Posts Tagged “marketing”

The convenience store chain’s National Pizza Day campaign grows orders by 10x

Making a splash with pizza is a tall order, even in the best of circumstances. But standing out on National Pizza Day? That’s a whole different level.

Family Express ran a hyper-personalized digital marketing campaign powered by Paytronix Loyalty to introduce guests to their pizza – and keep them coming back. The campaign helped the convenience store brand reach record numbers for daily pizza orders, achieved sustained lift, and earned deeper guest loyalty.

With 81-units, Family Express is well-known for providing great service to its guests, but also for its food offerings. The brand recently rolled out bean-to-cup coffee and high-end tea on top of its custom food offerings like bakery items made in-house.

But only 30 units offer Cravin’s to Order, which includes hot foods like pizza, boneless wings and breakfast items. And the pizza is far from off-the-shelf.

When National Pizza Day rolled around, they wanted to offer a deal that would not only introduce guests to their pizza, but would keep them coming back. The offer was simple: 2 XL pizzas for $12. But it’s the rest of the work that made this deal break through.

Using Paytronix Loyalty, the Family Express marketing team segmented its audiences to find those who they could hit with the right message at the right time. By looking just at those who visited one of the locations with Cravin’s to Order, or a nearby store, within the last 60 days, they avoided frustrating those who couldn’t partake in the deal.

To top it all off, they chose not to run any in-store signage. In other words, this was a test of how well the digital marketing program could drive on its own.

On National Pizza Day, they broadcast the offer as an app notification and orders began trickling in. But it was a 2pm email that triggered a flood of orders.

“It was the best kind of mayhem, and our people did an amazing job in the kitchens keeping up with the demand” said Thierry Lyles, Head of Digital Marketing for Family Express. 

A few hundred open orders flowed through within the first 90 minutes. When it was done, Family Express had nearly 10 times the number of typical daily orders – an all-time high. The benefit spilled over beyond pizza, with add-on purchases raising the average ticket price to $18.  Mobile ordering accounted for most of the traffic, with 70% of online orders coming in through that channel.

The story of Family Express’s National Pizza Day extends past its holiday debut. Today, the brand’s benefiting from a 10% sustained lift from the previous month’s digital sales. Pizza fans who may have visited at the word of a good deal, are sticking around for the value of the loyalty program.

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.

There’s some tasty news to celebrate this summer. Delish Sisters, a fresh and wholesome food brand from South Africa, opened its first-ever U.S. location at Clemson University’s new The Shepherd Hotel, a full-service accommodation that employs individuals with disabilities.

Delish Sisters sought out Paytronix technology for online ordering and delivery, customer loyalty, gift cards, and the launch campaign. As part of the Paytronix Gives Back program, the cost of the programs were covered in full.

According to the Delish Sisters’ website, the eatery’s collaboration with The Shepherd Hotel and the ClemsonLIFE program brings, “a team concept with heart, centered around empowering and employing people with special needs/abilities.” The Shepherd Hotel was founded with the mission of positively impacting lives, while ClemsonLIFE empowers students with intellectual disabilities. Paytronix could not be more proud to have a customer that supports this mission.

Though the original plan was to launch in March, construction delays had no damper on the Delish Sisters’ opening day. On August 8, gorgeous green plants, a bouquet of fresh flowers, and freshly baked croissants were arranged neatly in the light-filled restaurant. Employees smiled as Delish Sisters welcomed its first customers—just in time for fall semester.

To learn more about how Paytronix helps its customers create frictionless customer experiences, visit https://www.paytronix.com/platform/.

Paytronix knows all about building exceptional guest experiences, thanks to continuous input and guidance from the best. At this year’s PXUX, Smashburger founder and food innovator Tom Ryan will translate his expertise into ideas that will work for you.

In fact, this year Smashburger earned the 2021 Paytronix Loyaltees award for Marketing Innovation Icon. Smashburger’s use of AI to IA ^sm in the relaunch of its data-driven SmashClub Rewards program drove 6.5% of overall sales growth in 2020. The company spurred sales by tapping into guests’ individual preferences and developing personalized, one-to-one marketing campaigns. […]