Sumo Sushi & Bento Case Study
Happy Customer at Sumo Sushi spot.Waiting for photo content from Sumo Sushi.
Building true loyalty among millennials by drastically upgrading the customer loyalty experience
About Sumo Sushi & Bento
Our restaurants were launched in 2000 by four entrepreneurs who fused their love for family, food, quality, and service to create the first Japanese casual dining restaurant in the UAE.
Today Sumo Sushi & Bento has 20 outlets in 5 Middle
East countries
Our mission is “Bringing Happy to Japanese Dining: Good People, Good Food and Good Fun!”
*Department of Economic Development, DED, Dubai
12,000 restaurants*
>1000 new restaurants every year
30+ direct competitors who also specialize in Japanese cuisine
We compete in the hyper-competitive Dubai market where there is a high concentration of Millennials – our key audience
>40% Millennials
0-4 5-910-14
15-1920-24
25-2930-34
35-3940-44
45-4950-54
55-5960-64
65-6970-74
75-7980-84
85-8990-94
95-99100+
14.1%
12.5%
8%
4.7%4.2%
4.9%5.1%
12.6%
11.6%
9.3%
6%
3.9%
1.8%
0.9%0.4% 0.1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
UAE 2018 Population: 9,542,843
How do we stay competitive and meet the demands of our Millennial audience?
Our main challenge:
55% of millennials identified convenience as a top driver in purchasing food compared to baby boomers who prioritized taste.
The International Food Information Council’s 2017 Food and Health SurveyA recent assessment of 12,300 Millennial consumers in 63 categories conducted by Brand Keys, Inc., the New York City
Based on our research, we understood that Millennials value convenience and emotional connections with brands
7030 20
80
1985 2015
Ratios of Emotional vs. Rational Values in Millennial Brand Decision-Making
Rational Emotional
Today Millennials’ decision process is emotional
We wanted to provide customers a mobile app experience where they could easily:
● Get rewarded for being a loyal customer with exclusive offers
● Place orders ahead of time to avoid lines
● Recommend the restaurant to friends and family
● Be the first to find out about new promotions and menu items
● Send us reviews and feedback directly
From the business side, we wanted a CRM where we could:
● Send targeted and relevant offers
● Receive and respond directly to customer reviews
● Track and understand customer behavior (what’s our core audience demographics, how often they visit us, what’s the retention rate, etc)
● Easily manage the app content
Thus, we decided to rethink our entire customer loyalty strategy. We wanted to build emotional connections with our customers by taking a personalized “mobile first” approach to loyalty
White Label Mobile App
Customer Behavior Analytics
Marketing campaigns
CRM Marketing & Analytics
CMS
To help implement our vision, we partnered with LoyaltyPlant which offered us a comprehensive mobile engagement and loyalty solution
Customer Success Manager to maximize ROI of the mobile app solution
Expert technical support for corporate team, employeesand end users
Expert Support
The center of the new loyalty strategy was our branded mobile app
It allowed us to have our brand in our customers’ hands every day and provide them with all the features necessary to execute our new loyalty strategy:
1. Loyalty program
2. Mobile ordering
3. Personalized offers
4. Marketing Automation
5. Feedback forms
6. Referral program
Here’s how our loyalty & ordering app looks
1. Loyalty Program
As part of our vision, we wanted to offer a loyalty program that increased emotional engagement with the brand
Approach:Design a mobile loyalty program that is easy to use and visually rich
Business objectives: ● Reward our best customers ● Incentivize repeat purchases● Be easy to use by our restaurant staff● Increase emotional engagement with the brand
Loyalty Program
12
Having the loyalty program in the mobile app is super convenient for both the customer and restaurant staff
After making a payment for an order customer clicks on “Loyalty Card” section of the app
Earning Points flow:
Customer gets loyalty points right after the card is scanned: 1 AED spent = 1 kenji coin (1 loyalty point)
Customer lets the employee scan the QR-code from their phone
Loyalty Program
The customer chooses the reward from the visually rich catalogue and clicks “Redeem”
The visually appealing and interactive redemption process creates an emotionally positive customer experience
Customer easily checkstheir points balance and see photos of available rewards
Redeeming rewards flow:
Then the customer shows the QR code to a waiter to scan it and gets the reward to enjoy
Loyalty Program
112% growth in time spent in app rewards catalogue
September 2018
On average for September, the user spends 00:33 min for one session, looking through rewards catalogue
August 2018
453,634 – Average # of points accumulated a month
138,890 (30.61%) – Average # of points redeemed a month
On average for March, the user spends 01:10 min for one session, looking through rewards catalogue
March 2019
March 2019
747,025 – Average # of points accumulated a month
404,230 (54.11%) – Average # of points redeemed per month
76% growth in loyalty program engagement
Loyalty Program performance
17.2% Average app penetration in corporate locations
1,400 Customer base per location with filled questionnaire collected in the first 3 months
Loyalty Program
2. Mobile Ordering
Mobile ordering functionality enabled us to address our Millennial customers’ demand for fast and convenient order placement
Approach:Offer a super convenient mobile ordering customer experience
Business Objectives: ● Reduce wait time for customers● Deliver flexible payment methods ● Add a new revenue stream● Transform occasional customers into frequent guests● Reduce third party delivery costs
Mobile Ordering
Customers order in app by selecting the order type (Delivery, Takeout or Eat-in) and choosing the delivery or takeaway location
The super convenient order placement creates the whole new customer habit
Customer chooses menu positions while searching through visuals. Rewards (redeemed from loyalty points) can also be added to the order
Loyalty points for the order are received after the order is processed
Mobile Ordering
11.8% Mobile Ordering penetration in non in-store orders in just 4 months
Mobile Ordering performance
Every 5th order of app useris a mobile order
6% of the business = mobile orders through the app in just 4 months after launch
+4.8% Average monthly revenue is brought by mobile ordering
Mobile Ordering
3. Personalized Offers
● Defining the marketing strategy with expert guidance of Customer Success
● Sending engaging push notifications that open to dedicated, visually rich in-app campaign pages, also incorporated into the main screen
● In the end you get the campaign ROI report with detailed campaign statisticsCampaignlaunch
The CRM platform enabled us to create targeted Win-Back campaigns that reactivated dormant customers while maintaining a positive ROI
Approach:Maximize ROI by only sending the offer to those customer who have not visitedin X days
Business Objectives: ● Bring back dormant customers ● Generate a measurable ROI
Personalized Offers
Target customers get engaging push notifications that open to dedicated, visually rich in-app campaign pages, also incorporated into the main screen
The personalized and relevant messaging (“We miss you”) increases the emotional impact of the offer and overall customer experience
Special offers are empowered with a call-to-action button which significantly increases probability of an impulsive decision to make a purchase in-store or via mobile ordering
Personalized Offers
71% weekly orders amount increase (comparing week before the campaign and week during the campaign)
6.6% Conversion – share of customers who made an order thanks to campaign
0.5% average monthly revenue generated through the campaign
Targeted Win-Back campaign results
Campaign launch
Personalized Offers
4. Marketing Automation
The marketing automation functionality enabled us to easily send our customers special birthday offers and generate incremental sales
Approach:Send automated birthday wishes and offers via the app a gift
Business Objectives: ● Generate incremental sales on the birthday● Increase emotional connection with the brand● Avoid manual processes
Marketing Automation
Customers get an automatic offer with a gift a few days before a their birthday
Customers go to our restaurant to celebrate their birthday or just redeem the reward. Customer is making additional purchase while redeeming
Birthday greetings add human touch to our customers communications which help to generate positive associations with our brand
Customers feel that we care about them, the restaurant generates incremental orders
Marketing Automation
Marketing Automation Campaign Results
17.8% Conversion – share of customers who made an order thanks to campaign
+0.5% Average monthly revenue – share of revenue that made thanks to campaign
Marketing Automation
5. Feedback
Business Objectives: ● Improve our brand image on public resources like Yelp!● Bring disappointed customers back ● Ensure Quality Control across the locations
Feedback functionality allowed us to hear directly from customers about their experiences and respond quickly when they feel disappointed
Our approach:● In-app feedback form for customers
● Having marketing manager sending personalized push-message or complimentary bonus points directlyto 100% of disappointed customers to encourage them come back
Feedback
Feedback is asked right after the purchase, it stimulates customers to leave feedback privately
By being able to provide feedback through the app, customers feel heard and empowered
Customers rate our service and are able to leave extended comment in few clicks way
In case there was a negative experience, customers get personalized answers and additional points and come back to us
Feedback
4.79 as of March 2019 Average service rate across all locations
4+ Detailed reviews (with comments) per location a day left via the app
Feedback feature results
Feedback
6. Referral Program
The in-app referral program allows us to get new customers by encouraging user-generated referrals on social media
Our approach:● Incentivizing current app users to develop
a word-of-mouth in social media by giving them extra points for that
Business Objectives: ● Attracting new customers and app users● Promoting our brand in social media
Referral Program
In app referral mechanics encourage customers to share the app with their family and friends by offering 50 Kenji coins for that in a convenient way
Via the app our customers can easily earn extra points for recommending our restaurant to friends and family
Customers share promote the brand in their social media profiles. Their friends see it and become our customers
Referral Program
6+ App installations from each social media post
3+ New customers from each recommendation
Referral program results
+10.6% Average monthly revenue share of revenue that made thanks to referrals
+1.1% average monthly revenue from referral program per location
40 new customers per location thanks to in-app referral program
Referral Program
The CRM allows us to boost app promotion among employees
Our approach:● Add that gamification for the Front
of House staff: give out prizes for those with the highest download and usage rates
Business Objectives: ● Engage our employees in communicating
about the new loyalty program
Referral Program
Business Results
Customers love our app:
64.8% of app users are using the app every month
17% Revenue penetration (% of monthly restaurants revenue that is generated by app users*)
*at corporate owned locations that were the first locations that launched the solution
Business Results
График с запуска до сейчас - рост heavy Снизу пояснения что такое heavy / med/ l
8.5% Heavy users share increase — the share of guests who visit the restaurant 3+ times a month has increased for up to 8.5% after the app launchWe were analyzing changing visit frequency by dividing all app users into 3 groups: Heavy users (3+ visits/month), Medium users (2 visits/month), Light users (1 visit/month). The chart shows that the number of Heavy users is increasing while the number of Light users is decreasing.
After the mobile solution launched we see an increase in the share of “Heavy users”
Cohort dynamics for the last year
Heavy users (3+ visits/month)
Medium users (2 visits/month)
Light users (1 visit/month)
Business Results
In a year after solution launch we were able to make a YoY analysis that has indicated a 5.16% revenue increase!
5.16% YoY average revenue growth in corporate locations
Q1 2018 Q1 2019
Business Results
“We are huge fans of running an effective loyalty program. It has allowed us to directly communicate, customize, incentivize and measure the effectiveness of specific campaigns and incentives within our target demographic. To have in-app ordering directly connected to loyalty has allowed us to engage directly to the individual buyer. We are able to better measure the results of loyalty connecting to the incentives and the engagement with each buyer.”
Darami CoulterChief Marketing Officer Manager Sumo Sushi & Bento
Business Results
is a good example of how delivering convenience and developing emotional connections with restaurant guests can lead to business success
Personalized communicationRewarding loyalty The ability to meaningfully “talk” to the brand that actually “listens,” and a sense of authenticity, became more important in the brand bonding decision-process offering an engaging and interactive experiencespecial privileges like “skip the line” via mobile ordering
Our success
Darami CoulterChief Marketing Officer
Sumo International Inc./Sumo Sushi & BentoPO Box 57360 Dubai, United Arab EmiratesTel: +971 4 3607294 | Fax: +971 4 3615626 | UAE Mob: +971 50 3833015 | US Mob: 253-569-7898
sumosushibento.com
loyaltyplant.com
106 West 32nd St, 2nd fl.New York, NY 10001
Feel free to contact us:
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