21 Case Studies of Restaurants using Mobile Marketing to Get More Customers
Mobile Marketing is growing and local businesses can no longer ignore it, there are many many restaurants that have used mobile marketing in different creative ways to attract more customers to their location successfully. In this article we will going to take a look at different case studies from restaurants are taking advantage of mobile advertising, banner ads, apps, geo targeting, foursquare and waze to get loyal customers and keep in touch with them.
1) Potbelly Used Mobile Ads to Sell Sub Sandwiches
Potbelly is a restaurant chain in the USA is using Mobile Ads to sell Sub Sandwiches to consumers around their store location during launch hours. Because Potbelly operates with physical stores across the country, they had to target only customers that lived near within certain radius from one of their restaurants.
Potbelly worked with Placecast to design and promote with mobile ads. They Set up a five mile geofence around some Potbelly restaurant locations in illionis, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC, Indiana and Maryland.
Geofences mean that they use GPS technology to set virtual boundaries around your local address. These is very helpful if you have a local business with any number of locations. This way you will get the most return on investment on your advertising because you are only reaching people that are in close proximity with your business location.
Potbelly deployed an in app mobile banner ad using placecast to promote their new sandwich called “Flats” and their campaign had a 1% click through rate.
Source: SingleGrain
2) Carls jr used Video on Apps to get Customers
Carls Jr and Agency ran a video campaign powered by Opera Mediaworks getting ready for the Super Bowl Spot. They made short 10 second videos that automatically play on apps such as Time Inc People CelebWatch, USA Today, Shazam and Pinger.
Once the short video ends, the viewer can watch four extended campaign videos or click to save one dollar coupon to their phone.
“The Video Ad was developed to be watched in 8 to 10 seconds, which is the sweet spot for mobile video” said Tom Dunlap, chief production officer at 72andSunny
The Video generated 42% completion rate, which is outstanding given that the norm is around 25% on mobile and 1.14% of people click through after the video ended, which is more than double the average .5%
Source: adweek
3) Chuck Cheese used Text Messaging to Grow their List
Chuck Cheese found that they can get customers to sign up to their email list using text messaging and grow their list. This resulted in 5% of all new email sign ups coming from this method.
But they also found out that emails collected by Chuck E. Cheeses trhough text message opt in had an open rate 10% to 20% higher than other methods. Chuck Cheese used an advertisement telling customers to text message their email address to the SMS short code 35505.
Then customers that texted their email address, received a text message response thanking them for joining the Chuck E- Club and telling them to check their email inbox for an exclusive welcome coupon.
Source: Tatango
4) Pieology used Mobile Ads in a 3 mile radius around their Location
Pieology is a fast casual pizza restaurant and has become the fastest growing chain in America with 60 units in 11 states. Pieology lets customers customize their pizzas.
Recently Pieology was opening a store in North Charleston and to let people know about it they used Geofencing. They used a 3 mile radius around the store to promote their business with the help of Elementor502 Agency.
They sent mobile ads of the restaurant to targeted active mobile devices in a 3 mile area. They did this campaign for 1 month and had some great results. They measured the number of people that clicked on the ad and they number of people that visited their site.
They sent a total of 200,000 ads, 537 people clicked on the ad to get more information and 377 people that view the ad visited the restaurant.
The cost per visitor was less than $6 dollars and the cost per lead about $4 dollars.
Source: Element502
5) Taco Bell used Mobile Advertising to Target Specific Behaviors
Taco Bell used technology to reach its audience in the morning as part of a campaign to promote its breakfast menu. Taco Bell is working with Aki Technologies, a mobile advertising company that targets mobile moments. Aki targets ads based on specific behaviors like what apps consumers use first in the morning, their favorite news apps or at what time of the day someone looks for a breakfast recipe.
Taco Bell has also used Wishbone, an app that lets users create mini polls that ask their followers to pick their favorite photos. Taco Bell is using the app to ask people to pick between its new flatbread quesadilla or a piece of flat bread.
Taco Bell also placed Ads on Waze Traffic Navigation App to promote the 12 pack each saturday morning aiming to target people using waze that were likely on their way to watch college football, because the 12 pack is ideal for a footbal party. They later extended the campaign to Sundays for the NFL games to promote their Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco during Launch time.
Ads appear on Waze as physical destinations on a map. On average a 3% of users who see an ad click on in and express purchase intend by hitting the “Drive There” button.
Source: digiday
6) Maggianos Little Italy used Facebook Local Ads to Get 20,943 store visits
Maggianos Little Italy wanted to reach potential new customers and encourage them to visit the restaurant. The Restaurant Chain also wanted to test the efficacy of the store visits objective in increasing foot traffic at all the brands locations.
Maggianos Little Italy partnered with Polygraph Media, a facebook marketing partner, to run dynamic local ads for its multiple restaurant locations. These ads feature the same creative across each location, but are dynamically filled with unique information such as directions, contact number, a viewers nearest location.
The ads were dynamically targeted to men and women living near a Maggianos Little Italy restaurant. The target radius shifted dynamically to enable facebook to deliver ads to people most likely to visit the restaurant.
The brand also partnered with Facebook Creative Shop to develop and A/B test different creative elements of its ads.
The results were great, they boosted traffic to its restaurants across the country. The 2 week campaign also achieved 6X return on ad spend and 20,943 store visits.
They were able to find new customers near the restaurant and track how many of them ultimately visit after seeing their ad.
Source: facebook
7) Pizza Hut used Mobile Technology to target Families at their most receptive Time
Pizza Hut ran a campaign using mobile first technology to promote its Cheesy Bites, with an ad inviting users to touch the screen and pull a section of a cheese filled crust, which stretches to a thread of cheese once pulled. The touch interaction triggers an animation that then raised the Pizza Hut logo to reinforce the brand.
The Campaign was created by Adludio, ran one ad on all devices targeting families and couples when and where they would be the most receptive, on lifestyle sites in popular days and during times of pizza orders.
Pizza Hut has also improved its app to enhance their customer experience, so they can order more quickly looking up for the nearest pizza hut and reorder their favorite pizza.
Source: thedrum
8) Chick Fil A used a Video Ad Promo to get customers to download their New Order Ahead App
Chick Fil A is the largest quick service chicken restaurant chain in America, they wanted to roll out a new order ahead app, but they new that getting noticed and downloaded was going to be a challenge in a crowded market of apps.
The app helps to order faster without going through the drive through or waiting line at the restaurant. So they needed a campaign that would drive awareness and downloads in the already cluttered app environment.
Chick-fil-A and its agency The Richards Group, used YouTube and the Google Display Network to let people know about their campaign on a mass scale and build excitement.
Chick-Fil-A offered a free chicken sandwich as an incentive for those that downloaded the app.
The campaign featured a video app promo ad that run on Youtube True View Ads ( those are video ads that appear before a youtube video starts) and they also ran banner ads across the Google Display Network.
In just days Chick Fil A app was the #1 downloaded free app in the Apple App Store.
The results were 1 million app downloads in 3 days, 7 million views of the app promo ad on youtube and #1 free app in the app store.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpYE-tIZ1lg
Source: ThinkWithGoogle
9) Dunking Donuts used Instagram and App Games to get Social Engagement to their Brand
Dunking Donuts has used different ways to market in the new social and mobile environment such as making app games.
However this season Dunkin Donuts is hosting a Halloween costume contest on instagram for the chance to be featured on the Dunkin Donuts Times Square Billboard in New York City and receive $2,500 dollars and a years supply of coffee.
Dunkin fans can show off their Dunkin Donuts costume by posting their photo to instagram using a special hashtag #DDHalloweenContest.
They also made an interactive game called Donut Pop on Snapchat, to match dressed up Halloween donuts to score points and unlock exclusive snapchat Geofilters and Lenses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS3nSb6JBC8
Source: MarketingDive
10) A&W Targeted Young Canadians to get Brand Awareness
A&W is a fast food Canadian restaurant chain. They wanted spread the word to young Canadians that they are the first national burger restaurant in Canada to serve beef raised without the use of hormones or steroids, chicken raised without the use of antibiotics and eggs fed a vegetarian diet without animal by products.
A&W posted a sponsored campaign targeted to young Canadians during a 5 week period. The photo ads featured beautiful close ups of A&W most loved menu items.
The campaign also showed elements of A&W new fast food dining experience, like shots of breakfast on china plates and the restaurant natural design such as wood tables and metal fry baskets.
Results measured by Nielsen Brand Effect showed that the ad campaign helped to start to shift consumer perceptions and had a positive impact on brand awareness, increasing ad recall by 39 points and 4 point lift in brand association between A&W and quality.
Source: instagram
11) Mc Donalds created a Native Ad Campaign to Connect with Millenials
In order to connect with millenials and teen on a more thoughtful level and increase sells, Macdonalds created a Native Ad Campaign.
The Ad says “This is Where your McCafe comes From” and a second line of copy indicated that the ad is sponsored by McDonalds.
When a user clicks on the Ad it expands a 30 second Youtube video which showcases how McDonalds coffee is made through a very time consuming process with arabica coffee beans.
McDonalds has placed a lot of emphasis on digital marketing in the last years, including mobile ordering and loyalty app test program
Source: Mobilemarketer
12) BJs Restaurant created a Order Ahead Mobile App
BJs Restaurant opened a new Mobile App that has made Dining Out with kids fun again and worth it.
Its called the BJs Restaurant Dine in Order Ahead Mobile App also known as the Parents Secret to Eating Out.
Once you download the app, you start planning your family night out. First you select a day and time that you would like to eat at BJs Restaurant, then you fill out your families order, You pick your drinks, entrees and desserts in one quick order form.
Once you submit your order you are on a Preferred Waiting list and your meal will be in already queue, so when you arrive to the restaurant everything is being taken care of.
This way the food gets delivered minutes after you arrive and there is not going to be long waiting times trying to entertain the kids.
Source: BuildingOurStory
13) Aj Bombers used Foursquare to Double their Sales
AJ Bombers is a burger Restaurant in Milwaukee which attracted 161 Foursquare users from a total of only 400 total foursquare users in the area, they doubled typical Sunday sales, with an increase of 110% that day.
Foursquare is a location based mobile app, people use it to check in at locations and earn badges based on a variety of factors, like frequency check ins, etc.
To attract people to the restaurant and raise money for a social media community event, they promoted the possibility of restaurant goers earning the coveted Swarm Badge, which is awarded to users who check in at a location where over 50 other users are checked into at the same time.
The restaurant raised $500 for the event.
Aj Bombers realized that many of its restaurant fan base was on foursquare. They promoted the event using twitter and facebook fan connections.
Aj Bombers attracted over 50 people required to award the Swarm Badge and generated a lot of buzz for the meetup via social networks.
Source: HubSpot
14) Shakeys Pizza Parlor used Location Based Targeting to Reach Hispanics in a Designated Area
Shakey Pizza Parlor used GeoAudiencer Targeting to increase Click Through Rate 8.7%. The Restaurant with the help of Thinknear location based audience targeting techniques, deployed a campaign to target Hispanics within two large designated market areas also called DMAs.
They created two Groups: Generic Targeting and Test Group
In the Generic Group they targeted all mobile consumers within two designated market areas without applying an audience filter. It served as a control group, the creative was standard in both groups.
In the Hispanics within Target DMA they targeted consumers within the same two designated market areas but applied a Hispanic audience layer by targeting neighborhood groups within the DMAs that were at least 50% Hispanic.
The campaign had two creatives: Pizza Chicken Mojos and Bunch of Lunch. The strategy was to appeal to the Hispanic Population in Spanish and English languages.
The Result was that the Test Group targeting Hispanics outperformed the Control Group by 8.74%.
The Spanish language creative outperformed +20.50% the control group, while the English creative underperformed -10.68%
Source: ThinkNear
15) Harvester used Mobile Vouchers Successfully
Harvester leverages apple passbook functionality to offer innovative mobile voucher campaign.
Harvester wanted to reach relevant consumers in the UK and offer a great experience of downloading and redeeming a mobile voucher.
Harvester and their technology partner Eagle Eye collaborated with Millennial Media to create a campaign that offered consumers £5 off their bill when spending £30 or more.
Source: Millennial Media
16) Houlihans Leveraged Foursquare to get more Customers to their Locations
Houlihans Restaurant in Castleton Square, Indianapolis found out how they can leverage Foursquare to get more customers to all their 61 locations across the country.
Foursquare is an app for where users can check-in places with their smartphone to share locations and collect points and badges.
The company has a promotion for customers to receive a complimentary order of “frites” on every check-in on foursquare. Also the user with the most number of days of check-ins at a specific place within the past 60 days (also called Mayors) receives 10% off all food items.
In their Castleton Square location they are even giving a free dessert on each check-in and first time Mayors receive a $25 gift certificate. This aggressive approach helped Houlihans increase sales tremendously.
They are using Foursquare as a loyalty and reward tool for their guests to keep them coming.
The Restaurant Chain also uses Foursquare for Social Media Tweetups that they held once a month.
Source: CentralRestaurant.com
17) Olive Garden used a Mobile Banner Ad on News Apps to get people to visit their Locations
Olive Garden is using a mobile ad campaign to get people to visit the restaurant locations.
They ran mobile banner ads along the bottom of the NBC 4 New York iphone app, that encourages users to click with a copy that says: “Taste the lighter side of delicious”
They placed a call to action at the bottom right hand border of the banner ad to view either a map or menu.
When a consumer taps on the ad with the map call to action, a landing page comes up that pulls in content from Google Maps. Consumers will see a map with the nearest Olive Garden Restaurant based on their devices built in GPS.
If the consumer clicks on the menu call to action a landing page loads with Olive Gardens low calorie meals, where they swipe photos to check all the different options and nutritional information of each meal.
Source: RetailDive
18) Papa Murphys used Text Messaging to get 16,000 new SMS Subscribers
Papa Murphys the worlds leading take n Bake pizza franchise has used SMS marketing campaign successfully. They got a 17% redemption rate on their promotions in 2010.
When they launched their text message campaign the goal was to get more customers. Using the SMS keyword “MYPAPA” to the vanity SMS short code 95323 customers were rewarded with special text message deal up to 4 times a month.
Deals like $5 dollar Chicken Beacon Artichoke pizza generated redemption rates of more than 9%, but the biggest redemption rates they got from text message marketing was with a $5.3 topping pizza that generated 17.9% redemption rate.
Papa Murphys text message campaign in Kansas City reported 16,000 new SMS subscribers in one year. They used in store signs, tent pop ups and online optins to build their text message campaign database, they now have more than 100,000 SMS subscribers.
Source: Tatango
19) KFC used Navigational App Waze to increase Awareness to Surrounding KFCs
KFC targeted young consumers by teaming with Navigational App Waze to lend the voice of brand mascot Colonel Harland Sanders, who gave turn by turn GPS directions and point out nearby restaurants.
The cross-partnership with Waze brings humor into customers days.
While The Colonel will guide pople to their final destination of choice, he will also point out KFC restaurants along the route. This strategy is very effective if the driver is hungry and may want to stop for a bucket of chicken tenders.
By adding the Colonels voice to navigation, KFC push its brand messaging, establish consumer trust and increases awareness of surrounding KFCs.
Restaurants can take advantage of this navigation technology by advertising on Waze and make drivers aware of their restaurant when they are near them.
Source: WeareFetch
20) Southern Seafood uses Geo-Fencing to Attract more customers around their Location
This seafood restaurant wanted to build awareness of their new menu item and drive traffic to their restaurants.
They used an agency called Local PagePop that can deliver targeted ads at the very moment consumers are thinking about somethings to eat. They delivered ads to consumers searching for Quick Service Restaurants using geo-fencing around the restaurant location.
They ran a GeoFencing Campaign telling users to click on their banners to view their menu. They targeted a 4 mile radius around their 2 locations and linked them directly to their menu.
They got 200,000 impressions that resulted in 889 clicks a 0.44% Click Through Rate
Another way they can attract customers is using Geo-Retargeting, they deliver ads to consumers that have frequented your restaurant locations in the past.
Source: localpagepop
21) Papa Johns used Geo-Fencing to Promote their Super Bowl Promo Code Loyalty Program
Papa Johns franchise ran a mobile ad campaign using Geo-fencing services to promote their Papa loyalty rewards. Thumbvista helped to run mobile ads for 4 new locations with a Super Bowl promo.
They ran the Super Bowl promo code ads in average 2.5 miles in distance around 4 locations with banner promoting Free Pizza with Super Bowl promo in Papa loyalty rewards.
The results were 68,000 impressions, 469 actions were taken resulting in .69% Click Through Rate
Source: Thumbvista
If you want to see more case studies of businesses using mobile marketing and other digital marketing channels to get more customers subscribe to our Newsletter or contact us if you need help with your local business at Uenda.com
We are constantly looking for new ways to market your local business and marketing trends that you can take advantage to expose your brand and get more customers. Mobile marketing is evolving and we will see many new creative ways that restaurants and other business use to reach potential customers around their area.