Dunkin’ Donuts is touting some sweet incentives, including pre-loaded stored value cards and gifts, to loyal customers who take part in a new advisory panel designed to improve service and products and build a stronger connection to consumers.
 |
| Dunkin’ Donuts is offering some sweet incentives to consumers who participate in its advisory panel |
The Dunkin’ Donuts Advisory Panel gives consumers the chance to be among the first to learn about new products, preview advertising campaigns and meet with some of the brand’s top executives. To participate, consumers log on to Dunkinvip.com/survey submit their e-mail address and complete a brief survey. P-O-P materials support.
Panelists are chosen based on their responses to the survey, which asks participants to quantify their frequency at other competitive restaurants and stores and describe their personality and Dunkin’ Donuts experience. In return, selected panelists can earn pre-loaded Dunkin’ Donuts stored value cards and gift bags.
Socratic Technologies, Inc., of San Francisco, CA, hosts and manages the advisory panel.
Since its inception, consumers by the thousands have responded, many turned away because the chain can’t accommodate all the requests, said Regina Lewis, director of consumer and brand insights for Dunkin’ Brands. Dunkin’ Donuts, however, plans to expand the panel to reach consumers in other markets.
Dunkin’ Donuts created the panel to give consumers a “fun and personal forum for sharing their terrific ideas and opinions with us,” Lewis said. Dunkin’ Donuts recruited customers in the Boston and Portland, ME, markets last fall and expanded the panel this month to include the Springfield, MA, Hartford, CT, and Providence, RI, markets.
The chain’s main objective is to ask “how, when and why” Dunkin’ Donuts can better serve its customers, Lewis said.
“We want to hear everything our consumers want to tell us about their lives and how our brand fits into their busy days,” Lewis said. “We want to hear what they think about our newest products and our current promotions, and ways in which we can improve our service at the store level.”
“By talking with our panelists directly—sometimes face-to-face, and often online—we gain immediate feedback on our programs and offerings within two to five days,” she added. “Our goal is to act quickly on all that we hear.”
Dunkin’ Donuts uses the information it gathers from panelists to enhance its customer service and products for its loyal consumers, Lewis said. Through the panel, the brand hopes to “stay connected with our best customers—on a market by market basis—so that we can continually provide them with the best possible products and services, and optimally deliver against their ever-changing needs,” she said.
The program will run indefinitely, according to Lewis.
Network
