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According to Applause’s their overall goal is o “continue to grow and prosper, and further differentiates itself with innovative attractions, like the popular Carbide to Go service available at many of its restaurants, and its successful Weight Watchers agreement, enabling it to cater to those preferring less-caloric alternatives. ” Applause’s states that they contain ally work to add greater value and broaden their appeal as it’s evidenced by the “it’s a Whole New Neighborhood” campaign in which was launched in the spring of 2008.
This campaign was indicative of a fresh, re-energize approach, the promise of new and enticing menu items Applause’s). Portions of Applause’s current customer service consist of a loyalty plan that is already set in place and they’ve tested this program after sales stumbled. According to Dan Smith; a spokesman for Dine Equity Inc (DIN) and the owner of Applause’s “the restaurant is testing Applause’s Perks in about 160 U. S. Locations. Customers who sign up for the program can earn free food, discounts and invitations to store events” (Bloomberg).
Applause’s is working to entice locations “twit a variety of changes, including remodeled stores, healthier menus and table-top ordering via tablet computers. It also has offered $6. 99 lunch combos and new kids’ fare such as vanilla yogurt. Still, sales at Applause’s locations open at least 18 months fell in the past three quarters, hurt by harsh winter weather and heavy competition” ( Bloomberg). The loyalty program I am designing allows customers to provide their phone numbers as a way to identify each person and record their purchases when they dine at their restaurants.
The customer then receives coupons and discounts sent via email or on the Perks website. This loyalty program has its perks and negative side to it as well because there’s a chance hat this program may not work. Bryan Elliot, an analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc. Says “some of Applause’s peers have held off on offering rewards programs because ifs difficult to get them right. You don’t want to necessarily be giving discounts to your best customers or your most frequent customers.
And those going to dinner at sit-down restaurants aren’t always the discount-seeking kind, they go where they like because they like it, not because it’s a $1 cheaper than the guy down the street. ” Redesigning Customer Service Although, Applause’s does a great job with their customer service programs ND one of them is implementing a good IT based analytic system they could use a bit of revamping by expand their loyalty programs a bit. Currently, does a remarkable job already at managing customer service.
Like most companies, Applause’s utilize social media as a way to gain, sustain and maintain their social customers. By using social media Applause’s is tapping into the social relationship management (CRM) aspect of marketing and managing these relationships. Some social CRM sites they use are Backbone, Twitter, Mainstream, Linked In and Youth. These social media ties are used for networking and managing the interaction with customers in many different ways. Applause’s used Backbone to speak directly to the customers.
Since Applause’s is a casual dining restaurant customers often go to Backbone for new deals and to express how they felt about their overall experience while dining. “Backbone is a great customer service channel for due to its dynamic features which make it possible for the company to upload photos of new dishes, as well as users to comment, ask questions and air their grievances” (Greenberg). Twitter is used just as Backbone but of course operates in a similar manner.
Applause’s also uses Twitter extensively to address issues and provide information that consumers would perceive as important, including new menus and special offers. Applause’s tweets on promotions and properly uses hash tags for new or existing foods in an attempt to keep their customers informed” (Eliminate). Twitter and Backbone all seem to work for Appleby??s but they just don’t stop at those social media sites, they also use Youth, Trip Adviser, Yelp, Pinsetters, just to name a few. Nonetheless, they don’t offer many rewards for customers who post and are loyal to the restaurant.
Applause’s says their many goals is to strive towards giving its patrons the feeling that they’ve come to experience a good meal and a good time at a neighborhood grill ; not at a typical franchise or chain restaurant (Applebys). So the solution to achieving their customer service goal was to select a Attracted Warehouse to integrate data from its 300 company-owned restaurants, as well as from its labor, financial, inventory, management and food cost variance systems. Attracted is an IT software they currently use, however this software doesn’t quite have all the tools needed to execute the loyalty program will be developing for them.
This new customer service loyalty program consists of reaching out for more interaction and feedback from consumers and not just the ones who only reach out via Backbone, Twitter, Youth, Trip Advisor etc. To complain. Using these sites is an example of Applause’s understanding and knowing what customers to target so they place their restaurants in more suburban areas where there are many middle to lower class families, so they “needed a clear, focused understanding of its guests” (Attracted).
This is great that they utilize this method but it could be expanded more with offering more loyalty plans. Additionally, the company chose Retail Decisions for Business Intelligence and Microchemistry as its reporting and query to”(Attracted). Everyday Applause’s receives information from the previous days sales of every restaurant. Every ticket item sold broken down into in fifteen-minute increments of sales information (Attracted). This system helps them understand sales, demand and cost. Though, these are great strategies believe they can be enhanced by providing more loyalty programs.
Applebys have six to eight campaigns every year that advertises and promotes specific menu items. So monitoring their demand of those items offered during the advertising campaigns is important to ordering the right amount of food & beverages. Although, Applause’s does have a great way to manage customer campaigns however their campaigns don’t excite a person that’s a regular customer to really feel a part of the restaurant. My loyalty plan will allow the customer to feel excited about coming to Applause’s all while they save money and receive rewards for being loyal.
Loyalty Program According to POS Sector in establishing a loyalty program it is really great to understand the difference between a satisfied and loyal customer. POS Sector is a restaurant and bar software company that uses many grouping technique to create actual software. They have worked with over 3,500 restaurants & bars and “more than 3500+ restaurants and bars use POS Sector every day” (POS Sector). They’ve explain the three basic groups of clients as unhappy, satisfied and loyal customers.
The definition of each customer is: “Unhappy customer – who will leave a restaurant and look for another restaurant that will fulfill his or her needs better – hopefully without insult. Satisfied customer – guest who is satisfied with the product or service, but is open for next better opportunity. Loyal customer – a guest who will always come back to your restaurant regardless Of the competing restaurants offers” (POS Sector). My goal for Applause’s with this loyalty plan is to turn satisfied customers into loyal customers.
POS Sector makes a great point by stating “if your restaurant is providing good restaurant service or delicious meals that surpassed guest’s expectations, he or she will become your satisfied customer and consequently your restaurants’ loyal Sector). In furthering the details of my loyalty program I have grouped the guests based off POS Sector grouping aspects as in which those whom will be involved in the restaurant loyalty programs in these three groups: Guests who want to save some money: So I have come up with two programs for those customers who want to save money.
Program option 1: Bring Your Own Dish Much like Struck, in which customers come in to get coffee made in their own mugs, each customer at Applause’s would come in with their own dishes (plates or bowls) to receive a $4 discount on any entere they purchase. Although Struck intentions differ from the plan intended for Applause’s, the concept is similar. Struck proposes to give a 1 a-cent discount every time a customer brings their own cup. The cup can be purchased at 1 dollar from Struck in the store. According to Struck “this cup pays for itself in just ID uses.
And you’ve saved 10 paper cups! If you use it daily for a month you’ll help avoid using more than a pound of paper or 3. 5 pounds of wood. Struck is committed to reducing our cup waste. By offering this option and providing our 10-cent discount, we hope to inspire you to bring your own cup, w??all provide the coffee” (Struck). Applause’s customers, on the other hand, would receive the purchased meal on their own plate or bowl. These bowls or plates can be purchased at any Applause’s restaurant for $8. When they are done with the bowl or plate they are free to take it home.
This would save money on purchasing many dishes all while using less water. One dish pays for itself in just two uses. Not only will this plan be an exciting benefit it can also be a great way to attract environment friendly customers. A restaurant kitchen uses 5,800 gallons of water per day (see chart below). Alongside our Bring a Plate loyalty program we will promote our conscious effort in saving the use of water while customers save money as well. Restaurants use an average of 5,800 gallons per day of water use Average water use (% of total) Potential savings
Kitchen 50 12 Domestic 35 16 Irrigation 2 Cleaning Other TOTALS 100% 5,800 gap 1,682 (Source: Icily Conservation in the Trip-County Area Of the SWIFTS. SWIFTS, November 1997. ) Program Option 2: Applause’s Perks Applause’s would allow customers to apply for Apples perks and every time they scan the customer’s phone number then deals will come up. However, only Applause’s perk members will receive these deals. Each customer must sign up while in the store and they’ll receive their card after their meal.
This way we don’t have to wait for the customer to sign up at home and this avoids procrastination or forgetfulness. Guests who are looking forward to get some rewards: Program Option 3: Bees and Apples Card This program is for those guests who want to receive rewards I will give them a Bees and Apples card. This is a card that I am creating by playing on the Applause’s restaurant name. The concept of this card is to allow the customer (The Bee) to eat, spend money, upload their receipts, and right a good experience feedback on the restaurant they visited.
Once they have five or more good reviews and uploaded receipts they will receive Apples on their card. Each Apple is worth five dollars. Once each patron accumulates five Apples they will receive a free ice cream sundae or their choice of a dessert. Millennial – a new guest’s generation that want to make direct contact with the restaurants and to share their experience on internet: Program Option 4: I’m Your Neighbor This is a loyalty program that is already set in place by Applause’s because they utilize Backbone and many other social media sites.
However, my idea is to revise it a bit. Applause’s would have their very own blob site in which Applause’s appoints a staff member to manage it based on region. They would create their own blob site or pick a blob site that is specifically created round Applause’s and no other restaurant groups. Each blob site would be regional based such as North East Coast, Midwest, South East Coast, West Coast, etc. Each flogger would respond to customer complaints, post frequent users on Four Square and perk winners of contests and Backbone users on their Blobs.
Each flogger must always update their site weekly along with posting something on Backbone 5 times a week with links to their blobs. Program Option 5: Four Me Foursquare is another great restaurant loyalty program. Most guests already use Foursquare. However, propose offering guests a free appetizer and a facial discount on food for everyone who checked in your restaurant on Foursquare. The advantage of this loyalty program is that there is no cost for this program and loyalty cards are not required. Applause’s would check the profile on FourSquare website to see all check ins, and all for free.
The profile would need to be updated regularly with information about our offers. In this way we also promote the restaurant to a wider audience, especially to tourists who often choose a restaurant for lunch or dinner according to the frequency of visits to certain restaurants in the region where they are located. Differentiation by Customers Loyalty Program As I stated in the loyalty programs section, Applause’s has three types of customers and these differentiations of customers are the unhappy customer, satisfied customer and loyal customer.
The unhappy customer will leave Applause’s to look for another restaurant that will fulfill his/her needs better. This customer will usually go to social media sites and write grievance posts. “Backbone is a great customer service channel for Applause’s due to its dynamic features which make it possible for the company to upload photos of new dishes, as well as users to comment, ask questions and air their refinances”(Greenberg). So this type of customer (unhappy customer) would be segmented under my Millennial program.
To recap, millennial is a new guest generation that wants direct contact with the restaurants and to share their experience on the internet. This program is already set in place by Applause’s because they utilize Backbone and many other social media sites. However, with my idea, Applause’s will have their very own blob site in which would create their own blob site or pick a blob site that is specifically created around Applause’s and no other restaurant groups. Each blob site will be seers on their Blobs. Each flogger must always update their site 5 times a week along with updating and posting on Backbone.
This way, the unhappy customer will have their needs met promptly with the intent to turn them into a loyal customer. Then there is the satisfied customer, in which again, is the guest who is satisfied with the product or service, but is open for the next better opportunity. The program that would best suit the satisfied customer is the Money Savers option. The satisfied customer would be segmented under the Money Savers loyalty program because this allows them to see an advantage and how Applause’s differs positively from other restaurants while they also save money in the process. If your restaurant is providing guests good restaurant service, or delicious meals that surpasses guest’s expectations, he or she will become your satisfied customer and consequently your restaurant loyal customer’ (POS Sector). Last but not least, the most important customer–the loyal customer; again, is a guest that always comes back to a specific restaurant regardless of competing restaurants offers. This type of customer would be segmented under the rewards loyalty program because this patron likes to receive rewards for Ewing a frequent customer and why shouldn’t we reward our most loyal customer.
The Bees and Apples Card program is suited for the most loyal customer. My goal for Applause’s with this loyalty plan is to target the three differentiations of customers and segment them in to their proper groupings. This would allow Applause’s to turn unhappy customers into happy customers, satisfied customers in to loyal customers (meaning they will not want to eat at other restaurants) and loyal customers into empowered customers. Customer Relationship IT Software In order to execute the loyalty programs and other customer relationship management demands for Applause’s CRM IT software is needed.
According to the Software Advice, a company managed by market researchers with 251 , 540 companies who have chosen appropriate software using their extensive research on over 1,441 systems, states that ‘the primary purpose of CRM software, sometimes known as contact management software, is to consolidate customer information into one repository, so users can better organize and manage relationships. ” These applications provide tools for monitoring a company’s desired performance and productivity. The Applebys IT customer relationship management needs to meet certain eaters and demands.
The features and needed for the customer relationship management software should help with the customer loyalty programs which include monitoring blobs, marketing campaigns such as: Bring Your Own Bowl, Bee’s & Apples Card and the Applause’s Perks Card. The IT customer relationship management software shall also assist in all social media networking & communications. According to Software Advice, there are other features that are needed and just as important to look for when searching for a customer relationship program so I have included them in my list of features and demand.
The additional feature ‘must haves’ are as follows: Common Features of CRM Software “Marketing automation – Lead management (including tools for lead generation, scoring and nurturing), email and event marketing, landing pages, web and marketing analytics tools and campaign management. Sales force automation- Contact and opportunity management, workflow automation, territory management, sales forecasting, pipeline analysis and reporting. Customer service & support – Trouble ticketing, knowledge management and knowledge base systems, self-service solutions, case management, live chat and surveys.
Field service management – Dispatching, scheduling, invoicing inventory management and order management. Marketing Management shows each marketing campaign measurements and how successful or unsuccessful they are doing. Channel management Lead and contact management, partner portals, partner relationship management and market development funds management” Engagement shows the engagement with customers through social media sites and our own sites (Software Advice). ” Here is a demo graphic of Salesrooms Marketing Cloud that includes all the tools this program will have including the ones I previously mentioned.
The previous features and demands listed above were all taken into consideration when choosing the best customer relationship software for the Applause’s restaurant. I picked the top three software companies to choose from, which include: Salesrooms Marketing Cloud, Base and Inform CRM IT software. Salesrooms Marketing Cloud “built on the powerful Salesclerk Platform, Marketing Cloud and is a robust and user-friendly customer service solution that allows companies to engage customers and deliver exemplary customer service from anywhere.
The Salesrooms app has capabilities in sales management (its heritage), marketing automation, partner relationship management and customer service. These work together to help organizations manage customer accounts, track sales leads, conduct and monitor marketing campaigns, and provide service post sale. ” Then there’s Base CRM, in which is a “full-featured web-based solution that allows BIB and BBC sales professionals in many industries to work on the go. It features native APS for most mobile devices and a straightforward price structure” (Software Advice).
However, though, this company is full featured it only supports small to mid-sized companies. So this software couldn’t possibly work for Applause’s and it 30,000 plus employees. This takes us to the last software company, Inform CRM formerly known as Salesladies. According to Software Advice, Inform CRM offers a flexible CRM system for managing your relationships, your information, and your CRM to accelerate profitability and your strategic advantage. Considered a premium CRM offering, this product provides comprehensive capabilities for managing sales, marketing, and customer service activities and information across the enterprise.
It is a perfect fit for SMB, mid-market organizations, and departments within larger enterprises with fewer than 1 ,OHO users. Although, this is a great software company that offers marketing and customer service activity information this software doesn’t support users over 1,000. So this company couldn’t help Applause’s. It seems that Coalescence’s is a better match for Applause’s because they have a social media application, Chatter that allows social networking and collaboration across the organization, according to Software Advice.
Salesrooms Marketing Cloud is for very specialized industries and organizations; they have a platform that enables custom application development. Developers can gain access to the application development environment and access the tools and resources they need to design, create, and deploy a custom app for their organization” (Sofa;are Advice). This software would work well in creating the app for the Bee’s & Apples Card along with the Applause’s Perks Rewards Card as well.
Applying Metric According to Salesrooms their Marketing Cloud application would cost $5,000 per month to monitor which is spreader across 1 ,990 restaurant locations. Each Applause’s location would collectively pay approximately $2. 50 a month. Below is a campaign monitor that would measure each of the loyalty Source: Salesrooms Marketing Cloud programs activity to ensure success. Loyalty Program options 4 & 5 would be monitored on its success by using the Salesrooms tool below. This Salesrooms tool will allow Applause’s managers to engage with social media users by using this tool.