Pizza Hut: Preference Driven Communications and Pizzas

Today’s blog post is from Ernan Roman, one of the keynote speakers at the recent 2013 Customer Engagement Marketing Summit hosted by PossibleNOW. Ernan is a Marketing Hall of Fame inductee and well-known for his Voice of the Customer research. 

The Challenge: Many companies capture large quantities of customer data. But few use the data to deliver a competitively differentiating customer experience.

Pizza Hut is asking customers to provide their preferences and using that information to deliver preference driven communications and pizzas.

Recently, Pizza Hut shifted to more personalized customer interactions by segmenting its customer base into 6,000+ groups based on characteristics, purchase tendencies, and behavioral indicators. Juliana Lim, Senior Marketing Director for Pizza Hut, says, "We now run targeted campaigns built with intelligence around customers' preferred product categories, typical purchase times and channels of choice”. 

Here’s an overview:

	Pizza Hut provided customers with a registration process to define their personal communication and pizza preferences and delivery instructions.
	Customers can order online, via traditional call-in, via a mobile site, and even via an ordering app on an Xbox 360® system.

Online registration allows customers to get exclusive deals, save “fast favs” for quick reorders, and even set pre-orders for up to 7 days ahead.

Compared with Pizza Hut's former bulk promotions, this new preference driven communication process has generated:

	A 200% jump in average campaign hit rates across customer segments,
	A 38% improvement in Pizza Hut's customer retention rate,
	A 9% increase in customer visit/purchase frequency in just seven months,
	Up to 6% extra sales generated every month since the program started.

Findings from research conducted by our company ERDM, indicate that today’s savvy online shoppers understand that in order to receive more personalized offers and communications, they must provide more detailed personal preference information. If they trust the brand… they are willing to provide preference data in order to receive a significantly improved customer experience.

Additional research findings regarding preference based engagement and why consumers see it as a benefit:

	They receive fewer communications that are not relevant.
	Provides the flexibility to change their preferences as their needs or situations change.
	Increases their awareness of product, offer and ordering options.
	Allows them to spend less time looking for products.

Takeaways

• Personalization is perceived as a service. Customers want the ability to set personalization preferences. So, tell your customers that true personalization is available and the benefits they will experience.
• Customers want to be involved in their experience with your company. Customers want to contribute to, and define their relationship with your company. Make it easy for them to do so.
• Consumers recognize that in order to receive relevant information, they must share increasing amounts of information regarding personalization and preferences. By providing a way for customers to tell you what they want from your company they will be more likely to open, engage with, and respond to, communications and offers.

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About the Author:
Ernan Roman Direct Marketing's Customer Experience strategies achieve consistent double-digit increases in response and revenue for their clients, which include IBM, MassMutual, QVC, Microsoft, and Symantec Corp.

As a leader in providing Voice of Customer research-based guidance, ERDM has conducted over 10,000 hours of interviews with their clients' customers and prospects, to gain an in-depth understanding of their expectations for high-value relationships.

he results achieved by ERDM's VoC-based strategies earned Ernan Roman induction into the Marketing Hall of Fame.

Visit his blog at: http://ernanroman.blogspot.com/