New Redcat & Impact Data study finds customer marketing sweet spot

Published B&T

A new study from digital marketing platform Impact Data has found that sending between seven and nine personalised messages to hospitality consumers can increase their revisit rate tenfold.

The study analysed data from 11 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) customers of specialist hospitality IT provider, Redcat, at various times between May 2019 to April 2022.

In analysing the behaviour of over 500,000 individual consumers, Impact Data calculated their next expected visits, and used that data to trigger personalised communications (sent via email or SMS) to encourage them back in store.

The study found:

• Consumers are 2 – 5 per cent likely to revisit a relevant QSR within a 5 – 7 day period without receiving any personalised messages.
• Consumers are up to 20 per cent more likely to revisit a relevant QSR within a 5 – 7 day period after receiving a personalised message (email or SMS).
• The optimal number of messages to send to consumers during their lifecycle – and achieve the 20 per cent hit rate – is between 7 and 9.

“The main takeaway from this study is simple: QSRs have to talk to their customers. If they don’t, those customers are unlikely to come back,” said Impact Data Director of Sales & Marketing, Sarah Franklyn.

“People look at their phones on average 87 times per day. Modern loyalty programs are starting to take advantage of this trend, triggering behavioural-based communications that keep customers engaged.”

“It’s a form of ‘hands-free’ marketing that uses customers’ expected visits to inform when and how communications are sent.”

While the study found that between seven and nine messages to consumers is the sweet spot, the content of those messages remains vital.

“You can’t just be spamming your customers for the sake of it. You need to invite them back in store and let them know that they’re valued,” said Redcat Director of Sales and Marketing, Lawrence Pelletier.

“The messages should be timely, intimate and personal. They don’t necessarily need to include an offer or a discount – but they should at least encourage the customer to come back, or let them know they have loyalty points to use.”

Redcat’s customers – which include giants of the Australian QSR space such as Nando’s, Grill’d, Boost Juice, Chatime and others – have seen an average of 12 per cent growth in the spend of their loyalty members and 20 per cent increase in member visits since implementing the tech company’s platform.

“We are always looking at innovative ways that we can help our partners communicate with their customers and maintain a strong level of brand loyalty and trust,” said Pelletier.

“Our collaboration with Impact Data is a great example of this, as we use the real-time data at our disposal to help inform and promote best practices in the QSR space.”