Scott Hudler, Dunkin’ Brands’ Vice President of Global Consumer Engagement, told Loyalty360 on Monday that he is very excited about the launch of the Dunkin’ Donuts DD Perks Rewards customer loyalty program because it is a result of extensive research with customers, franchisees, and crew members.
The DD Perks Rewards program offers guests nationwide points toward free Dunkin’ Donuts beverages for every visit they make at participating Dunkin’ Donuts locations. By early February, Hudler said the DD Perks program will be fully integrated into the Dunkin’ Mobile App for mobile payment.
“This program is fully integrated into the POS and guests receive rewards on a receipt, through an email, or log into their account online,” Hudler said. “We feel like it’s a much better program for our guests and for our franchisees.”
Hudler said Dunkin’ Donuts had a customer loyalty program in 2011 called Dunkin’ Dollars and that program lasted about a year.
“That program was based on spend and customers received a cash discount in the mail,” Hudler said. “Some of the challenges with that were they weren’t single-use rewards. Rewards could be used more than one time. And there was the timing of getting rewards to guests that was going on a monthly basis.”
With DD Perks, Hudler said company officials did their homework.
“We did a lot of work understanding consumers, our franchise, our crew members, and asked them what they were looking for in a loyalty program,” Hudler said. “We wanted to know what went into a relatively clean and easy program to launch.”
The DD Perks loyalty program allows guests to earn five points for every dollar they spend on qualifying purchases at Dunkin’ Donuts when they pay using an enrolled Dunkin’ Donuts Card, either plastic or via the Dunkin’ Mobile App. Once a member accumulates 200 points, he or she receives a coupon for a free medium beverage of choice, redeemable at participating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants.
What’s more, DD Perks members will receive exclusive, personalized, special offers to earn bonus points for specific food and beverage purchases. DD Perks members can also share their free medium beverage reward coupons.
Hudler said customers don’t want the opportunity for an extravagant grand prize. They want something attainable.
“Instead of us having some type of program where you earn points and win a massive prize, we wanted a program for customers who come in every day and reward them with a free medium beverage because that is much more attractive to customers and much more attainable,” Hudler said. “We want to deliver that 1-to-1 marketing to our guests.”
Hudler said Dunkin’ Brands will continue to refine its reward offerings.
“We’re in a constant learning mode,” he said. “We want to refine our offerings to meet the needs of our guests.”
Dunkin’ Donuts Cards are available in-store for amounts ranging from $2 to $100, at many grocery, pharmacy, and big box retailers, as well as through the Dunkin’ Mobile App and at www.dunkindonuts.com. Dunkin’ Donuts Cards never have fees and they never expire.
Dunkin’ Donuts has 10,800 restaurants in 31 countries worldwide.