Video: Restaurant Coupons and Customer Databases - CSER Part 1
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Restaurant Revolution’s marketing strategy video series is being posted live… for free… for you.
Click here to watch Overview: Coupons and Customer Databases
Part 2 is completed and being edited — it should be posted by the end of this week.
Currently each episode is approximately 45 minutes long. (DON’T let that scare you, the videos can be paused and you can return to them another time… nobody’s gluing you to the chair!)
Your questions and comments are welcomed. I’ve already received a number of requests to discuss the requirements of a successful email campaign. Great requests = great content for Restaurant Revolution readers, so don’t hesitate.
HI Nathan - interesting material.
Bill Marvin, the Restaurant Doctor, said in a newsletter this week:
” Coupons Are The Cocaine Of The Clueless.
Discounts do not breed loyalty. They just attract the “Coupon Cavalry.” These are the folks who charge in, take advantage of your deal, then move on to the next Discount du Jour.
You can pass out coupons until the cows come home, but begging for guests this way is an obsolete approach that is doomed to fail. Take this route and you become just another no-growth commodity restaurant with a revolving door where diners wander in and out, but never stay. Is that what you really want?
Coupons are not a lifeline, they are the kiss of death. They destroy already slim profit margins and forever compromise the credibility of your pricing structure. Worse yet, they are highly addictive drugs - once you start, you get “hooked” and it is almost impossible to kick the habit, even when you know it’s killing you.”
Ouch - that’s strong stuff - could you comment, as you’re a strong coupon advocate.
Hello Ken,
There are many sides the the box - -and notice i didn’t use a coin analogy. The reason is that ANY strategy can have varied degrees of either negative or positive effects based on usage.
My belief is that people such as Mr Marvin have seen (or perhaps even experienced) what happens when distributing BOGOs and other “non-strategic” coupons on a consistent basis. I believe coupons are incentive. Plain an simple. And they’re just the first step in a system.
Sure, diners will wander out if you give them a coupon and your restaurant stinks. Coupons don’t “create a revolving door” — the restaurant does! I mean, honestly. Blaming the medium for traffic rather than what that traffic actually experiences during a meal?
It’s up to the restaurant to see the bigger picture of INCENTIVE, proper service, customer database and relationship building. Those that do this process, as has been demonstrated, in fact do make thousands of dollars more per year. But it’s a process… not “begging”.
I challenge anyone reading this to try it: target discounts to a specific audience. If you’re doing direct mail, don’t send them to the “lesser” parts of town that will not deliver customers of value to you. Same goes for the newspaper. When each of those leads walks in with your promo/coupon, ask them to reciprocate value by providing a form of contact (email address). Later that week, send a thank you message by email. One or two weeks later, invite them back and give a specific reason, request and MAYBE a discount. Do this once a month and see what happens — ie TEST it and don’t make assumptions!
There’s a lot to be said regarding potential discussions with people such as Bill Marvin. Bottom line, we’re looking at an entirely different context of the medium.
Ken - I forgot to thank you for the resource. I had seen Bill Marvin’s website but didn’t realize he had the free newsletter each week. I was able to view the archives for this month and saw the full context of what you posted.
Coupons as discounts-only are not a strategy. There are MANY other ways to incentivize traffic to a restaurant aside from what I touched on before - BOGO and 10%/$5 off offers. We’ll get into these alternatives in my next video, Clever Coupons.
Also, you’ll notice that he and Joel are doing that seminar together. I have purchased all of Joel’s materials (which I DO recommend overall, but be careful of his email marketing training because it’s dated). He and I have similar processes when it comes to email campaigns, including the use of discounts by email to those who are already customers.
Cool - this is an interesting debate. I look forward to your next instalment!