,” Kraus said. “To us, loyalty means our customer chose Quiznos over other restaurants and that’s something we love to see. Toasty Points provides a customer experience that encourages additional visits by rewarding each purchase made at Quiznos. For existing customers, this app provides value, instant insights, and feedback opportunities to make sure we are listening and understanding our loyal customers. Quiznos Toasty Points is one of our top priorities for this quarter and moving forward. We are focusing on converting other existing loyalty programs into this new channel.”
Toasty Points is not only a marketing focus, but also an operations focus.
“Execution is just as important as the user experience and we’re working closely with our franchise owners to ensure the in-restaurant execution measures up,” Kraus explained. “Toasty Points allows us to create a more sophisticated user experience due to the access to real-time customer feedback. This app provides a simple, concise user experience with many sophisticated features underway on the back end.”
Kraus said the company uses a variety of metrics to measure customer loyalty, including: Total members, total visits, repeat visits, average loyalty transactions, average spend, discount rate, menu items purchased, loyalty member sentiment, general social sentiment, store feedback, and employee feedback.
“All of these help us gauge success and set goals,” Kraus said. “At Quiznos, we’re always paying attention to the ever-changing technology landscape and how our customers engage with the brand. For this reason, mobile is one of the most important pillars of our marketing strategy. As our target customers are increasing the time they spend on mobile devices, we continue to focus on effectively and efficiently reaching them, utilizing mobile targeting and enriched mobile experiences.”