Why Didn’t Anybody Tell Me?
Your best customers routinely go to your restaurant chains because it’s part of what they do. They like the food, they like the service, and have their favorite meals and combos.
But an inherent problem arises from this: they become lazy
- They become too lazy to try the new items on the menu
- They become too lazy to post positive feedback on Yelp
- They become too lazy to tell their friends about their favorite place to eat
The opportunity is there. The customers that love your food and service are ready to go above and beyond to make sure your business is successful – you just need to make the ask. This kind of passive loyalty is a core challenge in gamification and behavioral design — turning satisfied customers into active participants.
Author Credibility: Yu-kai Chou
Yu-kai Chou created the Octalysis Framework after studying gamification since 2003 — years before the term entered mainstream vocabulary. As a Human-Systems Architect & Behavioral Designer, his framework has been applied by LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast, impacting over 1.5 Billion Users.
Chou has taught the Octalysis methodology at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Tesla, Google, BCG, and IDEO.
His work has been cited by Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, US Department of Energy, NIST, NSF, NCBI, US Department of Education, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar — with 3,700+ more academic publications. Explore his books here.
Inform Them of the New
Though your best customers have their favorite meals, incentivize them to try new things on the menu to change up their routine. Posters and signs are standard at the location, but the real value comes with the ability to communicate with your best customers through their preferred medium.
Customers may choose to subscribe to your business through any of the following mediums:
- Text message
Because they have joined your communication methods, it provides a great platform to tell customers about new menu items, promotions, deals, and upcoming events. New menu items or events provides the perfect excuse to send a message to your customers and get them back into your location.
Post Positive Feedback on Yelp and Other Networks
If the customer has had an exceptional experience at your location, then it’s acceptable to politely ask for a review on Yelp and other social networks (such as Facebook places).
How to make the ask:
1. Cashiers: A fun, up-beat, welcoming cashier can politely ask the customer to write a review on Yelp and Facebook
2. Through RewardMe: After the purchase, the customer may choose to share her location through a check-in on Facebook, Twitter, or Foursquare
3. Signage through the location: Make sure to post your Facebook and Twitter links in print material at the location so that customers with smart phone can check-in and write comments on your social profile wall
What to ask for:
1. Yelp: Ask customers to post an honest review on Yelp (don’t ask them for a positive review – if you’ve given them a positive experience, then they’ll post a positive review)
2. Facebook: Ask customers to check-in to Facebook and post a comment or photo on the wall (ask them to post a photo of the food on the wall)
3. Twitter: Ask customer to post a picture or comment about your location and to include your handle: @businessname
Invite Their Friends
Customer want to invite their friends to your location – they just need a reason why. This is Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness in action — people are naturally motivated to share experiences they value with people they care about.
Friendly rewards: the following type of rewards inherently drive the customer to bring a friend:
- Buy 1 burger and get another burger of equal or lesser value for free
Gift rewards: some customers may not want to redeem rewards for themselves; instead, they’re motivated by giving rather then receiving. Give these types of customers a rewards that is meant to be “gifted” to a friend.
How it would work:
- Customer receives a Gift Reward: Gift your friend a slice of pizza
- Customer chooses friend through phone book
- Friend receives a text message: “David just gifted you a slice of Pizza at Tony’s Pizza”
- Friend walks into Tony’s Pizza, signs into RewardMe at the POS, and receives a free slice of pizza
Simple, easy, and fast. This “gift reward” mechanic also taps into Core Drive 2: Development & Accomplishment — customers feel a sense of generosity and status when they can reward someone else.
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Your customers want to communicate with you – but you’re going to have to initiate the conversation.