As a direct mail marketing professional, I know having a strong offer on our client’s direct mail marketing in the form of a coupon or special is a major catalyst to entice new customers to try their establishment for the first time as well as getting current customers to come back and become loyal repeat customers. 

However, when speaking to many of our clients, it can be difficult for them to understand that offering a small discount is well worth it when comparing the discount amount to their customers lifetime value. Your customers lifetime value is the amount of money a customer is expected to spend at your business during the entire time they remain a customer. You can easily google “customer lifetime value” and read endless articles on the topic. 

Furthermore, there is still a misconception as to who uses coupons. For example, we often here from our clients in areas with higher incomes, that wealthier people aren’t looking for coupons or that their clients wouldn’t be interested in a coupon. 

 Of course, we know this is not the case based on previous data and many studies that have been done in the past. However, we wanted to refresh the topic with current relevant data and find out how many wealthy consumers use coupons compared to those with lower incomes. Furthermore, we wanted to see if and how these numbers changed based on the product/service being offered. E.g., Are more consumers using coupons for pizza than for auto repair service, HVAC services, etc. etc.  

Therefore, we decided to take four industries (in no specific order) Auto Repair, Pizza/Restaurants, General Dentistry & Home Services (HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical) and conduct our own research to get the answers and provide updated current data to the old question. 

Below we will cover our key findings by industry. If you would like to dive deeper into our survey methodology, how we conducted our survey, parameters to be included in our survey as well as more details regarding these and many other key findings, we have provided a link at the bottom of this article to each specific consumer research and insights report entitled “Cracking The Code.” Cracking The Code is our full industry specific consumer research and insight report that answered these questions to consumers in addition to many others.  

Home Services (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical) 

We asked 5,818 homeowners: 

 If you received a coupon/special in the mail from a reputable home services provider offering a discount on services and/or product you need, would you use it? 

Results based on income:

Dental: 

We asked 5,842 consumers: 

If you received a coupon/special offer in the mail for dental services that you need, how likely are you to redeem that offer?

Results based on income:

As you can see based on each industry we analyzed, the consumer interest in coupons is high regardless of income and in many cases, those with higher incomes have reported they would use coupons more than those with lower incomes.  

The only outlier to this happens to be in the restaurant/pizzeria industry. Although over 50% reported using coupons for their favorite restaurants, this is the only industry analyzed where respondents with higher incomes reported less usage of coupons/specials than those with lower incomes. 

So quite simply it appears that some of the wealthier demographics are more interested in using coupons where the savings are greater. All in all, the answer to our original question is a resounding YES consumers use coupons and YES consumers with higher incomes use coupons. The challenge for you now is to develop a strategic coupon campaign that will appeal to the market you are targeting.  

Below you will find links to each industry specific consumer insight report that not only contains the details of our coupons research above but is chalk full of other key insights that will help you better understand the consumers you are targeting as prospective new customers.  

 Josh Davis, CRO 

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Key Takeaways

• 51% of consumers reported they use coupons for restaurants they frequent.
• Over one out of every three (37%) of the highest income demographic bracket of $150,000 report they do use coupons for restaurants they frequent.
• Having one generic coupon offer that can be used off many items will appeal to the widest audience.

We’re sure you won’t be surprised that many consumers look for and use coupons at restaurants. The results of our national consumer research and insight report “Cracking The Code,” 9,162 consumers indicate that 51% reported they use coupons for restaurants they frequent. What you may also find insightful is the correlation between consumer income and coupon use. Our latest data shows as consumer income increases, the likelihood of them using coupons at restaurants slightly decreases. However, although reported coupon use decreases for respondents as income increases, it does not mean that wealthier consumers do not use coupons. Over one out of every three (37%) of the highest income demographic bracket of $150,000 indicate they do use coupons for restaurants they frequent.

Which of the following statements applies to you?

Which of the following statements applies to you?

Food For Thought When Considering Coupons For Your Restaurant

• We recommend using at least one generic broad discount that can be applied to all or most menu items, e.g., $5 off any order of a certain amount or more. Generic offers like this have the widest appeal and the highest redemption rates. Narrow offers also work well but should be used in addition to at least one generic broad offer.
• Coupons offering something FREE with the purchase of another item receive high redemption rates. You can also minimize the discount cost by strategically choosing to give away a FREE item that has a lower food cost. The perceived value is high from a consumer perspective because they are saving the retail value of the FREE item, yet the cost to you is much less based on the food cost of that item.
• Knowing your audience is also critical to developing strategic offers. For example, if you are in an area with a high percentage of families with kids and your restaurant is kid-friendly, consider the highly effective Kids Eat FREE strategy that has worked extremely well for many restaurants.
• If your restaurant offers dine-in, consider creating a dine-in-only offer. By getting customers to dine in, you can profit from higher-margin items like fountain soda and upsell customers on appetizers, desserts, alcoholic beverages, and other items, all leading to a higher ticket.
• If your restaurant offers online ordering, consider offering customers a discount on their first online order.
• Always ensure your coupons are legible. Too often, we see coupons that have either too much content or content that is small and hard to read. Consumers don’t want to have to squint to read your offers.

Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,

Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

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Key Takeaways

• In every incremental decrease in your online reviews so too does the number of customers that will consider eating at your restaurant
• Addressing poor reviews and working to correct them quickly is critical.

There aren’t many industries that receive more reviews and, in our opinion, more unfair reviews than the hospitality industry. It seems almost impossible to achieve a perfect 5-star rating when customers leave negative reviews because their milkshake contained dairy, their Coke wasn’t Pepsi, their mild wings weren’t spicy, there was salt on their saltines, and the list goes on.

Unfortunately, however, your restaurant’s reviews matter – the question is how much they matter. To provide some additional insight, we conducted a nationwide consumer research and insight report “Cracking The Code,” and asked 9,161 consumers the following:

Based on a Google rating system of 1–5 stars (1 being lowest, 5 being highest), which of the following applies to you?

I would only order from a restaurant with a Google rating of ___ or higher.

Although most consumers aren’t as selective as the 13% who reported they would only eat at a restaurant with a 5-star review, the number of customers who will consider patronizing your restaurant drops as your Google rating decreases.

Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,

Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

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In our latest consumer research and insight report “Cracking The Code,” we asked 9,161 consumers which social media site they prefer to follow their favorite restaurants. Based on our data, Facebook remains the number-one choice for most consumers, with Instagram coming in second. It will be interesting to monitor this over time and see how these numbers change as new platforms enter the market.

Which social media site do you prefer to follow your favorite restaurants?

Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,

Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

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Are you currently signed up for any loyalty or rewards programs at your favorite restaurants?

You said previously that you are not signed up for a loyalty program – would you sign up if one was available?

The compelling number of 87% suggests it may be worth looking into the ways a loyalty plan can help incentivize more repeat business and increase the average order value for a restaurant.

Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,

Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

The post Do Consumers Want Their Favorite Restaurants to Offer a Loyalty Plan? appeared first on Best4mailing.

In our latest consumer research and insight report “Cracking The Code,” we asked 9,161 consumers how often they want to hear from their favorite restaurant about new menu items, updates, special offers, news, etc., and it turns out that it may be more frequently than you thought. Take a look at the numbers below.

How Often Would You Want To Hear From Your Favorite Restaurant With New Menu Items, Updates, Special Offers, News, Etc.?

It’s clear that your best customers want to hear from you frequently. The key is to act, plan, and put in place a strategy that leverages customer data. From there, you can choose a frequency, whether once a week, once a month, or other, and monitor the response. Once you have a baseline, it’s easy to increase or decrease your contact.

Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,

Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

The post How Often Do Your Loyal Customers Want to Hear From You? appeared first on Best4mailing.

With more consumers placing orders for delivery and more third-party delivery services, we wanted additional insight into how long consumers felt was an acceptable time to receive their food when placing an order for delivery.

In our latest consumer research and insight report “Cracking The Code,” We asked 9,161 consumers the following question.

“How long of a wait time is acceptable until you receive your order, when ordering food for delivery from a local restaurant?”

We found that 82% of consumers reported anything beyond a one-hour wait is not acceptable.

Unfortunately, if your restaurant is already busy, it’s a weekend, or you are short-staffed, an hour or over an hour delivery time may be unavoidable. The key here is communication. In instances with potentially longer-than-normal wait times, ensuring your counter staff communicates clearly to the customer that their order may take longer than usual is critical.

At that point, if the wait is unacceptable to customers, they can decide to cancel their order. Otherwise, they will be waiting for their food longer than may be acceptable, leading to a lost customer and/or poor review.

Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,

Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

The post How Long Are Customers Willing To Wait For Their Food When Ordering Delivery? appeared first on Best4mailing.

Key Takeaways

• Most customers prefer to phone in their takeout/delivery orders.
• More customers prefer to place online order directly from a restaurants website as compared to a third-party site e.g. (Grubhub or Doordash)
• Increase profits by creating a plan to convert customers from placing their orders on third third-party site e.g. (Grubhub or Doordash) to your restaurant’s website

As much as restaurant owners would prefer that customers order online, most still prefer to call their orders in by phone. In our latest consumer research and insight report “Cracking The Code,” we asked 9,165 consumers how they prefer placing orders for pickup and delivery. We found that 52% of those surveyed reported that they still prefer to call in their orders. However, many customers prefer to place their orders online, with 49% of respondents preferring to order directly from a restaurant’s website and only 30% preferring to order from a third-party site such as Grubhub or Doordash. The remaining 1% responding “Other” mostly comprises those reporting a restaurant’s app as their preferred choice.

Interestingly, a closer look at survey respondent age reveals that the older demographic, aged 50–64 and 65+, has a lower propensity to purchase from third-party websites. However, that isn’t because respondents don’t place orders online. According to the data below, the older demographic is almost as likely to order online as younger people. We can only assume this has something to do with the older population not trusting third-party sites they may not be as familiar with. What do you think?

The fact that consumers prefer placing orders directly from your restaurant’s website versus third-party sites is great news. The more orders you can drive from your restaurant’s website, the more you can avoid the high profit-draining fees associated with orders placed via third-party sites.

The key is taking action to get more customers trained to order directly from your restaurant’s website and not from a third-party site.

Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,

Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

The post How Do Customers Prefer Placing Their Food Orders For Delivery and Pickup? appeared first on Best4mailing.

With cases of COVID significantly declining over time and less news about the pandemic, it’s easy to forget that COVID is still here and many consumers are still very fearful of contracting the virus.

We wanted to know how comfortable consumers felt in the current environment eating at restaurants that do not require employees to wear masks and/or have socially distanced seating.

In our latest consumer research & insight report “Cracking The Code”, we asked 9,162 consumers how they felt on the subject, and we found that almost 2 out of 3 (65%) reported they don’t care either way or are comfortable with employees not wearing masks.

What Is Your Comfort Level With Employee Mask Policies At Restaurants?

However, a larger percentage—just over half (51%)—still feels that restaurant seating should be socially distanced.

With that in mind, there is also a regional component to these numbers.

Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,

Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

The post Are Consumers Still Concerned About Your Restaurant’s Covid Policy? appeared first on Best4mailing.

In our latest consumer research and insight report “Cracking The Code,” we asked 9,162 consumers across the country where their favorite pizza is from. A little over half (55%) of consumers prefer a national chain, while a little over a quarter (27%) prefer a local or mom-and-pop pizza shop.

There is a regional component to these numbers. Only 14% of survey respondents in the state of California reported they prefer a local or mom-and-pop pizza shop. In the state of New Jersey, 59% of survey respondents reported they prefer a local or mom-and-pop pizza shop over a chain. Further, 65% of survey respondents reported that they regularly order pizza from two or more restaurants.

Their favorite pizza may be from a national chain, but that doesn’t mean they do not patronize mom-and-pop shops. We are left scratching our heads about the 9% of respondents who reported that they don’t like pizza/order pizza. We may need to double-check the data to see if they are from Mars…

Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,

Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

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