Rotisserie Rewards Boosts In-Store Customer Experience
Casual Dining continues to be one of the hottest growth markets for customer loyalty. Boston Market’s launch of Rotisserie Rewards is evidence that the chain recognizes the value of embedding incentives into its store experience to drive additional visits and sales.
We always like to see brands go “all in” when launching a new program. After all, why make the investment to marshal technology, marketing communications, and promotional dollars only to whisper “hey, we have a loyalty program”? If you visit the Boston Market website you can’t miss the announcement of Rotisserie Rewards. An interstitial page blankets the top of the website with an invitation to create an account and set communication preferences. For customers who click out of the page, there are several reinforcing messages to trigger enrollment.
Mobile Becoming Leading Channel for Customer Loyalty
The program is app based, another signal that mobile is becoming the leading engagement channel for customer loyalty. Chain restaurants have been seen to start their customer loyalty from the “inside out”, meaning they start with online ordering and payment, then add loyalty later. Chick-Fil-A is a good example of a brand that walked through this progression. As a small nod to this trend, Boston Market invites customers who already have an online ordering account to use their credentials to join the program quickly.
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One small disappointment in execution is that customers can’t learn much about the program without enrolling. This oversight garners at least one Loyalty Asterisk™ for Boston Market, as program rules should be made publicly available (at least an overview) to help people make a good decision about enrollment.
Yes, you can read articles in the trade press or an official press release from Boston Market, but many customers won’t have the time or patience to suffer through the process. Though we haven’t yet walked in a store to see the point-of-presence material, we are trusting that Boston Market makes the value and rules of the program readily available in its stores.
New Program Incentives
One last note on making a big splash when launching a new program: Boston Market will award the first Rotisserie Rewards Member to accumulate 10,000 Points by giving away 2,000 Pounds (One Ton) of their favorite “World Famous Boston Market Sides”. At 6-8oz per portion that provides mac and cheese to a lot of people.
We are hoping that instead of this monstrous award resulting in a prank worthy of viral video, it might ultimately benefit a local food bank to feed the 100’s of people who would really appreciate the nutrition.
