The HuHot Conquest Challenge increases visits, incremental sales and sales of specific menu items.
HuHot Mongolian Grill is a buffet-style concept, so most of its guests purchase grill meals (buffet meals) and will refrain from purchasing additional menu items. HuHot’s marketing team was looking for a way to increase sales of supplemental menu items on top of grill meals. Inspired by a limited-time-offer dessert, “Cookie Dough Conquest,” the marketing team developed a HuHot Conquest in hopes that it would encourage guests to purchase this dessert as well as other menu items.
After segmenting guests using an RFM model, HuHot designed a challenge that was appropriate for each segment. For example, high frequency guests were asked to purchase 4 entrees, 3 non-alcoholic beverages, 2 appetizers, and 1 dessert within a given time period. When the conquest was completed, the guest automatically received a $10 reward.
Personalized emails were sent to invite guests to participate in the challenge. And, after each visit, as soon as the check closed, the participant received an email indicating their progress toward the reward.
After the 27-day-long Conquest Challenge, HuHot saw an increase in visits, incremental sales, sales of specific menu items, and email open rates.
