Article

4 ideas for holiday pizza promotions

Pizza marketers need to get creative with their holiday promotions. Those who simply maintain the status quo will put themselves at a significant disadvantage.

December 9, 2015

Kane Russell, head of marketing, Thanx

Ah the holidays. A time when all businesses rejoice, as normal consumers transform into crazed shopping fanatics… 

…Well, unless you're a restaurant. According to a study promoted in Time magazine, restaurant revenue plummets between 22 percent and 45 percent during the five weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's. What's more, the month of December averages a 27-percent revenue decline compared to the calendar year's monthly average. With all the excitement about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it's easy to assume that everyone wins during the holidays, but the holidays are actually lean times for most restaurants.

Consequently, pizza marketers need to get creative with their holiday promotions. Those who simply maintain the status quo will put themselves at a significant disadvantage. To that end, here are four tactical ideas pizza marketers can implement to maintain healthy sales numbers during the holidays.

1) Send out a holiday-focused promotion — that you can track

A lot of pizza brands make the mistake of sending out a generic coupon in December that customers can redeem whenever they want. The assumption is that filling the market with price incentives will drive more sales. Makes sense, as that's what tends to works under normal circumstances.

But these are the holidays! Doing what works normally will have not have the intended (and desired) effect. Instead, pizza brands should send out a promotion tied to, and aligned with, the holiday season, e.g. "Get a free holidays appetizer if you come in between Dec. 1 and 30."

Why? Remember, customers are in a festive mood during the holidays — they are looking to enjoy themselves. Without a time frame (Dec. 1-30), the promotion will not seem urgent enough to earn customers' attention, and if it doesn't appear festive (holiday appetizer), you're not going to create the emotional response you need to take advantage of the holiday frame of mind.

Smart brands will take this same line of thinking a step further. Sending an email or mobile promotion even more focused on motivating festive-type visits will drive tremendous impact, e.g. "2-for-1 if you come in with a group in December," or "Drink-plus-app special for those who come in during holiday Thursday happy hour!"

2) Recognize your best customers with a holiday gift

Another fact pizza marketers tend to overlook is that the 80-20 rule holds true for them, just like every other business — roughly two-thirds of a pizza brand's sales comes from just 25 percent of customers. Because keeping these high-value loyalists long-term is so essential, pizza marketers should invest in these high-value relationships by giving their best customers a personal holiday gift.

With a loyalty program in place, you have transaction data that tells you exactly how much revenue each customer drives for your business. Invite these high-value loyalists to come visit during the holidays and offer them something personal, e.g. "We have a gift for you — come in during December and we'll give you a signed menu from the head chef." These personal invitations deepen an already strong connection, which adds incremental sales and more referrals.

If your brand doesn't have access to transaction data, use the information you do have. For example, pizza restaurants with no data can provide a few special VIP gift cards for their location managers to hand out to the customers they know personally.

3) Transform your employees into holiday brand ambassadors

According to Colloquy, consumer retention rates are 18 percent higher when employees are highly engaged — a benefit that holds only more true during the holidays.

Getting employee engagement starts at the top — location managers have to make a concerted effort to be more festive. Sure, they can decorate or wear holiday attire, but their main goal should be making employees feel special — distribute end-of-the year employee gifts, bring in sweets for the break room, and remain enthusiastic all month long.

With the standard set, then incentivize servers and delivery employees to make the holidays more festive — e.g. wear appropriate holiday attire, write "Happy Holidays" on checks and pizza boxes — whatever you feel showcases your brand's excitement about the holiday season.

Track these efforts using a customer-satisfaction metric like Net Promoter Score. Compare customer satisfaction scores across locations and delivery routes to see which best practices you should share across the entire organization.

4) Launch holiday-themed win-back offers

The concept of customer win-back marketing is simple — target previously loyal customers who seem to have stopped visiting and give them an incentive to return, e.g. "We'd love to see you again, particularly during the holidays, so here's a complimentary item just for you." If they do return, have a terrific experience, and go back to their previous visit frequency, pizza restaurants immediately earn sales that they would have otherwise lost to a competitor.

Even better, the holidays are the perfect time to invite a previously loyal customer back to the store for another visit. You're using the holiday spirit as a hook to drive more customer visits.

Holiday win-back works because it targets the right customers at the right time. Previously loyal customers are the most cost effective to acquire given their existing relationship with the brand, and a personalized message sent during the holidays has a high chance of conversion.

Kane Russell is the head of marketing at Thanx, a technology company based in San Francisco that makes customer marketing more effortless for multi-location pizza restaurants and their customers.