Case Study: Driving Short-Term Incremental Traffic with Long-Term Benefits

The Challenge

A regional casual restaurant was forecasting quarter-over-quarter revenue decline. They asked:

• How can we employ a quick solution to drive revenue in the short term without cannibalizing existing business?

The chain proposed a promotion that they were confident could drive sales and visits to beat their forecast and get revenue numbers back on track, but that was only half the battle. They needed to measure the true incrementality of the promotion to ensure that their success was stable and they were not simply pulling forward sales and deferring the problem.

The Solution

They partnered with Personica to use Guest Analytics to model the historical traffic of their guests. By continuing to collect and analyze data throughout the promotion and well into the post-period, they were able to compare the results of the promotion to the model and see the effects of the promotion on traffic.

The Results

The promotion was successful in driving short term sales so the client could make their numbers, and the analysis of the post-period showed true incremental sales and lift. Though some sales were pulled-forward from the post-period, the slight decline in traffic in the post-period was not enough to offset the incremental gains in the promotion period. The ultimate result was a 366% return on the discount that drove the promotion.

Moving Forward

The client has the experience and data to support future efforts to drive short-term wins, and they also have a framework to measure true incrementality for every promotion they run. They continue to use Guest Analytics to ensure their marketing decisions will have positive long-term effects on the business.