Quick-Service Restaurants' Recipe for Relationship Marketing Success

The pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world. And for those slow to keep up with the evolution, it will be difficult — if not downright impossible — to reach the right customers and remain profitable.

According to McKinsey Global Institute, data-driven organisations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times as likely to retain customers and 19 times as likely to be profitable as a result. To stand out in the saturated QSR space, it’s imperative to embrace digital transformation to power relationship marketing or risk becoming antiquated.

Serve up better experiences with unified data

A single source of truth, or unified data, is the foundation of any digital ecosystem. It combines meaningful, reliable data from multiple systems into a single view that’s more accurate, more complete and truer than the data from any single source alone.

Unified data acts as a complete record for all relevant customer information across the system, including all chains, franchises and subsidiary brands. Simply put, a unified individual profile includes identifying information about customers, the channels they use to interact with the restaurant, their dining transactions, most recent interaction with the brand and the offers they reacted to positively. These are the very things marketing teams can turn to when they want to be certain they have the most up-to-date data on a particular customer.

Achieve competitive advantage with next-gen loyalty

Without unified data, QSRs will struggle to affect real ROI from any loyalty initiatives. However, once the single source of truth is cemented, next-gen loyalty can be achieved. Fully-formed loyalty programs are crucial for restaurants because they’re the entry point into their digital ecosystem. And the most frictionless medium in which most people join a loyalty program is by downloading the QSR’s app. Apps open QSRs to a mountain of opportunity with digital ordering and communication channels. Even more, they open the door not only to loyalty programs but to building more meaningful digital relationships as well.

Loyalty is about more than undercutting the competition next door or giving away a free order of hot chips on the customer’s tenth visit. Modern diners expect comprehensive loyalty programs that go beyond generic ‘points-win-prizes’ incentives and discounts. The core of loyalty is not merely the cheapest price point; it’s a restaurant brand that can foster community, recognise the customer as an individual and deliver content and bespoke deals that reflect this.

In fact, Cheetah Digital’s 2022 Consumer Trends Index showed a 110% lift in people wanting to be treated as an individual. Even more, over 50% of customers say they are comfortable sharing their data with a restaurant brand in exchange for better digital service. Yet, many in the restaurant space still invest far more resources in acquisition strategies than retention. For restaurant marketers, there should be no greater achievement than locking in a loyal customer — one who not only has an affinity for its menu and brand promises but will also pay a little bit extra or travel a little bit further, if required.

24% of diners are not loyal to a given restaurant brand because it did nothing to encourage their loyalty even though they are a frequent customer.

Connecting at the right time

There are numerous touch points in which QSRs should be connecting with their customers, however, email is a big one. According to Cheetah Digital’s 2022 Consumer Trends Index, when it comes to driving sales, email beats paid social and display advertising by up to 228% in Australia — 120% higher than consumers globally.

At the same time, in today’s digital and interconnected world, the importance of tailoring relationship marketing efforts to be mobile-first rather than merely mobile-responsive can’t be overrated either. To put into context, a staggering eight out of every 10 digital minutes reside on a smartphone. It’s clear that a fully-fledged mobile strategy is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for restaurant chains but a cornerstone of its digital strategy.

Customers interact with an average of six digital touchpoints when engaging with a restaurant. These include social media, payment through wallet and offers from SMS or email to name a few. Importantly, however, all of these touchpoints can be directly accessed through mobile. And the upside to this is that restaurant brands can gather vast amounts of customer data, opt-ins, preference insights and behavioural data to no longer infer but anticipate what a customer is likely to do next.

As people’s behaviours have modified during the pandemic, and more time has been spent on additional screens and different channels, powering cross-channel messaging from unified data empowers a restaurant marketer to more closely align with customer expectations, improve the relevancy of messaging and make that all-important connection on the right channel at the right time.

Connecting email, SMS and the like to a data platform allows QSRs to drive engagement with customers through data-driven messaging. They can define customer audiences, using the most up-to-date customer profile and run queries on large data sets. Then they can apply analytics in real-time, such as content and menu recommendations, as well as send at the optimal time, trigger campaigns based on online behavioural data or other real-time events.

Additionally, with a data platform, QSRs can go beyond static lists or antiquated relational databases. They can rely on other unique identifiers beyond email like a phone number or social media profile, for example. This helps restaurant brands tie together many different attributes, providing a clearer view of customers and optimising their experiences.

Did you know?

- 51% of people have downloaded an app for a restaurant.

​Satisfying customers’ hunger for better personalisation, privacy and fun

Build loyalty amid the ‘privacy paradox’

Upon the impending deprecation of third-party cookies and with increasing privacy legislation sweeping the globe, consumers are increasingly cognizant of the value of their data. They want more personalisation but also demand greater transparency and control over their data. It’s a term now coined the ‘privacy paradox’.

Where privacy was once an afterthought of many brands’ go-to-market strategy, it is fast becoming as vital a differentiator as price, product and customer experience. For proactive brands, rooted in permission-based marketing and a fully-fledged privacy-first strategy; this is an opportunity to enlist relationship marketing to forge more honest, meaningful connections with consumers.

​Bakers Delight is one APAC brand taking advantage of the opportunity. The franchised bakery chain turned to Cheetah Digital, one of CM Group’s world-class martech solutions, to implement an omnichannel rewards program to reward its loyal customers, and the results were nothing short of phenomenal.

The ‘Dough Getters’ loyalty program was rolled out across Australia and New Zealand in more than 500 Bakers Delight bakeries. In one month, the program gained more than 200,000 sign-ups, putting the chain 30% ahead of target. Even more, members were spending an average of 25% more per transaction.

For Bakers Delight, partnering with Cheetah Digital enabled them to transition to a strategy that emphasised a delightful customer experience, customer loyalty and insights, which further enabled them to engage customers throughout their lifecycle.

“After thoroughly evaluating the market, it was clear that Cheetah Digital was the only partner that could deliver an all-in-one solution to support us in achieving our business objectives and deliver a seamless customer experience,” says Kristy Elsworth, Loyalty, CRM & Digital Marketing Manager at Bakers Delight.

“From developing a deeper understanding of our customers to driving brand loyalty, we know Cheetah Digital has the capabilities to support us in both the short- and long-term. The data security and reduced latency that Cheetah Digital offered us with their market first Engagement Data Platform that resides in Australia was a defining factor in our decision-making.”

Foster loyalty with ‘fun and games’

By deploying interactive marketing experiences from quiz contests to photo campaigns, QSR brands can increase zero-party data collection, build brand affinity and engage foodies on every digital touchpoint. KFC is one restaurant brand that harnessed the experiences powered by incentive mechanics to tell compelling, interactive brand stories across every digital channel.

To drive engagement around New Zealand’s hit reality dating TV show, Heartbreak Island, TVNZ 2 published a mobile-first Tinder-inspired swipe poll to its Facebook page. Sponsored by KFC, fans could vote on the hottest couples of the week, using intuitive controls and by submitting their personal details to be in with the chance to win a vacation from Helloworld NZ.

Once completed, participants were then provided with poll results, showcasing the three hottest couples voted for. To motivate fans to get involved, entrants were provided with a carousel, replete with digital coupons to download and redeem at various KFC stores. The poll captured valuable first- and zero-party data and marketing opt-ins for both KFC and Helloworld NZ.

Boost sales and zero-party data capture with incentives

To increase sales and capture valuable zero-party data, Domino’s set up a coupon campaign where customers were able to receive a free pizza when they had a purchase of $5 or more. To take part, participants had to visit Domino’s website and enter their personal details to generate a redeemable coupon code. The campaign received 8,000 shares and 20,000 entries.

Boldly embracing digital transformation

Years from now, when the pandemic’s impact on global business is analysed, it’s likely that the most striking change will be how it accelerated digital transformations. While many restaurant brands were challenged to survive in the short term, the crisis also presented opportunity. And the bold restaurant marketers that invested ambitiously into their digital infrastructure emerged as market leaders with the secret ingredient for winning: relationship marketing.

Even with lockdowns and movement restrictions largely a thing of the past, 39% of restaurant customers say they plan to continue to enjoy delivery rather than in-house dining. To win, restaurant brands must focus on key customer experience drivers, providing a consistent and seamless user experience whatever the touchpoint, implementing loyalty that rewards as an individual, safeguarding data and privacy and offering true personalisation.

Find out more in Cheetah Digital’s Restaurant Revolution: Serving Up Better Customer Engagement guide here.