Adding mobile to the promotional mix helped P.F. Chang's China Bistro's fast-casual sister chain Pei Wei Asian Diner introduce a new menu item and gain nearly 20,000 new email subscribers in two weeks.
The campaign for the new Caramel Chicken entree, run with ExactTarget, invited guests to join the email list via text, web, Twitter or Facebook to receive a buy-one, get-one-free coupon.
"We wanted to take advantage of email’s reach and redemption to help promote and launch a new limited time offering," says Jason Miller, digital content and community manager for P.F. Chang's. "Using mobile allowed guests in restaurants to text their email into our system."
The multi-channel campaign last spring/summer at Pei Wei’s 173 locations posted coupon redemption rates near 20%, and was the restaurant’s most successful new email list growth effort to date, increasing the number of names on the approximately half-million name list by 3-4%.
"Outside of online ordering, we don’t have a growth strategy for names, nor do we have a way for guests to sign up in our restaurants," notes Miller. "We felt like we were missing an opportunity for those guests who come into our restaurants to sign up, especially while top of mind and tied to a promotion.
The chain primarily uses email to drive awareness about timely promotions, but also sends out informational emails as well Earlier this year, for example, an email highlighted a blog post about a specific way guests can order their food to be prepared that most people do not know about.
"The content ended up being a big hit with our fans, and since then, we have been working on other insider points and chef tips to build a stronger connection, through content, with our guests," he says, noting the chain typically emails guests once or twice a month.
The Caramel Chicken was the first time P.F. Chang's had tested using text in a marketing campaign.
"In the restaurant world, text has a negative connotation to it. It is a very private and invasive channel, and those who sign up from restaurants expect discounts," says Miller. "In order for us to make it work—without being reliant on continuous promotions—we needed to find a way to overcome that hurdle. As it turns out, using text to drive email was a great way to overcome another issue—guests in restaurant have no easy way to sign up for emails."
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