Case Study
Enhancing Restaurant Loyalty Program Tracking with Emotional Insights
overview
Our client, a well-known restaurant, has been conducting an annual tracking study to assess their loyalty program. This research is conducted among both current program members as well as non-members to understand its strengths and weaknesses with particular emphasis on its features. The results are put into the context of competitive loyalty programs. However, after receiving the results from the most recent wave, our client sought to elevate the tracking; specifically, they wanted to uncover nuanced shifts in customer perceptions and sentiment of competitive loyalty programs. Our client contacted us to take over the tracking study, knowing we provide innovative solutions. With our client’s goal in mind, C+R partnered with The Rational Heart to gain insight into the emotions that the loyalty program evokes among consumers.
THE PROBLEM
Making Sure Loyalty Program Stacks Up
Like any other loyalty program, our client’s program is intended to retain customers, increase revenue and differentiate themselves from their competitors. A tracking program gives our client the insights needed to take a critical look at specific features – what’s working and not working, with an eye toward opportunities to exceed member expectations and enroll new members. Knowing that emotion drives memory and decision-making, our client specifically wanted to incorporate an easy way to assess consumers’ emotions into the tracking study – whether they are base, complex, or higher order emotions.
OUR APPROACH
Tracking Study, with The Rational Heart Component
With the current tracking program in place, C+R needed a quick, efficient way to capture the latent emotions of consumers. We knew immediately that The Rational Heart would be a perfect component to include in our established tracking study. The process, a short 3-minute modified Max Diff exercise, was extremely easy to incorporate and seamless to the respondent.
The result
Informing Marketing Strategies and Strategic Direction
By using our tracking survey and incorporating The Rational Heart modified Max Diff exercise, we were able to provide those nuanced insights our client was looking for, helping them to inform:
- Marketing Strategies: Identified key program elements that significantly boost customer satisfaction and drive membership retention and acquisition, providing targeted insights to amplify marketing communications.
- Strategic Direction: Delivered critical insights into the client’s brand performance relative to competitors, highlighting core strengths and pinpointing improvements.
Our client was thrilled with how we elevated the tracking study by marrying cognitive and emotional responses, providing the roadmap they needed to holistically understand their loyalty program.