Dig Inn to meet consumer needs better

The brands that are powerful today are not those who try to sell a story. Brands are only powerful when they can deliver what customers will value. Every consumer need has been met in some sort of way. So how are brands able to meet these needs better?

Let’s talk about Dig Inn.

If you look at the fast-casual restaurant industry, there are a million brands already satisfying customer needs: serving food, quickly, to people on-the-go. So why need another brand to do the same thing? Yes, Dig Inn does provide a “healthier” menu. So it targets a more niche customer segment, one that values clean ingredients, low-calorie meals, high in nutrition. But other brands already offer this to consumers, for example, Sweet-green, Chopt, or Tender Greens. So how did Dig Inn do this better? By listening to what consumers want, and delivering a story that satisfies just that.

According to an article on Nielsen, customers today are motivated to care about corporate sustainability, they expect companies to care about the environment, and are showing this care through the products that they buy. Consumers expect that companies care about Corporate Social Responsibility as a whole. Dig Inn has embedded these as part of its core company values. This is true for many brands. But what Dig Inn has done differently is that the brand has shown consumers that this brand value is true to what the brand believes in.

How does the brand do this?

The brand uses Marketing to let consumers know about its brand values. Let’s start by analyzing the company’s website. A website is very important because this is where the customer will likely go to during the information search phase of the consumer decision model.

Specifically, the content in Dig Inn’s website demonstrates high-quality images, with effective colors that are well put together to describe the brand. The website UX on the desktop is easy to use, as it is clear in guiding the customer’s actions depending on the purpose of visitation. This is done by a heading at the top with labels that are easy to find, and easy to distinguish between. The UX on mobile is just as simple to use. The same images and messages are displayed on mobile, in a way that also invites consumers to keep reading.

Brand Personality

The website reflects the brand’s personality. The landing page shows us a striking picture of one of its products (bowls), with bold colors that invite the customer to become curious about tasting the product. This is done to grasp initial customer interest before reading more about the brand.

Immediately (without needing to scroll down any further) a customer would see a picture that demonstrates the brand’s value (in this case of a cow) with the message “This is an Ecological Restoration Tool”.

This captures a customer’s attention to want to learn more about the brand’s sustainability, and it immediately sends a message that the brand cares about the quality of its products and where they come from.

If I were to click on the tab “Menu”, the first option that comes up, before any nutritional information, is “Mindful sourcing”. A page, devoted to an explanation of what the brand does to care about the value.

Unlike other brands, it does not just say “we value corporate social responsibility” but it lets consumers know that they do through their actions.

This is also demonstrated in its “our story” section describing the mission, vision, and brand values, and it’s also taken further through numerous articles on the brand’s blog.

Drawbacks

Even though the brand communicates its values well through the website, I believe that it needs to make room for some improvements. Firstly, the tab “Menu” might get some customers confused. As described above, the options that come up are “mindful sourcing” and “nutritional information”. But the website does not communicate where the restaurant’s menu is under these labels.

Another drawback is that a banner that says “sign up to receive our newsletters” pops up when visiting the website for the first time. This can be very frustrating for consumers and may cause them to exit the site immediately.

Finally, the food is not as good as it looks! The UX digital platform does not match the in-store experience. The food looks messy on counters, and products do not look as fresh or of high quality. For any brand, good marketing is necessary, but so is a good product.