Why Data Management and Activation with Salesforce is Crucial for Dining Loyalty Programs
Dining loyalty programs are a vital tool for customer retention and revenue growth; 86% of marketers say personalization strongly impacts customer relationships*. However, the success of these programs hinges on effective data management and activation. Salesforce unlocks the full value of your guest data so you can personalize every touchpoint across multiple channels.
Advanced Data Management for Loyalty Growth
Data is the backbone of any successful loyalty program. Disparate data sources can cause significant breakdowns in the effectiveness of your loyalty program. Ninety-four percent of business leaders feel their organization should be getting more value out of their data. Using a platform tool like Salesforce Data Cloud and Einstein AI, data is classified and stitched together to provide unified customer profiles, making it easier for organizations to pull valuable insights from their data to target, segment, and personalize customer experiences.
With Data Cloud, restaurants can connect, harmonize, unify, enhance, and activate by seamlessly integrating all customer data into Salesforce, regardless of the original source. Connectors easily bring various data sources, including unstructured data, with zero copy integrations to sync in real-time into the Salesforce CRM. Einstein then cleans the data to ensure high quality by automatically detecting and highlighting data issues and identifying and merging duplicate records for improved customer record accuracy.
Once the data has been unified into a single model, the full organization can share and view customer profiles as a single source of truth. This 360-degree view of the customer is then organized by matching and reconciliation rules, and any unique rulesets created by an organization for easy access to customer information across the business. This unification and rule-based segmentation makes it possible to understand what resonates with each customer segment to tailor loyalty experiences based on overall customer lifetime value, propensity to buy, and the next best customer action.
Data Activation for Personalization At Scale
Once the data has been cleaned and profile unification is complete, marketers can efficiently use guest data to create personalized experiences that resonate with individual customers and customer segments. The Salesforce Customer 360 platform provides a unified view of each customer and allows marketers to deliver personalized experiences at scale. These experiences can include offers and recommendations that enhance overall customer satisfaction and help drive repeat visits and higher spending.
For example, a customer, Sarah, exclusively orders vegetarian dishes from the restaurant. Salesforce can help identify this preference and send targeted promotions for new vegetarian menu items, special discounts on her favorite dishes, or content that shows how simple substitutions can be made to any menu item to make it vegetarian-friendly. This level of personalization makes customers feel valued and understood, fostering a deeper connection with your brand.
Optimizing marketing campaign performance hinges on effective data activation. Seventy-three percent of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs and activations. Activating the right data at the right time ensures that marketing messages are effective, and timely enhancing the overall customer experience.
Continuing with Sarah, the loyal vegetarian customer, the data shows she tends to visit around mid-day to order lunch. By creating a campaign focused on her dietary preference and daypart of choice, marketing messages can be sent out via SMS text, her preferred communication channel, an hour before a typical lunchtime, leading her to consider and order her favorite menu offering for lunch.
This may sound time-consuming for the marketing team, especially scaling this across several customer segments for daily marketing deployments. However, Salesforce's Journey Builder enables the creation of tailored customer journeys based on real-time data. For instance, if the data indicates that a particular customer segment responds well to email promotions, teams can focus on crafting compelling email campaigns for that group. Conversely, if another segment prefers social media interactions, tailor the strategy accordingly. This targeted approach maximizes the impact of marketing efforts and ensures resources are used efficiently.
Building Long-Term Customer Relationships
Beyond immediate sales and promotions, effective data management and activation build long-term guest relationships. By consistently delivering value through personalized, loyalty is fostered and trust is gained beyond transactional interactions.
Salesforce's Community Cloud can help cultivate a vibrant online community where customers can engage with the brand, share their experiences, and provide feedback. Consider implementing a loyalty program where customers can earn special offers or invitations to exclusive events by engaging with your brand on social media, writing reviews, or referring friends. This holistic approach to loyalty rewards customers for their overall engagement and encourages them to become brand ambassadors.
Once again, this is where Sarah can see increased value from interacting with the restaurant loyalty program. Say there is a new vegetarian menu launching for the summer. As a frequent customer, Sarah gets an SMS alert that asks her to take part in a challenge to get an exclusive invite to a debut event to taste the new vegetarian summer menu.
The challenge asks customers to take a picture with their favorite menu item, share it on social media, and tag three friends. Additional challenges could include asking Sarah to post in a special online forum exclusively in the mobile app that promotes customers sharing their favorite secret menu items or hacks to customize their meals outside of what is normally provided by the restaurant.
Sarah not only feels a greater sense of loyalty to the brand but this data can be fed back into Data Cloud and CRM to refine Sarah’s customer profile. The best part is that a customer is sharing real experiences, providing valuable user-generated content, and becoming a brand evangelist.
Adapting Dining Data for Technological Changes
The restaurant industry is rapidly evolving and new technologies continue to emerge. Effective data management and activation enable businesses to stay ahead of the changes by providing the flexibility to adapt their loyalty programs as needed. This agility is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in a tech-driven market.
Salesforce's scalable and flexible platform allows you to integrate new technologies seamlessly. For example, the rise of mobile ordering and payment systems has transformed how customers interact with restaurants. By integrating these technologies within loyalty programs, restaurants can offer seamless and convenient experiences that meet increasingly high customer expectations. Additionally, the awareness of technological advancements allows businesses to innovate loyalty initiatives, find new ways to engage guests and gather valuable customer data.
Noodles & Company Loyalty Success Story
Noodles & Company wanted to improve its digital ordering experience and revamp its loyalty program. To achieve this, they partnered with Bounteous and used a world-class CRM and Salesforce Marketing Cloud to create personalized customer journeys. Here are the five principles they followed:
- Let the customer guide the experience. Interactive emails engage customers and capture data, leading to personalized rewards and content. This tripled new member purchase rates.
- Generate engagement through personal recognition. Messaging is tailored to customer motivations, whether value or recognition, resulting in an 80% increase in email click-through rates.
- Drive action through targeted recommendations. Using motivational insights, personalized reward messages are sent based on guest point balances, doubling reward redemptions.
- Personal touchpoints through the customer journey. Key moments like ordering and pickup are used for marketing touchpoints, with real-time order confirmations improving engagement and reward signups.
- Monitor impact to fuel optimizations. Journey Builder allows for efficient testing and optimization of communications, leading to a 5X increase in revenue per email compared to ad-hoc campaigns.
To learn more about this Noodles & Company case study visit, https://www.bounteous.com/case-studies/noodles-co/
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Effective data management and activation are crucial for enhancing customer loyalty, improving marketing performance, and driving business growth. Investing in advanced data tools and techniques is essential for success. By prioritizing personalized experiences, marketing automation, and optimizing campaign performance, you can create loyalty programs that attract and retain customers, ensuring sustainable growth for your dining business.
*Salesforce Trends in Personalization Report, 2022
