From the beginning of the twentieth century, entrepreneurs began to actively use discount promotional coupons and gifts, which were invested in packaging with goods. Such sellers’ actions were often of national scale and enjoyed great success with buyers. However, this simple mechanic had an obvious disadvantage – marketers were not able to either collect statistical data about customers, or send a proposal to a narrow target group, or conduct a detailed analysis of the effectiveness of actions. As a result, a man buying a box of cereal for breakfast at the store could get a completely unnecessary children’s toy, and a vegetarian buying a frying pan would get a discount coupon in the meat department. Communication with the consumer was one-sided.
With the development of business trading catalogues, and then with the advent of modern cash software loyalty programs have reached a completely different level – building a dialogue with the consumer. The main breakthrough came in the 1960s with the advent of magnetic stripe plastic cards. Since then, when speaking about the program for privileged customers or, in the case of the restaurant business, entrepreneurs have become less and less likely to focus on indicators of increasing revenues or the number of transactions per se. First, they began to assess the possibility of creating and developing a database with services like Emma and, already indirectly, through proposals tailored to specific target groups, increased the average purchase frequency of regular customers.
Guests can be defined across several metrics, all of which are specific to the individual needs of the business and their guests. In this report, we focus on four metrics that impact the DC Restaurant Group guests, and distinguish the guests at each location from one another:
How often do guests visit the restaurant?
Do guests also visit other restaurants?
Do guests dine with large parties?
Do guests provide feedback to the restaurant?
These identified metrics help Venga to build unique profiles of every guest visiting each restaurant in the DC Restaurant Group. Our direct OpenTable POS allows Venga to also unlock any additional actionable visit, purchase, social data so your restaurant can nurture every guest experience.
These profiles drive restaurants like DC Restaurant Group to develop more targeted marketing campaigns. Here’s more on how they did it….
DC – Concept 1: The Loyalists
Guests love DC Concept 1. They come back for a second visit, they visit other restaurants in the group, they talk about their experience online and with friends. In marketing emails, you can strike a more familiar tone with these guests and strengthen your base of regulars.
Bethesda, Maryland: Neighborhood Spot
Bethesda sees more regulars than any other restaurant, but the guests tend to stick to the neighbourhood and venture to other locations less often.
The store is average in the customers it attracts and has more large parties and guests leaving feedback.
Crystal City, Virginia: For Your Big Event
More large parties are dining at Crystal City than any other location. And they are socializing their experience, too! This location is a bit of an outpost, so driving guests to dine more than once a year —particularly those bringing in large groups—will boost loyalty and sales
DC – Concept 2: The Standby
DC Concept 2 does not have as many regulars as other restaurants, but it is still being visited once a year by those who visit other downtown locations. These guests may be the most interested in marketing about other Group restaurants.
DC – Concept 3: An Older Crowd?
DC Concept 3 is engaged online less than any other restaurant. This may mean less tech-savvy patrons and an older crowd. Since the location is still sharing plenty of guests with other downtown restaurants, this is the one spot where in-store brand marketing may help drive more loyalty.
DC – Concept 4: In Need of Some Love
Despite being a five-minute walk from other downtown locations, the store sees 25% less traffic than the other stores. There are also fewer large parties and not much chatter online. Put together, these factors suggest a heavy dose of marketing can boost Atlanta covers.