Vol. 3: Weekend Promotion Findings

We are continuing our series, providing insights on response to brand messages and promotions as restaurants adapt quickly to changing consumer behavior. We are evaluating Friday through Sunday behavior and are seeing the following key trends:
Key Trends

• Friday promotion-related transactions were up vs. Thursday (possibly driven by anticipation of the Federal stimulus plan), but down modestly vs. previous Friday as more ‘stay at home’ government declarations were issued.
• Saturday and Sunday promotional transactions were relatively flat vs. the weekend prior. The daily count of both takeout and online promotion orders has remained relatively stable over the past two weeks, a promising sign.
• Free Item offers (including BOGO) continue to be the most redeemed across all transaction types. The next most popular has been either % off or $ off, depending on cuisine type and method of order.
• Redemptions of welcome, birthday and related email offers continue to perform at or above average.

Our Recommendations

1. While promotion-related transactions have stabilized to some degree, remain vigilant and agile in your ability to increase or decrease promotion messaging or incentives should external factors change or local opportunities present themselves.
2. In partnership with your Account Manager, monitor your redemption rate by offer type and by channel if possible. If redemptions and overall traffic are lower-than-expected in a particular channel (ex. takeout), consider a channel-specific offer for a specific day or short window.
3. Mid-week lunch continues to be an area of opportunity. Create occasion-based messages and offers that resonate with essential-service employees or parents of school-aged children now working from home.
4. In this time of uncertainty, birthday offers are especially endearing, which appears to be leading to higher-than-normal engagement. Consider increasing the value of your special occasion offers to drive even higher engagement, and show empathy by extending expiration dates to allow customers to celebrate as their time permits.