Posts Tagged “guest engagement”

PDQ Restaurants Goes Hyper-Local with Paytronix Mobile Experience Builder

PDQ Restaurants, which stands for People Dedicated to Quality, has had a strategy of truly local engagement since it first opened in 2011. Each of its 62 locations across five states gets involved in local community efforts to build loyalty and engagement. That’s why when Paytronix released Mobile Experience Builder, the PDQ team was eager to get on board and put it into action.  

“Each of our locations gets deeply involved with projects like local philanthropy, supporting local schools, or sponsoring local youth sports. Mobile Experience Builder gives us the tools we need to create community-oriented experiences for each location that matters to those guests,” said Ken Bott, who leads Digital and Loyalty strategy for PDQ.

One of those experiences extends across four units in two states. Customers who frequent locations near where the New York Mets play, both on Long Island and near the Mets spring training facility in Florida, receive specific messages to support The Alonso Foundation. Founded by New York Mets All-Star First Baseman Pete Alonso and his wife Haley, the Alonso Foundation helps those in need by being a voice and standing up for those who can’t speak for themselves. The Alonso Foundation supports youth initiatives, animal welfare, and veteran’s aid as the core of its mission. The promotion started when the Mets kicked off their home season. Running through the first month of the season, guests are invited to round up their checks or make a donation, with 100 percent of all money raised given directly to the Foundation.

Mobile Experience Builder enables marketers to take advantage of geofencing tools to deliver store-specific promotions and messages. These are all designed to eliminate the need for costly third-party designers and developers while modernizing the management of branded mobile apps with real-time updates that save time, money, and energy on app maintenance. It also ensures that guests can access up-to-date information, including announcements and LTOs.

That’s what is happening at the Winston-Salem, North Carolina location, where guests get something entirely unique. It’s there that PDQ has created a co-branded partnership with Texas Pete. The two brands are testing a new recipe of Texas Pete Hot Sauce and PDQ’s signature Honey BBQ sauce. In a campaign called “Pete & Petey, a Match Made in Heaven,” PDQ offers a sandwich, nuggets, and tenders, all tossed in a unique combination of Texas Pete and PDQ sauces. The PDQ App home screen features the products so those guests are sure to know about the offer.

In the future, PDQ plans on executing these kinds of programs at all of their stores, giving local teams and community organizations the opportunity to communicate directly with their guests through the mobile app. It’s all part of the brand’s strategy to build loyalty and engagement.

Today, Paytronix looks a whole lot different. We have a new logo, new colors, and a whole new brand. But this isn’t about an instant transformation, it’s about making our brand match the company we’ve become.

Here at Paytronix, we’ve been innovating in the digital customer engagement space for more than two decades. We created the category.

Two Decades of Technology Growth

When we set out on this journey, technology was transforming the landscape, not just for restaurants and convenience stores, but for nearly every aspect of our lives. This was before the iPhone, when mobile devices flipped open. Most discussions of artificial intelligence were relegated to science fiction, and the innovative brands had just started to use digital technology to track core business functions.

With just 10 employees and a handful of clients, we defined the category of digital restaurant loyalty. Today we have 350 employees worldwide, passionately innovating for our more than 1,800 clients. When Newsweek named the top restaurant loyalty programs, we found 12 of our clients on the list. When Nation’s Restaurant News recently called out the groundbreaking loyalty programs of this year, our clients Wow Bao and Jimmy John’s were honored. We work with convenience stores that are on the edge of innovation, including Maverick, GPM, Kum & Go, Yesway, MAPCO, United Dairy Farms, and so many others.

A New Era of Digital Guest Engagement

We’ve changed with the times, both in our technology and our offerings. Often, we were the first in the industry with new technologies. We innovated on gift cards, e-gift, and even comp cards. We were on the forefront of using artificial intelligence to understand guest behavior and help our clients build effective programs on that knowledge. We began offering online ordering when it was still a small part of the market and have grown to become one of the two enterprise platforms in the space.

And while we innovated and changed our offerings, our brand remained stagnant. The result was a large gap between who we are and what we looked like.

When we went out and spoke with our customers, partners, industry leaders, and even our prospects, you told us a few things.

First, that we are the gold standard when it comes to digital loyalty. For this, we thank you. Yet, we now offer so much more than loyalty.

Second, that this new world of digital guest engagement is difficult, and they trust our team to help them through it. Through the pandemic, restaurants, convenience stores, and other retailers put together the digital tools they needed to survive, including loyalty, online ordering, messaging, mobile apps, CRM systems, and a host of other keys to digital engagement.

The challenge today is that these pieces need to align to be truly effective, and that’s what the Paytronix team is built to do.

And third, that our look and feel didn’t match the dynamic company they know. We believe our brand now matches our offering, and we hope you do, too.

So many of you have been clients for five, 10, 15, or even 20 years. We look forward to writing the next chapter of our joint success by keeping your guests happy and returning. After all, that’s what keeps our team motivated every day.

Panera Bread recently became the latest big-name restaurant brand to enter one of the hottest segments of the loyalty market: subscriptions. We’re proud to be part of that launch, as the program is built on our loyalty platform.

At $8.99 per month, the MyPanera Coffee subscription gives customers unlimited coffee or hot tea for the price of about four cups of coffee. This program exemplifies how smart, forward-thinking brands are embracing subscription models.

Subscription programs tend to operate in one of these three ways:

• Recurring payments – As with the Panera program, subscribers pay for a given time period. Cancellation can occur at any time.
• Lump-sum payment with time-bound usage – The industry standard is Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Pass, which allows unlimited meals for nine weeks. Limiting the number of passes sold provides customers with a sense of exclusivity.
• Lump-sum payment with limited times or items – An example is the Grill Pass offered by HuHot Mongolian Grill. Last summer, loyalty members could spend $50, $100, or $200 to buy 5, 11, or 25 meals. 

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Last night the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-91 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. As a result, I’ll be watching Game 2 at Buffalo Wild Wings.

The last time I visited the chicken wing/sports bar concept I played the Spin & Win game on the Blazin’ Rewards app. This is a gamified component of the brand’s loyalty program and members like myself have an opportunity to play every time they visit during the NBA postseason. Each visit allows one “spin” in the app. Every spin reveals a team with an upcoming playoff game. If that team wins its next game, the guest earns 100 bonus points towards a reward.

When I played during a lunch visit earlier in the week, my spin landed on the Warriors. When they won last night, I earned 100 points, giving me enough currency to earn a free entrée. Now I can’t wait to go back for Game 2 this weekend so I can redeem my reward and play again to give myself a shot at 100 more points. […]